Dispute Over Sex-Business Law Nears Compromise

A dispute over Lancaster’s new sex-business ordinance appears headed for a compromise under which city officials will drop a ban on sales of dildos and other sexual aids and opponents will abandon a drive to repeal the entire measure at the polls.

The compromise leaves intact the law’s main provisions restricting future sex-oriented businesses to two small industrial areas.

The City Council is expected to vote Tuesday to delete the sexual aids ban, council members said.

And at least for now, the city’s one adult business will not have to move.

Both sides hailed the agreement. City officials maintained they would be making only a minor change by deleting the law’s sexual aids ban. But Greg Poulin, owner of Fun Zone Gifts, which sells the devices, said that was his goal all along.

The ordinance, approved by a 5-0 vote of the Lancaster City Council on Aug. 3, formally takes effect Thursday. The compromise was reached during private meetings Monday between Poulin and City Council members, defusing both a planned referendum drive and possible lawsuits against the measure.

Under the compromise, Poulin said he will not submit petitions to force the council to put the measure to a public vote. Poulin said he had gathered 7,000 signatures, well over the 4,367 valid signatures--representing 10% of the city’s registered voters--that he needed to force an election.

Poulin, who said he has spent $30,000 fighting the law, said he was satisfied with the city’s pending change.

“I want to get back to my regular life and I’m sure so does everyone else,” Poulin said. “I’m not a porno store. I’m a gift store with a selection of adult items.”

Under the law, if the city finds Poulin is operating a sexually oriented business, he could be forced to relocate. Poulin sought to be exempted from the law, but the city refused. Now Poulin said he still expects to avoid the measure by reducing his store’s volume of sex-oriented items.

Poulin and other opponents said the city’s ban on the sale of sexual aids was illegal and an unwarranted intrusion by government into residents’ private lives. Some council members maintained the devices, such as dildos and vibrators, can spread sexually transmitted diseases.

But Lancaster Mayor George Root said he believes a majority of the council is willing to eliminate that provision to save the rest of the law and end the dispute. “If that makes everything go away . . . and we don’t have this divisiveness, then I’ll be very happy,” Root said.