Federal Judge Strikes Law Protecting Virginia Children

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: October 29, 2001
NEWS CONTACT: Joe Glover – 804-419-4483 ext. 456
Charlottesville ““ Despite a national movement to restrict access of children to pornographic materials online, a federal judge in Charlottesville is barring the Commonwealth of Virginia from enforcing a law aimed at protecting children from harmful material on the Internet.

According to an article in the October 14 Richmond Times-Dispatch, U.S. District Judge James H. Michael, Jr. struck down a 1999 law subjecting Web site operators to criminal prosecution if they ‘knowingly’ allow minors access to ‘harmful’ sexually explicit material on their sites. Michael ruled in favor of 18 plaintiffs, which included Penthouse Magazine, Internet host PSINet, and the Charlottesville Sexual Health and Wellness Clinic.

FPN President Joe Glover criticized Judge Michael’s decision, saying it left the door open to pornographers to destroy young lives and further erode the foundation of the traditional family in the Commonwealth. Glover said, “Research clearly demonstrates that exposure to pornography harms children. They develop distorted perceptions about sexuality and an appetite for more deviant and destructive forms of sexual behavior. They find monogamy less valuable and they come to view people as objects of their own selfish, physical desires.”

During the Reagan administration, the Attorney General’s Commission on Pornography reported that nearly a third of all high school boys and more than one in five girls act out at least some of what they see in sexually-explicit materials within a few days after exposure.

Obscenity, as a category of speech, is not protected speech. The modern definitions established in Miller vs. California (U.S. Supreme Court, 1973) make it clear that there are overriding societal interests in making sure that material that can be destructive is not made available, particularly to minors.

State attorneys who argued on behalf of the law said the statute protected site owners who took “reasonable” steps to prohibit minor access like requiring credit card numbers and personal information. Judge Michael seemed to ignore the point, saying Internet businesses would have “no practical way of preventing minors” from viewing material online, “except to eliminate the materials altogether.”

Glover questioned the sincerity of the Judge Michael’s concern, saying, “The Court is attempting to liberalize decency standards in Virginia. This law was used successfully to prohibit minors from receiving harmful print materials long before the Internet provision was added to it.”

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For more info, see:
Richmond Times-Dispatch Article