Woman opens sex toy drive-thru in Alabama after finding loophole in law

LONDON - A woman in the US has opened a sex toy drive-through after finding a loophole in Alabama’s anti-obscenity law.

Sherri Williams opened the Pleasures store in Huntsville after she found that sex toys can be sold if they are needed for ‘medical, scientific, educational, legislative, judicial, or law enforcement’ purpose.

The store sells adult items including vibrators, lubricants, lingerie and sex toys to customers who seek privacy and convenience.

“It’s been doing well, and really well on nights when it’s cold or rainy,” the Daily Mail quoted employee Toni Kennedy as saying.

“Discretion and the ease of it are big, and convenience. We’re Americans. We like everything convenient,” Kennedy stated.

A 1998 law banned the sale of products intended for sexual stimulation, and with two sex-toy stores in Alabama’s Tennessee Valley, Williams sued to overturn the law with the help of the American Civil Liberties Union.

She won initially when a federal judge ruled in 1999 there was no rational basis for the law. But the state appealed and Williams lost, allowing the law to remain on the books.

The US Supreme Court refused to hear the case in 2007, ending Williams’ challenge.

While distribution of sex toys is a misdemeanour on the first offence with a maximum penalty of a 10,000-dollar fine and one year in jail, the law however does not ban possession.

But under the legal loophole customers buying sex toys fill out an anonymous form with 10 questions including whether they or a partner have difficulty with sexual fulfilment.

In November, Williams held the grand opening for an expanded Pleasures store in an old bank building at a busy intersection.

It seemed like a waste not to use the old drive-thru window once run by bank tellers, so workers now sell all sorts of adult products from the side of the building.

Williams says her store and drive-thru serve a need for couples and individuals who need a little extra spice or excitement in their sex lives.

Police say they’ve had no complaints over Pleasures and don’t pay it more attention than other stores.

“Right now there’s not really anything for us to do with it,” Mark Roberts, a spokesman with the Huntsville Police Department, added. (ANI)