South Carolina City Bans Porn Store That No Longer Sells Porn

COLUMBIA, S.C.—Poor Jeff White, owner of what used to be called the Taboo Adult Superstore, can't catch a break—even though he's dropped the word "adult" from the store's name and signage, removed all the dirty books and movies from store shelves, opened the premises to any shopper 16 years of age or older, and limited his stock to the same sex toys and lingerie one could find in the local Spencer's Gifts—such as the one in the Columbiana Centre Mall, less than 10 miles from the Columbia City Hall. "I’m operating a general retail business now," White told TheState.com. "But the city is still associating my new business with my old business." That, of course, made no nevermind to the city's Powers That Be, which have been trying to drive White out of business since he opened his store in 2011, and most recently, sent White a letter stating that his claim that the store as it currently exists is a "general retail business" is "misleading" and that the city still considers it a "sex shop." As part of his ongoing battle with City Hall, White has been trying to obtain a business license—which the city's Board of Zoning Appeals has declined to give, as well as denied him "special exception" from the local zoning laws. That's in part due to White having lost his lawsuit against the city, and a district judge's 50-page ruling that the city's attempts to close Taboo were "not a violation of his constitutional guarantees of freedom of expression and of due process." Worse, the U.S. Supreme Court denied White's petition for certiorari in late 2017, leaving White no legal place to go to fight for his right to remain open. Back when Taboo was still an "adult superstore," the city did manage to get an order to close it in February of 2016, forcing White to hold a "going out of business" sale before changing the name—the store's Yelp page now describes it as "Columbia's Premier Couples Store & Smoke Shop"—and repainting the facade. At the time, according to WACH-57 Fox News, "City officials issued the order because they feel the current location could bring unwanted crime to the area." But since Taboo has never had any observable adverse impact on the community and since no police reports have ever been filed regarding the store's location at 4716 Devine Street, he managed to remain open while his appeal from the district court loss made its way to the (very conservative) Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals, which also found against him. And just to put the icing on the cake, the city hired the infamous Religious Right attorney Scott Bergthold to help rewrite the city's zoning code. Bergthold is an old hand at creating regulations that have the effect of closing down adult businesses while making it look as if the closings were, for example, merely the result of being too close to some supposedly "sensitive use"—in this case, a church which sits 551 feet from Taboo's front door. See, it used to be that an adult business in Columbia could be 500 feet from any "sensitive use," but thanks to Bergthold, the city rewrote the law to prohibit such businesses within 700 feet. Of course, the city's excuse for increasing the setback was the usual: "In changing its laws, the city asserted that sexually oriented businesses often are accompanied by 'adverse secondary effects' such as prostitution, lewdness and damage to property values nearby." None of which, of course, actually exist, but such bogus claims are Bergthold's modus operandi in such situations. But Taboo remains open nonetheless, apparently because White's suit against the Zoning Board is still active, and since Taboo doesn't actually pose any threat to local citizenry, the city is content to let the business operate as the lawsuit works its way through the courts.