Georgia Woman Sues City Over Banned Sex Toy Law; Says They Saved Her Marriage
A Georgia woman is suing the city of Sandy Springs over a 2009 ordinance that requires people to have a prescription in order to purchase sex toys. Melissa Davenport, a multiple sclerosis (MS) patient, argues that sex toys saved her marriage of 24 years; she says that without them, her sex life may have been completely destroyed after the onset of her illness.
Her lawsuit claims that multiple sclerosis, which impairs the central nervous system, also hampered her sex life, leaving her unable to enjoy it with her husband. “It had started to really tear us apart,” 44-year-old Davenport told Atlanta’s WSB TV. “The nerve pathways interfered with the nerves going to my intimate area to where I had no feeling.” Despite this, no physicians would write her a prescription for sex toys. “They have this dirty mind about how people are going to use it,” Davenport said.
The ordinance bans the sale of sex toys to anyone who lacks a “medical, scientific, educational, legislative, or law enforcement” purpose. Another plaintiff in the lawsuit, an artist who uses sex toys in his work, claims that his career and artwork have suffered because he’s unable to purchase sex devices. Meanwhile, Gerry Weber, the attorney filing the lawsuit, argues that the ordinance is a violation of right to privacy — claiming that people should be able to decide for themselves whether sex toys assist their sexual lives. “[T]he government has no business being (in) the bedroom and second guessing that decision,” Weber told WSB.
“People really do need devices because they need it for health reasons and to have a healthy intimate life with their spouse,” Davenport said.