Issues@Hand

AFA initiatives, Christian activism, news briefs

August 1998 – The Supreme Court in June let stand a ruling upholding the Military Honor and Decency Act, which banned the sale of pornography in the military. Last November the 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals declared the law constitutional but stayed its ruling until the Supreme Court decided whether to hear the case. The nation’s high court declined, and the appellate court ruling has now settled the issue.

The Military Honor and Decency Act bans the sale of all “sexually explicit material,” which Congress defined to include all videos, audio recordings, and periodicals “the dominant theme of which depicts or describes nudity, including sexual or excretory activities or organs, in a lascivious way.” The Act was also intended to promote military discipline and order, especially in light of sex scandals and escalating claims of sexual harassment within the military in recent years.

Penthouse publisher General Media Communications challenged the law, arguing that the ban unconstitutionally restricted the publisher’s right to free speech and expression.

Tim Wildmon, AFA vice president, said the decision will have far-reaching consequences. “This is a dramatic defeat for the pornography industry, and a victory for decency in our social institutions,” he said. “And for a military which has sometimes found itself investigating sexual harassment and sex crimes committed against the women in its ranks, this decision makes all the sense in the world.”

AFA director of governmental affairs Patrick Trueman noted the sweeping language of the Military Honor and Decency Act. “Under this law, the sale of all pornography, hardcore and softcore, on U.S. military bases anywhere in the world or on U.S. ships must cease,” he said.