Oregon voters already have defeated measures twice in the past five years involving sex-oriented businesses, primarily because they would have imposed overbroad restrictions on freedom of expression. A change proposed for HJR 52 at the urging of the Oregon Entertainment Corp., however, goes too far in the opposite direction. It would engrave an exemption for existing sex shops into the Oregon Constitution. The proposed amendment, which is scheduled to be considered in the Senate Judiciary Committee this morning, would perpetuate sex shops at their existing sites, no matter how inappropriate their locations. That makes no sense at all.
Many businesses operate in inappropriate sites as non-conforming uses until they close.
The resolution should be referred to the ballot. It would give Oregonians a chance to deal with the proliferation of sex-oriented businesses and the helplessness of people who want to keep the businesses away from their homes and schools. Zoning is a way to do that. Courts in other states have accepted zoning restrictions on the sex industry. Since 1987, though, the Oregon Supreme Court's interpretations of the state constitution's freedom of speech provisions have consistently thwarted local efforts to regulate sex shops.