Let consumers decide Zone d’Erotica’s fate

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The City of Los Angeles simply won’t get off of John
Coil’s back. Last Friday, it ordered him to reduce the amount
of sex items he has on display in his store, Zone d’Erotica,
because it operates within 500 feet of a residential area. It is
upsetting that Coil passively gave in to a constitutionally
questionable code; he should have fought the city’s
infringing on his right to operate his business and sell what he
wants to sell.

Just because people are offended by sex toys and sexuality
doesn’t mean they have the right to pass laws banning people
from operating legitimate businesses. The store was given the
violation because it operates close to an apartment building that
caters largely to students; ironically, students have been among
the store’s biggest customers. Even if non-student Westwood
residents object to Coil’s right to sell his products, they
cannot object to the student residents’ right to have access
to a place to buy them; no one’s morals take precedence over
those of another. It’s called freedom, and in case some
people have forgotten, we’ve gone to war to protect it.

Zone d’Erotica’s opponents argue the store will be
bad for surrounding businesses. Shelley Taylor, director of the
North Village Improvement Committee, claims her objection is not
morally-based, but economy-based. But the economy does not operate
independent of consumers’ moral decisions ““ in order to
safeguard current businesses, opponents are willing to prohibit
someone from operating a new one. If Taylor and other opponents are
big on market forces, then let them work for themselves: avoid Zone
d’Erotica, let consumers determine its fate. As for students
losing access to merchandise, remember this issue for the next city
council elections.