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Home My WebLink AboutG11-75 Ordinance No. G11-75 �r• AN ORDINANCE t PROHIBITING OBSCENITY AND REGULATING MATERIALS HARMFUL TO MINORS WHEREAS, the City of Elgin, Illinois, is a home rule unit as defined by the Constitution of the State of Illinois, 1970; and WHEREAS, the Constitution of the State of Illinois, 1970, empowers a home rule unit to exercise any power and perform any function pertaining to its government and affairs, including the power to regulate for the protection of the public health, safety, morals and welfare; and WHEREAS, the corporate authorities of the City of Elgin, after study and investigation, are of the opinion and hereby find that obscene material, as defined herein, impairs the public health, welfare and morals of the community, and that such material may be a contributing cause of sexually promiscuous behavior and may tend to incite sexually criminal behavior within the City of Elgin; and WHEREAS, the corporate authorities of the City of Elgin, after study and investigation, are also of the opinion and find that harmful material, as defined herein, impairs the public health, welfare and morals of the City of Elgin in that the exposure of minors to such material may be harmful to minors in impairing their ethical and moral development, and may prevent minors from growing into free and independent well-developed persons and citizens. NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT ORDAINED BY THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF ELGIN, ILLINOIS: Section 1. That there is hereby added to the City Code of the City of Elgin, Illinois the following: "16.5 Obscenity and Materials Harmful to Minors 16.5.1. Definitions. As used herein the following terms shall have the following meanings: a. 'Advertise' means propagandizing in connection with the commercial offering of a service, or the commercial exhibition of an entertainment. ' b. 'Harmful to minors' means that quality of any depiction, description or representation, in whatever form, of nudity, sexual conduct, sexual excitement, or sado- masochistic abuse, when: 1. The average resident of the City of Elgin applying contemporary standards of the City of Elgin, would find that such depiction, description or representation, taken as a whole, appeals to the prurient interest of minors; and t, 2. Such depiction, description or represen- tation describes, in a patently offensive way for minors, sexual conduct or nudity specifically as defined herein; and 3. Such depiction, description or represen- tation lacks serious literary, artistic, political or scientific value for minors. c. 'Knowingly' means having general knowledge of, or reason to know, or a belief or ground for belief which warrants further inspection or inquiry. d. 'Minor' means an unmarried person under eighteen years of age. e. 'Nudity' means uncovered or less than opaquely covered, post-pubertal human genitals, pubic areas, the post- pubertal human female breast below a point immediately above the top of the areola, or the covered human male genitals in a discernibly turgid state. For purposes of this definition, a female breast is considered uncovered if the nipple only or the nipple and the areola only are covered. f. 'Obscene' means the depiction, description or repre- sentation of sexual conduct wich the average resident of the City of Elgin, applying contemporary community standards of the City of Elgin, would find that taken as a whole appeals to the prurient interest; and which depicts or describes or represents in a patently offensive way, sexual conduct as defined herein; and which taken as a whole lacks serious literary, artistic, political or scientific value. g. 'Obscene performance' means, a play, motion picture, dance, show or other presentation, whether pictured, animated or live, performed before an audience and which in whole or in part depicts or reveals nudity, sexual conduct, sexual excite- ment or sado-masochistic abuse, or which includes obscenities or explicit verbal descriptions or narrative accounts of sexual conduct. h. 'Obscenities' means those slang words currently generally rejected for regular use in mixed society, that are used to refer to genitals, female breasts, sexual conduct or excretory functions or products, either that have no other meaning or that in context are clearly used for their bodily, sexual or excretory meaning. i. 'Person' means any individual, partnership, firm, association, corporation, or other legal entity. j . 'Patently offensive' means beyond customary limits of candor in description or representation. k. 'Prurient interest' means a shameful or morbid interest in sexual conduct, nudity or excretion. 1. 'Sado-masochistic abuse' means flagellation or torture by or upon a person who is nude or clad in under- garments or in revealing or bizarre costume, or the condi- tion of being fettered, bound, or otherwise physically restrained on the part of one so clothed. m. 'Sexual conduct' means human masturbation, sexual intercourse, normal or perverted, real or simulated, or any touching of the genitals, pubic areas or buttocks of the human male or female, or the breasts of the female, whether along or between members of the same or opposite sex or between humans and animals in an act of apparent sexual stimulation or gratification. n. 'Sexual excitement' means the condition of human male or female genitals or the breasts of the female when in a state of sexual stimulation, or the sensual experience of humans engaging in or witnessing sexual conduct or nudity. 16.5.2. Obscenity Prohibited. a. It shall be unlawful for any person to sell, deliver, offer for sale, distribute, public, print, exhibit, or possess with intent to distribute, with knowledge of the nature or content thereof, or recklessly failing to exercise reasonable inspection which would disclose the nature or content thereof, any obscene writing, picture, moving picture, record or other representation or embodiment of the obscene, or to present or to direct an obscene performance, or to perform an obscene act, or otherwise present an obscene exhibition or to otherwise advertise or promote obscene material. b. It shall be an affirmative defense in any prosecution under this section that allegedly obscene material was desseminated or presented for a bona fide scientific, medical, educational, governmental or judicial purpose, or that such dessemination or presentation was not for gain and was made to personal associates other than children under eighteen years of age. 16.5.3. Materials Harmful to Minors. a. It shall be unlawful for any person to sell, deliver, offer for sale, distribute, publish, print, exhibit, or possess with intent to distribute, with knowledge of the nature or con- tent thereof, or recklessly failing to exercise reasonable inspection which would disclose the nature or content thereof, any harmful material to a minor. . .� b. It shall be an affirmative defense to any prosecution under this section that the alleged prohibited act was made in aid of a legitimate scientific or educational purpose or was by a parent, guardian, or other person in loco parentis to the minor. It shall be a further affirmative defense that the defendant demanded, was shown and acted in reliance upon any of the following documents as proof of the age of a child: a document issued by the federal government or any state, county or municipal government or subdivision or agency thereof, includ- ing, but not limited to, a motor vehicle operator's license, a registration certificate issued under the United States Selective Service Act, an identification card issued to a member of the Armed Forces, or a birth certificate. 16.5.6. Penalty. Any person violating the provisions of this ordinance shall be punished by a fine of not less than One Hundred Dollars ($100.00) nor more than Five Hundred Dollars ($500.00) . Each day that an offense continues shall be deemed to constitute a separate violation of this ordinance." Section 2. That this ordinance shall be published in pamphlet form by authority of the City Council. 8/ W. E. Rauschenberger W. E. Rauschenberger, Mayor All Presented: April 9, 1975 Passed: April 9, 1975 Vote: Yeas 7 Nays 0 Recorded: April 9, 1975 Published: April 9, 1975 Attest: s/ Margaret.A. Glink Margaret A. Glink, City Clerk