Tuesday, February 26, 2008

Gay Porn Offer Prompts Multimillion Dollar Lawsuit

The facts of this lawsuit don't quite add up to me. When does a free offer for porn go out unsolicited or when one has not previously purchased porn from another vendor? Especially one not covered in warning language? I've certainly never received an offer like this one that did not have plenty of warning language. Has anyone else? I cannot help but wonder if dear old dad didn't order the stuff and now is trying to (1) cover it up and (2) make a fast buck in the process. Naturally, nut job James Dobson and fundies at Focus on the Family are saying that the 12 year old girl will be "scarred for life" after mistakenly opening the gay porn mailer addressed to her father. Personally, I suspect she will be more scarred by being exposed to the hate and lunacy disseminated by Mr. Dobson, et al. Here are some highlights from PageOneQ (http://pageoneq.com/news/2008/Right_wing_Daughter_of_Big_Brother_contestant_scarred_for_life_by_her_fathers_gay_porn_m_0226.html):
In May of 2007, sandwich shop owner and former Big Brother 2 contestant Kent Blackwelder, according to Family News in Focus, heard a "frightened gasp" and a "desperate call for Daddy" after she opened what she thought to be a Disney mailer, but turned out to be a graphic advertisement addressed to her father, promising a free DVD, from a company called Specialty Publications.
The suit accuses Specialty of violating postal law by neglecting to print a warning of sexually explicit content on the outer envelope. The Blackwelder family, as a result of the accused omission, says to have suffered "great pain of body and mind," citing "shock, horror, humiliation and embarrassment, as well as anxiety." The suit, therefore, seeks $350,000 in compensatory damages, plus $3.5 million punitive, in addition to an injunction compelling Specialty Publications to comply with postal regulations.
"The envelope," as the lawsuit describes, "contained on the outside the message 'New! Free DVD enclosed!' There were no warnings on the envelope that the envelope contained sexually oriented advertising." The free DVD being offered was titled "Titan Men's Farm Fresh," and was promised as a reward for a paid subscription to "Freshmen," a gay pornographic magazine.
Blackwelder seems down on his luck according to the local newspaper. No doubt $3.5 million would be a nice pick me up:
Now her father, an ex-mortgage broker, current deli owner and one-time contestant on the reality television series "Big Brother" (http://www.knoxnews.com/news/2008/jan/24/porn-offer-prompts-lawsuit/)

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