Adult businesses allowed to continue informing truckers where they can masturbate

Kansas’ adult stores and strip clubs were ready to take down their roadside signs this week, but thanks to a federal judge’s intervention, they can keep their ads up for a little while longer, at least.

Scheduled to take effect Wednesday, a 2006 Kansas law put restrictions on signs within one mile of a highway if they advertised adult businesses. The law limited signs to 40 square feet at their largest, and said the signs could only show the business name, hours and phone number. This seems absurdly unfair to the business owners. For one thing, 40 square feet is way to small if you’re blazing down the road at 80 mph on speed. For another, how would anyone know whether they were on their way to a totally nude juice bar or a tasteful boutique of erotica? Depending on what you need at a given moment, that’s an important difference. The Lion’s Den Adult Superstore Business, being run by reasonable men, sensibly sued to stop these injunctions on First Amendment grounds.

There are still a lot of legal briefs to be filed and gavels to be banged before this is settled, but it’s a good sign that similar laws in other states – like Missouri – have all been struck down.