NEWARK, N.J. — As Barry Goldman’s obscenity case
gets underway tomorrow morning at federal court, the Morality in Media will be
ramping up its annual WRAP Week.
WRAP, or White Ribbon Against Pornography, is a
Religious Right group’s efforts to publicize what it sees as the harms of
pornography.
Led by the Morality in Media (MIM), the movement
hopes to escalate enforcement of obscenity laws and put behind bars adult
entertainment operators like Goldman, who faces a federal jury over an
eight-count indictment on obscenity charges.
The group is distributing WRAP ribbons through Sunday
and is promoting letter-writing campaigns to U.S. Attorney General Eric
Holder.
MIM President Robert Peters said Monday that there is
a breakdown over enforcement of hardcore movies, and that he hopes that more
adult entertainment operators leave the business altogether.
"While enforcement of obscenity laws is not the
whole answer to the pornography problem, vigorous enforcement will put many
hardcore pornographers out of business and encourage others to get or stay
out,” Peters said. “It will also send the message that pornography is a
moral and social evil. Youth especially need to hear this message.”
Peters blamed a fueled-up proliferation of adult
material on the Internet for much of today’s societal ills.
"It is clear that the explosion of hardcore
pornography on the Internet and elsewhere is fueling this moral crisis,” he
said. "The Supreme Court has held that obscenity laws can be enforced
against hardcore pornography, and these days most commercially distributed
pornography is hardcore.”
Meanwhile, Goldman faces trial tomorrow at U.S.
District Court in Newark, N.J., over his efforts selling DVDs through
TorturePortal.com.
His attorneys claim that the case should be dismissed
because FBI agents spent about three years making “controlled buys” of his
movies to build their case and that the Justice Department was “forum
shopping” to find an indictment.
Goldman, 59, was indicted by a federal grand jury in
New Jersey for violating 18 U.S.C. § 1461 and § 1467 for the distribution of
“Torture of a Porn Store Girl,” “Defiant Crista Submits” and
“Pregnant and Willing” through the mail. The videos all were mailed in
2006 and 2007.
If convicted, Goldman faces a maximum penalty of five
years in prison and a fine of $250,000 on each of the eight counts charged in
the indictment