This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2016, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
You might think reading the Utah Code would be a more effective sleeping aid than a warm milk laced with Ambien.
That is, until you come across the parts of Utah state law that deal with obscenity.
Take, just for an example, the legal definition for "state of nudity," which reads thus:
(a) the appearance of:
(i) the nipple or areola of a female human breast;
(ii) a human genital;
(iii) a human pubic area; or
(iv) a human anus.
"State of nudity" is also defined as "a state of dress that fails to opaquely cover" those same four body parts.
Reading things like this in the Utah Code, in which the most intimate aspects of human life are dissected with lawyerly dispassion and detail, makes one wonder how they become law in the first place.
The image my mind conjures is of two legislators, in their Mr. Mac suits (the Utah Legislature is 85 percent male), playing Twister on the Capitol carpet, asking each other, "Is this illegal? How about this? What if I do this?" Barry White music is optional.
Add alcohol to the mix, and things get weird.
In places where alcohol is served, according to the Utah Code, being in a "state of nudity" is prohibited. So is being in "a state of seminudity," along with showing or simulating sexual acts. (The annotated list of prohibited actions is long and should be read with someone you love.)
And it's not only live performances of such acts, but "film, still picture, electronic reproduction, or other visual reproduction" depicting such acts.
The stated goals of this portion of the Utah Code (32B-1, sections 501 through 505) are to "reduce the adverse secondary effects" such activities "may have upon communities of this state" and "protect the health, peace, safety, welfare, and morals of the residents of communities of this state."
How that translates into busting Salt Lake City's Brewvies Cinema Pub for serving booze during a screening of the R-rated action movie "Deadpool" is a mystery — and as of Tuesday, the subject of a federal lawsuit, filed against the leaders of the Utah Department of Beverage Control by Brewvies' attorney, civil-rights lawyer and former Salt Lake City mayor Rocky Anderson.
Brewvies was cited by DABC after three undercover agents from the Utah Bureau of Investigation went to the movie pub on Feb. 26. They bought tickets, ordered beer and entered the theater where "Deadpool" is playing.
"Deadpool," for those who haven't seen it, is a hyperviolent action movie adapted from a Marvel Comics title about an indestructible vigilante (played by Ryan Reynolds) who is as quick with a joke as he is with his pistols and katana swords.
"Deadpool" has a good deal of sexual content, specifically some racy sex scenes between Reynolds and Morena Baccarin, as Deadpool's girlfriend Vanessa. Much skin is shown — including her breasts and his backside — while even more, uh, involved actions are implied.
The undercover officers mentioned those sex scenes in their report, as well as some brief male frontal nudity. They also mentioned the cartoon image over the closing credits, which shows Deadpool rubbing a unicorn's horn until it ejaculates rainbows.
Brewvies is facing a maximum $25,000 fine and a 10-day suspension of its liquor license. The penalty is so high because this isn't Brewvies' first offense: The bar was cited in 2011, because of male genitalia pictured in "The Hangover Part II." Then, Brewvies paid the $1,627 fine.
This time, Brewvies is fighting back, arguing that the liquor laws have a chilling effect on its First Amendment rights.
Anderson wrote to the DABC, arguing that the state is basing its action against Brewvies on "the misperception (and erroneous legal advice) that the DABC can constitutionally restrict the showing of films protected by the U.S. Constitution and the Utah Constitution."
The lawsuit seeks not only a dismissal of the citation over "Deadpool," but a court order to keep DABC from intimidating Brewvies in the future over what movies it plays.
It would be difficult to argue that an R-rated movie — even a so-called "hard R" movie like "Deadpool" — is obscene, in the legal sense of the term. If it were, theaters around Utah (including the Megaplex Gateway six blocks away from Brewvies) wouldn't be playing it. The only difference is that the alcohol at the Megaplex is what sneaky patrons brought with them.
As the Brewvies story was unfolding, another incident was bringing ridicule to Utah, and for the same reason: the state wading into the murky waters of what's considered obscene.
Gov. Gary Herbert held a signing ceremony Tuesday for a nonbinding resolution passed by the Utah Legislature that declares pornography a "public health crisis."
Alas, the problem again falls on what qualifies as pornography. Potter Stewart, the late U.S. Supreme Court justice, famously said his definition of porn was "I know it when I see it" — and people see it differently.
If you asked most people if hardcore sexually explicit videos and printed material qualified as pornography, they would agree that it was. Others go much further: At a conference last month of the Utah Coalition Against Pornography, the "spectrum" of porn discussed by some speakers was so broad as to include such comparatively mainstream fare as Cosmopolitan magazine and HBO's "Game of Thrones."
The great satirist Tom Lehrer once sang that "when correctly viewed, everything is lewd." That appears to include the Utah Code.
Sean P. Means writes The Cricket in daily blog form at http://www.sltrib.com/blogs/moviecricket. Follow him on Twitter @moviecricket. Email him at spmeans@sltrib.com.