Sex toy drive-thru opens in Alabama after finding a loophole in the law



Business is brisk with cars lining up three deep at a new drive-thru in Alabama that fought the law to sell adult items including vibrators, lubricants, lingerie and sex toys to customers who seek privacy and convenience.



The Pleasures store in Huntsville is owned by Sherri Williams who found a loophole in the conservative Bible belt state's anti-obscenity laws.



Sex toys can be sold if they are needed for 'medical, scientific, educational, legislative, judicial, or law enforcement' purpose.

Brandi McNaron shows her driver's license to a Pleasures romance shop employee as she goes through the store's drive thru

Pleasures owner Sherri Williams holds up the medical checklist that shoppers must fill out, which lets the store operate via a legal loophole

'It's been doing well, and really well on nights when it's cold or rainy,' said employee Toni Kennedy.



'Discretion and the ease of it are big, and convenience. We're Americans. We like everything convenient.'

A 1998 law banned the sale of products intended for sexual stimulation.

With two sex-toy stores in Alabama's Tennessee Valley, Williams sued to overturn the law with the help of the American Civil Liberties Union.



She won initially when a federal judge ruled in 1999 there was no rational basis for the law. But the state appealed and Williams lost, allowing the law to remain on the books.

The US Supreme Court refused to hear the case in 2007, ending Williams' challenge.

Distribution of sex toys is a misdemeanour on the first offence with a maximum penalty of a $10,000 (£6,500) fine and one year in jail.

The law does not ban possession.

But under the legal loophole customers buying sex toys fill out an anonymous form with 10 questions including whether they or a partner have difficulty with sexual fulfillment.

In November, Williams held the grand opening for an expanded Pleasures store in an old bank building at a busy intersection.

The Pleasures sign flickers over the former bank building in Huntsville, just across the road from a McDonald's

It seemed like a waste not to use the old drive-thru window once run by bank tellers, so workers now sell all sorts of adult products from the side of the building.

Just like at a fast-food restaurant, there's a brightly lit sign outside with products and prices - herbal 'enhancement pills' are eight dollars (£5) per dose.



Williams believes her drive-thru is the first in the country to offer adult novelties for sale.



Employee Gabrielle Silva, holding a handful of condoms, operates the drive thru

A few yards away from Pleasures, on the other side of a curb, workers at a neighbouring McDonald's restaurant dish out fries and burgers.

Police say they've had no complaints over Pleasures and don't pay it more attention than other stores.

'Right now there's not really anything for us to do with it,' said Mark Roberts, a spokesman with the Huntsville Police Department.

Williams said her store and drive-thru serve a need for couples and individuals who need a little extra spice or excitement in their sex lives.