Sonoma County Municipal Code § 4-51 Declaration of public nuisance

The board of supervisors finds and declares that a political system rooted in the tradition of constitutional liberty cannot impose any particular moral code on its citizens. A government instituted for the protection and well-being of its citizens can, however, take measures to remove impediments to the welfare and safety of the community as a whole. When the power entrusted to the people's representatives is so used, the representatives have an obligation to respect the constitutional limits placed upon their authority. In enacting this ordinance, no attempt is made to regulate motion pictures shown by indoor theaters, but only those shown by outdoor theaters in such a manner as to be visible beyond the theater boundaries.

The Board of supervisors finds and declares that the value of property with a view of outdoor movie screens decreases as a result of the visibility of the herein-described motion pictures; that the people of Sonoma County have a right to privacy that includes the right to be free within one's property from views of offensive motion pictures; that public exhibition of the herein-described motion pictures in plain view of public thoroughfare has a tendency to injure the community as a whole, to endanger the public safety, and to jeopardize the rights of the people to maintain a decent society.

The showing of any motion picture depicting human beings or caricatures of human beings engaging in acts or simulated acts of sodomy, cunnilingus, fellatio, buggery, bestiality, necrophilia, or analingus, by an outdoor theater in such a manner that the screen is visible from a public thoroughfare, private residence, or commercial establishment on property other than that of the theater, shall constitute a public nuisance.

The criminal liability provisions of Section 1-7 of this code are inapplicable to persons creating the public nuisance described in Section 4-51.

(Ord. No. 1674.)