TENNESSEE: Jury Rejects "My Daughter Saw Gay Porn!" Lawsuit

You may recall my 2008 post about former Big Brother contestant Kent Blackwelder, who filed a $4M lawsuit against Specialty Publications (a distributor of Titan Media) because his daughter "accidentally opened" one of their promo packages which was mysteriously sent to his house. Blackwelder's suit claimed that a five-second viewing of naked gay men caused his daughter to need counseling for a sudden fear of being kidnapped. (By Titan porn stars, one presumes.) Yesterday a Tennessee jury rejected the lawsuit as nonsense.

The four-woman, four-man civil jury rejected Powell father Kent Blackwelder's bid to hold California firm Specialty Publications Inc. financially responsible for his then-12-year-old daughter's glimpse of a racy advertisement for the gay magazine "Freshmen" in May 2007. "Do I wish it hadn't happened?" First Amendment attorney Richard Hollow asked jurors in closing arguments. "Yes. Do I believe children should be protected? You bet. But it's not up to everybody else to take care of our children." Blackwelder, who appeared on the "Big Brother" reality television show in 2001, wound up on the mailing list after his name and address were used to enter an online contest for a free trip to a "gay-friendly" locale. His daughter later opened a direct-mail brochure with photos of nude men. He sued, claiming the mailer was unsolicited, violated postal regulations and caused his daughter distress. But Hollow countered that the publisher, which has since folded, followed regulations. The mailing was sealed with a "wafer tab" and bore a warning label.

Blackwelder says he was put on the mailing list as an act of vengeance for a different lawsuit claiming he'd been fired from his job because he is white.

(Tipped by JMG reader Lynda)