Porn Ban: Minnesota County Votes Out Hotels With Adult Movies

Sept. 9, 2010— -- Winona County, Minnesota, has declared war on hotel room pornography, prohibiting any of its employees from staying at hotels that offer adult movies.

The Winona County Commissioners just approved a new "clean hotel" policy that forbids employees from staying at such properties. The commissioners said pornography leads to sexual and domestic violence and that they hope to pressure hotels to drop these services.

The county commissioners believe Winona is the first county in the country to pass such a regulation.

"I think it just sends a message that no this it's OK," Commissioner Mena R. Kaehler told ABC News. "The way you send a message to businesses is through their bottom dollar."

Kaehler said hotels offer often violent porn that can lead to sexual assaults.

"It just desensitizes people," she said. "This [new rule] is just a small step in getting the conversation started."

Winona County employees 334 people but officials were unable to say how many nights those workers spent in hotels last year.

The new policy would not apply to hotels hosting conferences or cases when porn-free hotels cost at least 15 percent more than alternative hotels that offer adult programming.

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The county's move follows an unsuccessful push in the Minnesota legislature to pass a similar law for all state workers, also sold as an effort at "reducing sexual violence in our society." The measure did not make it out of a House committee.

There are a number of groups attempting to reduce the availability of porn nationwide, particularly in hotel rooms.

"There's more hotels that don't offer pornography than do," said Phil Burress, president of Citizens For Community Values, a group associated with Focus on the Family.

However, Burress noted the larger hotels tend to offer in-room adult films, so there are more American hotel rooms that do offer porn than those that don't.

"I think this is a little overreaching," said Joe McInerney, president and CEO of the American Hotel & Lodging Association, said of the Winona County policy. "If they don't want to see adult movies they can ask the hotel to switch those off. It's a choice of the guest."

Adult movies are a big business for hotels. Most major chains offer pay-per view adult movies, typically selling for $13 to $16 each, and hotels pocket 10 percent of the fee.

Nobody is saying how much that adds up to. Hotels don't break out revenues for adult movies, and neither does one of the largest movie provider, LodgeNet, which is in 9,900 properties with 1.9-million rooms. That represents nearly 40 percent of all rooms in North America and 54 percent of those in midsize and large hotels.

Pay-per-view adult movies in hotels and private homes account for nearly $2 billion in annual sales, according to the industry.