NORTHAMPTON, Massachusetts — Jendi Reiter and Adam Cohen have been called busybodies, Bible-pushers, and Communists since they started fighting to stop an adult video store from opening near their home on the edge of Northampton’s cafe-studded downtown.

The couple laughs off most of the name-calling, but there is one thing they want to make clear: They are not repressed, and they are not against sex. It is pornography they do not like.

Reiter and Cohen are at the center of an increasingly noisy debate over the limits of free speech and the meaning of tolerance.

The uproar over the proposed adult video business has created tensions in Northampton, a city of 30,000 known for its activists, artists and writers, liberal attitudes, and sizable gay and lesbian community. This month, the tensions spilled onto the street, when a rush-hour demonstration by a dozen of the store’s opponents provoked an impromptu counter-demonstration by a half dozen young men who said they do not believe pornography is harmful.

The battle began in July, when Reiter and Cohen first learned that Capital Video Corp., based in Rhode Island and part of adult entertainment empire Metro Global Media, planned to open a 6,000-square-foot outlet at the busy corner of King and North streets, four blocks from their home.

Opponents of the store who include neighbors and some local feminist groups said they object to the videos it would sell, which they describe as addictive, violent, degrading to women, and capable of influencing the behavior of those who watch them.

They said the store’s proposed location, near an elementary school and a mental health counseling center, is inappropriate. They predict it will drive up crime rates. And they said they are troubled by the track record of Capital Video, which went to court in May to fight officials in Kittery, Maine, after they banned private viewing booths in its store. (The store eventually complied.)

Many residents have applauded Reiter and Cohen for their outspokenness. But some others say the couple have gone too far, by presuming to know what’s best for all adults and by broadly painting pornography users as deviants.

“I’m sick of these people trying to control what everyone does,” said James Giordano-Lanza , 18, a mechanic from Easthampton who led a pro porn demonstration earlier this month. He said he will patronize the store if it opens.

Reiter and Cohen, who moved to Northampton from New York City three years ago in search of a quiet, literary place to run their online business, said they want to educate people about the harms of pornography. The married couple, who make their living running a website that reviews poetry contests, set up another website, www.nopornnorthampton.org, where they post research linking pornography and violence.Continued…

They have also tried to ratchet up pressure on the owners of the former car dealership where the video outlet is planned. Their website includes the home address of the Longmeadow couple who own the building and urges residents to contact them directly.

After repeated failed attempts to speak to the owners directly, Reiter said she called their rabbi and asked him to counsel them about their choice of tenant. (She said the rabbi declined.)

“Our request to the property owners is that they show Northampton the same respect they would show their own community,” she said.

Last month, Capital Video revised its proposal, eliminating plans for private viewing booths in the store. But the company has moved forward with the permitting process and could appear before the city’s Planning Board next month. A spokeswoman for the company did not return a phone call earlier this month.

Opponents, meanwhile, are advocating stricter local control. They circulated a petition calling for the city council to ban private viewing booths, prohibit lurid signs, and restrict the location of nude entertainment. More than 600 Northampton residents signed the petition, and city officials have begun drafting proposed changes to the city code.

The restrictions, which could apply to the new store, may include a limit on the volume of merchandise for sale, said city planner Wayne Feiden .

Most opponents say they do not object to two existing downtown shops that rent adult films, one of them a gay bookstore. The difference, they said, is that the owners are local people with a history of being good neighbors, not distant, unresponsive corporations, and that the films, which they described as “erotica,” not porn, are a small part of their total business.

“If they go over to the dark side, we can go and talk to them,” said Reiter.

But Carol Gesell , co-owner of Oh My!, a “sensuality shop” near downtown, said there is probably little difference between the films at Capital Video and those for rent in her tiny shop, which also stocks oils, harnesses, and DVD guides to spanking and domination. Gesell said she is troubled by the tone of the “No Porn” campaign.

“We don’t like their portrayal of the people they imagine watch porn,” she said. “To make these people so sordid, with no morals, is to us distressing.”

At a cozy King Street coffee shop recently, employee Faune Albert , 23, questioned the opponents’ assertion that the porn store would bring crime and said she knows people who would probably shop there.

Before Albert finished speaking, customer Nino Bracci jumped in with a stern rebuttal.

“It shouldn’t be here,” Bracci said firmly. “It doesn’t belong in Northampton.”