Pete Ross was fired from his flight attendant job with a major American airline last June for being a porn star. He has recently decided to go public about it in an effort to shame his former employer into reinstating him and to publicize the plight many adult performers find themselves in.
Rules of the arbitration process he and the airline are in right now forbid him to mention his former employer's name, but when interviewed at the GAYVN Expo, Pete said he is tempted to divulge it just to make things edgier.
Ross set up a website, PornRebel.org, to spread the word and has also given magazine and digital media interviews in hopes that pressure can be brought to bear on the company for its prudish policies. The following exerpts are from his PornRebel site.
"In June 2005, I was fired from my job. It wasn't due to theft, perjury, poor performance or failure to show for work. It actually wasn't anything I had done on the job that got me sacked. It was what I do for a second job that inflamed the morality of my employer and caused them to spend thousands of dollars to expel me from their ranks.
"In December 2004, a coworker anonymously called the company we both worked for, revealing they had witnessed me performing my second job and thought it scandalous enough to bring it to management's attention. Immediately, an investigation began into all aspects of my private life and soon I was being tailed by private investigators.
"A man parked in front of my house at all hours, photographs were taken of me at odd places.Six months later, I was summoned to several mandatory meetings with my employer. The surveillance that had been obtained by the P.I.’s was screened, I was interrogated, my very competent union representatives pled my case, but in the end my employment was terminated — because my second job was 'porn star….'
"I guess in an odd way, I owe the cowardly whistle blower who started this chain of events a heartfelt 'thank you.' While I still believe the snitch must have an empty life, I can't help but be happy that this loser gave me a cause to fight for.
"I never saw myself as martyr material before, but you know what? If making my story public can help the rest of the men and women in the porn industry, I'm ready to take a stand. It has been gratifying that so many people have already pledged their support and I hope more people — those in the porn industry and those who believe in freedom of speech and expression — help me while I undertake this mission.
"I'm not just fighting for my job, or just for the porn industry, but for every person who believes what they do in their own free time belongs to them. If it's legal, safe, and sane, and if it doesn't infringe on the rights of others, whose business is your business? If it can happen to me, what is to prevent your employer from playing Big Brother on you?"
Read Pete Ross' story in full at PornRebel.org.
Photo: Jon Duede/GAYVN
