CANOGA PARK, Calif.—The Free Speech Coalition has joined the National Coalition Against Censorship (NCAC), and will be working with NCAC on upcoming censorship issues, including the battle over California’s controversial Weinstein Initiative.
The NCAC is a diverse coalition of over fifty organizations, including the ACLU, the American Library Association, Planned Parenthood of America, and the Woodhull Sexual Freedom Alliance, and is dedicated to opposing censorship in all its forms.
Eric Paul Leue, the Executive Director of the Free Speech Coalition, stated joining the coalition is an important step in fighting the war on sexual speech.
“While the regulation-as-censorship battles we face in California have been the most prominent, sexual speech and sexual expression are under attack nationally and internationally, from the Exxxotica Expo ban in Dallas and the Rentboy bust in New York to discriminatory zoning restrictions across the country. Joining the NCAC gives us access to a deep network of experience, contacts and advocacy, and enables us to better educate the public about the adult industry. We are thrilled.”
Joan Bertin, Executive Director of the NCAC, was equally enthusiastic.
“FSC joining our coalition is a no-brainer," she said. "The whole reason NCAC came into existence was in response to the 1973 Supreme Court decision in Miller v. California, which narrowed First Amendment protections for sexual expression and opened the door to obscenity prosecutions. Four decades later, we’re fighting all forms of censorship, but the moralizing of sex, sexual expression, sexual identity, and sexual orientation remains the root of many of our free speech battles. NCAC is proud to join FSC’s advocacy against the relentless attacks on adult entertainment, and to have Eric and his team be a part of our national efforts to protect and promote free expression.”
The NCAC will announce FSC acceptance into the coalition by sending a recent op-ed by Leue regarding the condom battle to the organization’s member base.
The Free Speech Coalition is the national trade organization of the adult entertainment industry. It's the reason adult content is not specially taxed, the reason young-looking adults can appear in hardcore content, and the reason drawings and animation that use no actual children are no longer considered to be "child pornography," among other successes.
