Diane Duke Settles into New Post at Free Speech Coalition

Diane C. Duke has recently been named the new executive director of the Free Speech Coalition, a legal watchdog for the adult industry. Duke talked to AVN.com as she was relocating from her previous home in Eugene, Ore. to the Los Angeles area.

“I’m really excited about this opportunity,” said Duke, “and ready for the challenge.”

Duke will replace outgoing Executive Director Michelle Freridge, who is leaving to pursue other goals. Freridge, who officially resigned on Oct. 31, has agreed to stay on to help Duke through the transition into the executive director position, which duties she will officially assume on Nov. 27.

Duke has a Masters in Business Administration from the University of Oregon, and comes to Free Speech from her position as senior vice president of Planned Parenthood Health Services of Southwestern Oregon (PPHSSO), and has worked in the non-profit sector for 22 years. Duke said that her comfort with sexuality will certainly carry over from PPHSSO to a legal coalition that deals with Adult.

“Spending 13 years with Planned Parenthood definitely caused me to get comfortable when talking about sexuality and consenting adults," she said. "... There’s a certain point when people just need to get over their inhibitions.”

Duke went on to say that she also sees the link between the two organizations’ involvement with a government that is often trying to legislate the human body, personal choice and constantly eroding privacy.

“It’s of course not just with the adult industry…all of our rights are being collectively chipped away, and I’m very excited to start standing up and saying ‘no more,’" Duke said.

“The adult industry is something a lot of people are not entirely comfortable with, but everybody is affected by this, so whether you approve of the industry or not, it makes no difference…it’s out civil rights.”

Duke has served on the Human Rights Commission, and was on the 2004 steering committee opposing Oregon's ballot measure 36, which would have rewritten the state constitution to prohibit same-sex marriage. She has also been involved in PPHSSO's strategic planning for the past six years, and was responsible for developing the organization's annual budget and overseeing its implementation.