Nearly 40 members of the Free Speech Coalition, lobbyists, adult video performers and others with affiliations in adult entertainment went to Sacramento for a three-day [Sunday-Monday-Tuesday] series of events. FSC lobbysist Kat Sunlove and Bobby Lilly co-ordinated the trip. The primary purpose of the venue was to meet with state legislators and introduce members of, and supporters of the adult entertainment industry, to the legislators in hopes of opening better lines of communication regarding adult industry policy.
"It was to put a human face on the industry where most politicians have thought about the industry in the abstract," said AVN's Mark Kernes who is also a board member of the Free Speech Coalition and attended.
Sunday's events were kicked off with a round table discussion. After opening remarks, the group of nearly 40 broke up into groups of 10 to discuss the use of words like "pussy" in public forums and whether there was any basis for censoring that word and others like it; or should sexually explicit speech enjoy the same First Amendment freedoms as less inflammatory language. The question posed was meant as a starting point for the groups to discuss such wide ranging issues as the breadth of the meaning of the First Amendment and whether societal pressure groups should be allowed to control their fellow citizens' uses of some language. Each group presented its conclusions at the end of the hour-long session. Most of the group concluded, as has the United Staes Supreme Court, that non-obscene sexsual speech- "pornography"- should enjoy as much freedom of expression as any other form of speech.
Monday featured an all-day training session held at the Radison Resorts Hotel in Sacramento. The day started out with summary of government repression of the porn industry which was delivered by attorneys Jeffrey Douglas and Alan Gelbard. The talk focused on such high profile Government cases as MIPORN from the 1980's- a governmental sting operation; Operation Wormwood, Operation Postporn which targeted mail order distributors; the Freeman case where Hollywood Video's Hal Freeman was charged with pandering; the Erotic 11 Pure Pleasure Bust at the CES in 1994; and several other cases up to the still-current Tushy Girls Case where Alisha Klass and Samantha Stiles were busted at Erotica LA last spring and who come to trial May 24.
In the afternoon, Free Speech Coalition lobbyist Kat Sunlove took the group through the various pieces of legislation that the adult industry lobbyists would talk to legislators about. This included- on the assembly side- AB 1301- which is a proposal for a study of the correlation between pornography and sexual abuse and a concurrent proposal in the same bill to tax adult materials in California. The FSC's position on AB 1301 is that it welcomes a study of this topic; however, Assemblyman Washington who authored the bill had also proposed that the study be done by the Health and Human Services Dept. of the state government. The FSC's position was that the study should be done by educators and other academics who study the issues on an ongoing basis. The FSC also objected to the tax being in this bill because it seemed to suggest that Washington had a preconceived notion that the study would support such a tax.
Another bill discussed was AB 1446. This bill would prohibit an employer from requiring an employee to strip or remove his or her clothing as a condition of employment. This bill would only affect clubs where the dancers are employees, not independent contractors. The bill doesn't just affect dance clubs. Those opposed to the bill are OSHA [situations arise in the case of fire fighters and people dealing with hazardous waste materials- requiring them to strip for decontamination purposes]; FSC and various other health care professionals. The bill is supported by lobbyist Mike Ross and the AEIEF, Ross' organization of dance club owners.
Also mentioned was AB 1092 a bill which involves the transfer of liquor licenses from one owner to another. FSC's obections include a section which creates the concept of "problem sites" where the Alcoholic Beverage Control Department can block the transfer of a license based on allegations by police and other government officials that the site which currently has the license has had too many interactions with the police, or too many complaints from neighbors of the bar or club.
The FSC, as well as several legislators, felt that the bill would give too much power to the Alcoholic Beverage Control Dept. and short-circuit the business' rights to due process. FSC also spoke with the legislators about AB 204 which would restrict defense attorneys' access to sexually explicit evidence which prosecutors intended to use during their case-in-chief. The objection was that, although prosecutors would be allowed to show the sexually explicit material to defense attorneys at the prosecutor's office, the defense attorneys would not be allowed, as is common in all other types of criminal charges, to obtain copies of the material that they and their experts could study at their own pace.
Two senate bills were also discussed with state senators - SB 1165- which has become known as the "Baby Tam" bill. The legislation would correct those zoning laws all over the state of California which do not include a time limit within which govermment officials must deliver decisions regarding the revocation or relocation of adult business licenses. It has long been a problem in California that when an adult business wants to appeal a license revocation, that government officials have taken unduly long to deliver their decision; and the adult businesses are therefore unable to appeal that decision to a higher government body. Such delays in the past have been as long as five years, thus denying the clubs their due process rights. The FSC also discussed SB 238 which would require that Internet filters be placed on all computers with Internet access in public libraries. Joining FSC's objections to the bill include such organizations as the ACLU and the American Library Association.
Members of the adult industry lobbying team include Sunlove, Nina Hartley, Gloria Leonard, Al Gelbard, Dr. David Hall, a sexologist; James Weiser, husband of Shayla LaVeaux and Dave Cummings- all of whom are teams leaders of the lobbying group.
These discussions were followed by a dinner at the A Shot-of-Class Restaurant where coalition members heard talks from ACLU lobbyist Francisco Lobaco and legislative analyst Jerry McGuire. Lobaco talked about some of his past lobbying efforts on behalf of free speech while McGuire explained how he takes bills submitted by the legislators and attempts to explain them in lay language so that they may be more readily understood by the other legislators. McGuire also talked about the impact of the legislation on such areas as the budget, and the legislation's possible affect on the penal system. "Some of the bills I see, I can barely understand myself," McGuire said.
On Tuesday, the Free Speech Coalition held a press conference on the north steps of the capital. Press coverage was moderate including two TV crews, approximately five media reporters and one radio reporter National Public Radio. The FSC handed out its white paper.
Gloria Leonard addressed the news people, talking about the aims of FSC including free speech's intentions, its functions and its goals to the American public. Leonard also commented on the already growing awareness of the public about many things related to the adult video industry and the widespread recognition of many actresses via TV, talk shows and new shows. Jeffrey Douglas then addressed some of the legal concerns of the industry, although this session of the state legislature has not produced any significant bills detrimental to the industry.
There was also a dance event Saturday night at Centerfolds to raise money in part to benefit FSC. The girls got a percentage of the door money. Those dancing were Nina Hartley, Johnnie Black, Christi Lake, Midori, and Shayla LaVeaux.
Also attending in Sacramento were Diana Lauren, Pete Kuzinich, owner of the Pink Poodle dance club in San Jose; Margot Rutman, a law student who paid for her education through exotic dancing: former adult actress and currently a sex therapist, Juliet Anderson; dancer Madison, Juli Ashton, Dennis Hof, owner of the Bunny Ranch; photographer John Alleyn, Debbie Oakley, wife of Bernie Oakley; dancer Natasha Noir, Bobby Lilly, co-event coordinator, Seth McCoy from Wicked Pictures and several Free Speech activists from, Arizona and Oregon, as well as the staff of the Oregon-based T&A Times. Former actor Richard Pacheco also made a brief appearance.
There were a number of queries including one from Kendra Jade as to why Gene Ross didn't reveal the name of "deep throat" in the article about Jade's computer being hacked into. Simple answer. The key element of this story is privacy and the right to privacy. Kendra Jade's computer was hacked into by person or persons unknown. Her privacy was violated. Revealing deep throat's name not only serves no practical purpose beyond instant self-gratification to gossip junkies but also incriminates a possible innocent person. But here's one of the more interesting letters that came in.
