annual lobbying seminar, held on June 22 and 23, and sponsored by the Free Speech Coalition, saw many changes from previous sessions all for the good, according to the 25 attendees. For one thing, this outing was squeezed into two intensive days, one of classes and lectures and one of actual lobbying, with FSC lobbyist Kat Sunlove ably taking over the role of seminar coordinator, with much help from Free Speech president Gloria Leonard and National ACT director Bobby Lilly. \n Sunlove writes at length about the events in the inaugural edition of her monthly column for AVN (see Legal News), so we decided to interview some of the participants and see what they thought of the event: David Johnson (Johnni Black's husband): This is the second time I've been there, and it was absolutely amazing. There are groups of senators, assemblypersons and underlings that did take the time to listen to what we had to say; it wasn't gratuitous. They treated us like human beings, they listened to us and asked valid questions. It made you feel good. Kat Sunlove did an absolutely wonderful job of teaching. It was suggested that maybe we should start the teaching part of the seminar down here [in L.A.] so more talent could get involved in the learning process, and then know what they're stepping into, and I hope that does happen, so we can get more talent involved. \n Johnni Black: I think having smaller groups visit the legislators this time was better, because having a group of six or eight of us in a big cluster going around to each of the assemblypersons' offices, it was a little more confusing and overwhelming for them, so I think just having us show up in twos and threes really put a face on us as individual performers. I remember walking into one office, where we knew how the Assemblyperson was going to vote. One of our people, who is now an attorney just passed her bar exam was a dancer at a club, and when I saw the eyes of that legislator light up when this woman told her story, it gave me goosebumps. It gave us women who are talent an opportunity to say, Hey, we're not a bunch of women who are being degraded. We're proud of what we do and we want you to see that we're people too, just like someone working in a grocery store; it's just that our career choices are different.' I think one of the reasons Kat is so effective is that she's been there; she's had her hand on the pulse of this business for years. Missy: It was all a learning experience for me. I didn't know how much work goes into what a lobbyist actually does, and going there helped me understand what they do. I'm glad I was there to see how everyone feels. Mostly, I listened. I wrote notes and did all that stuff, because I didn't want to start speaking about something I didn't fully understand, so I wanted to go and learn and listen and maybe next time, I'll be able to contribute my thoughts. It was a great experience, and people in the industry should know that what they're doing is much bigger and more powerful than they realize and if they do realize it, that's even better. \n Mickey G.: It was very educational. I felt like we were a large team, and it was good to see what those members of the team were doing, covering our backs in Sacramento, keeping an eye out for us. We were received pretty well by most legislators, but we seemed to intimidate a few people. We weren't well accepted at every office, but there were some positives there too. I think everybody should do a rotation through there, just to realize what's going on. I would definitely do it again. It made me appreciate all the hard work that the Free Speech Coalition does. \n Shayla LaVeaux: I thought visiting the legislators was wonderful. I was kind of standing by, absorbing everything, because I don't know a lot about it and I was kind of intimidated when I first got up there, but the response of the people was wonderful. Their doors were open; they were very free about talking to us and making things very comfortable for us, and that's not at all what I expected. I think we're starting to finally create our little niche up there and let our voices be heard, and they're finally starting to listen. Whether their minds were being changed or not and I think some were at least, hopefully, in the long term, maybe people will see us as something more than just stupid porn stars. And for me personally, it was very good, because I've always been anti-political, never thought I could change anything, so it was very educational, especially that crash course in lobbying that the Free Speech Coalition put us through. James Weiser (Shayla's husband): One thing I learned is what lobbying entails. It's a dark area for most people. So basically, we kind of figured out how to read various bills and got an idea what they're specifically talking about and what they're trying to accomplish. And the other thing I learned is that you can be effective as far as changing things, or at least having input as to what the regulation is. It was a very empowering experience overall.
All models were at least 18 years old at the time of their performance. 18 U.S.C. 2257 Record-Keeping Requirements Compliance Statement.
