Being a sex club executive and a local school board member at once was Leslie Moore-Linfield's personal secret until a regional newspaper revealed it Tuesday, prompting her to resign from the school board almost immediately.
However, Linfield cited only "personal" reasons in her formal resignation letter, according to Killingly School Board officials speaking to NBC News.
The flap started Tuesday when the Norwich Bulletin reported her involvement with the Black Key Club, a private sex club in Johnston, Rhode Island. NBC says its local Connecticut affiliate has since learned Linfield is an executive with the club. A local radio station tells NBC fifteen calls came in to a morning talk show wanting to know more after the Bulletin story hit the stands.
Most of the callers objected to a school board member's membership and involvement in such a club, says NBC, while others said that what Linfield does in her own personal life was her own personal business. NBC says that those among the public interviewed by the local NBC affiliate were likewise divided on the question.
The Black Key Club offers group sex, fetish nights, bisexual couple nights, and other intimate activities, according to its Web site, which itself is part of a Web ring of various swingers' sites. The introduction on the club's site reads, "Black Key Club, L.L.C. is an Equal Opportunity, Members-Only Adult Lifestyles Club serving the New England area. Black Key Club, L.L.C. offers a uniquely sensuous atmosphere in a New England Victorian setting. If you are tired of the same old club/bar scene, then Black Key will provide a refreshing alternative. If this is your first venture into an Adult Lifestyles club, then you will find Black Key to be a safe, inviting introduction to a sensual new world."
The club also offers social areas where no intimate activity occurs, says NBC. Connecticut and Rhode Island have no laws governing private clubs when consensual sex is involved, the network continues.
"If what's purported to be what the Black Key Club does, and her involvement in it, I'd say it is unfortunate. I feel sad because I don't think that is what the community standards are," says Helen Lupien, a third-term school board member, to NBC.
An attorney by profession, Linfield refused an NBC request for an interview. She's been on the Killingly school board since 1997 and has been known for political activism, including helping to run Windham County High Sheriff Tom White's last political campaign.
