SAN FRANCISCO—Retail Clips, a new website catering to amateur movie producers, and the Erotic Service Providers Legal Education and Research Project (ESPLERP) today announced a partnership whereby a percentage of profits from videos purchased on retailclips.com will help fund ESPLERP’s ground-breaking court case that seeks to protect sexual privacy.
“We believe that ESPLERP’s court case is very important,” said Donald Kaiser, founder of Black Murk Entertainment, the owner of Retail Clips. “Their central point is that private consensual behavior between adults is constitutionally protected. That applies to all areas of the industry, whether prostitution, porn production, adult classifieds, video clip production… So we want people to know that the more video clips they buy or sell on Retail Clips, the more money will go to fund success in court.”
"Although we are not an adult company—we are an ecommerce technology platform—most of the movie studios on the website produce adult content," a Retail Clips spokesperson noted. "We love the notion that people are making a living by creating hot videos for others to purchase on our platform."
“This innovative partnership with the adult community makes sense,” said Maxine Doogan of ESPLERP. “And I hope it will inspire others in the larger erotic industry to recognize our common ground and join the fight. In the current climate, where government is coming after a whole range of adult industry players, we really need to support each other, to not only protect but also to expand sexual privacy and sexual freedoms for everyone.”
ESPLERP’s groundbreaking lawsuit, ESPLERP v Gascon, challenges California’s anti-prostitution law 647(b) as unconstitutional, mainly based on the Supreme Court’s ruling in Lawrence v Texas that private behavior between consenting adults is constitutionally protected. The case is now being appealed in the Ninth Circuit, where 36 civil rights and LGBT organizations have filed amicus (friend of the court) briefs supporting ESPLERP’s position.
ESPLERP’s court case is largely funded by individuals making small contributions, but the group's opponents (the State of California and various District Attorneys) have very deep pockets, essentially using taxpayer dollars to deny sex workers their rights. Contributions to support the court case can be submitted through a crowd fundraiser.
