An Open Letter to the Adult Industry Following the 2024 Election — Free Speech Coalition

Expensive Business Members,

Donald J. Trump has been re-elected President of the US.

Whether or not you’re a MAGA diehard or a part of the majority in our trade who didn’t assist Trump, a brand new administration means new challenges and irrespective of who received this election, there would have been work to do. 

Kamala Harris co-sponsored SESTA and the Democratic celebration eliminated a dedication to “shield the lives of intercourse employees” from its platform throughout her candidacy. Donald Trump’s political allies take the official place that “[p]ornography needs to be outlawed,” that “[t]he individuals who produce and distribute it needs to be imprisoned,” and admit that age verification legal guidelines are a primary step towards banning porn totally.

No matter how you’re feeling concerning the election end result, it was simply as true yesterday as it’s at the moment that you’re a part of a stigmatized and maligned trade that has at all times needed to combat for its very existence. Till roughly 50 years in the past, grownup leisure was largely unlawful and arrests had been commonplace. Via the Eighties, below Reagan and Bush, scores of grownup producers and distributors had been prosecuted, imprisoned or pushed out of enterprise utilizing legal guidelines that also stay on the books. 

It was solely in 2008 that legal guidelines criminalizing “obscene units” had been even dominated unconstitutional in Texas and 2010 when John Stagliano was acquitted of obscenity fees filed by the George W. Bush administration and brought to trial by Obama’s Justice Division. However don’t neglect – “obscene units” are nonetheless unlawful in Alabama and Max Hardcore was despatched to jail for obscenity simply 15 years in the past. Onerous-fought positive aspects are by no means everlasting. Intercourse stays an uncomfortable and divisive difficulty in the US.

Our trade shouldn’t be a monolith, politically or in any other case, however to most outsiders, we’re the identical. And we’re a goal. 

Free Speech Coalition’s mission is to guard the rights and freedoms of the grownup trade. That’s true irrespective of which aspect of the aisle our members – or the assaults – come from. All of us have a basic curiosity in guaranteeing that our livelihoods are protected and there actually is energy in our numbers. 

It’s an honor to steer this group and dedicate day by day not simply to defending what we’ve got, however to creating alternatives for even larger prosperity. If these aspirations resonate with you, we’ve got loads of work to do and I’d love your assist.

Sincerely,