Page 12 - AVN December 2016

WE’VE GOT ISSUES | | By Sharan Street
Every Vote Counts The election’s over—now come the Fan Awards
Last month, as the AVN Awards nominating
committee debated the merits of hundreds of
adult movies to compile the list of AVN Award
nominees that appear in these pages, bigger
debates were taking place on both national and
statewide arenas. Around the United States, citizens
selected the governors, congressional representatives,
senators and presidential and vice presidential
candidates they believed to be best qualified to speak
for them in the nation’s halls of power.
Now the ballots are counted, and it turns out that
more than half of those who voted ended up with
a president-elect who was not of their choosing.
But hey, that’s the price you pay for living in a
democracy—at least one with an electoral college.
In other races, a simple majority was enough to
settle the outcome. Several elections, both local and
national, were worthy of note by those in the adult
industry. Paramount among these was California’s
Proposition 60, the Safer Sex in the Adult Film
Industry Act, championed by the deep-pocketed AIDS
Healthcare Foundation. Despite being drastically
outspent, the No on 60 forces triumphed when 54.2
percent of the voters turned their thumbs down.
On November 15, industry leaders came together in
a public meeting to celebrate the win and prepare for
what comes next.
Vivid Entertainment CEO Steve Hirsch opened
the discussion by lauding the major players in the
fight against the proposition, including Free Speech
Coalition Executive Director Eric Paul Leue and
Communications Director Michael Stabile and
attorney Karen Tynan, all of whom he described as
“going above and beyond to make this happen.” He
also noted that while many donated to the No On 60
campaign, the bulk of the contributions came from
five companies, including his own and Evil Angel
(whose owner, John Stagliano, was also present).
In turn, Leue pointed out others who had
contributed much time and effort to the anti-60
cause: Siouxsie Q, the APAC board (its chair, Chanel
Preston, was present) and Julia Ann, who spent many
hours creating personalized anti-Prop 60 logos for
industry members to use on social media.
“I want everybody to recognize that there are so
many heroes in this room, that some gave money,
some gave energy, some gave both of it, and without
that unity of all of those different confluences, none of
this would have been possible,” he said.
Attorney Karen Tynan spoke next, thanking
(unnamed) people in the room who had agreed to
be plaintiffs in a lawsuit if Prop 60 had passed, then
urged the audience to plan to attend the Cal/OSHA
Stakeholder meeting in Oakland which will take place
on January 31, whose main topic will be to create
acceptable industry-specific health regulations.
Also on the ballot in California was Proposition
64, which was passed by 56.5 percent of the voters,
making California the most populous state to have
legalized recreational marijuana. The same day, voters
in Massachusetts, Nevada and Maine also legalized
recreational marijuana. And in Florida, Arkansas,
Montana and North Dakota, medical marijuana
ballot measures prevailed. (Arizona, however, nixed
recreational weed.) How does this affect adult? For
starters, take a look at this month’s cover story, which
dips a toe into the pool of industry folk who have
made the move from porn to pot.
The Georgia electorate, along with voting for
Donald Trump, decided to screw the state’s adult
businesses at the same time. Just over 83 percent
voted to enact the “Safe Harbor for Sexually Exploited
Children Fund,” bankrolled by placing additional
fines on convicted “sex offenders,” including sex
workers engaging in consensual sexual acts—and an
annual $5,000 fee on adult book- and video stores,
adult nightclubs, and possibly even adult-oriented
boutiques that don’t carry any hardcore material.
The vote in Georgia is a reminder that some
Americans just plain don’t like adult entertainment,
and they’d sooner see the government crack down on
its creators.
And some of those anti-porn crusaders may be
packing their bags for the White House soon.
FSC’s Leue addressed the subject head on shortly
after the election in an open letter to the adult
industry. “Over the past week,” Leue wrote, “many
have asked me what the industry can expect from
a Trump presidency. I don’t have that answer, nor
do I want to venture into larger discussion of what
Trumpism means for the country. But there are
reasons for the industry to be concerned … and be
vigilant.”
The FSC executive director focused in particular
on what Trump’s presidential appointments might
portend, chief among these his pick for attorney
general: Sen. Jefferson Beauregard Sessions III,
aka Jeff. Leue noted that Sessions “blamed the
military’s sexual assault problem on the availability
of pornography on military bases. While on the
Senate Judiciary Committee, Sessions sponsored a
resolution calling for the vigorous enforcement of
federal obscenity laws, citing the Meese Commission
as its basis. The resolution passed.” The full letter is
available on AVN.com.
On a lighter note, let’s get back to the other focus
of this month’s issue: the AVN Awards nominees.
AVN’s voters will be making their selections from
this massive list—but they’re not the only ones who
get to pick winners at January’s AVN Awards Show.
In December, AVN will throw open the voting for the
2017 Fan Awards, which recognizes an even larger
and more diverse pool of adult performers and cam
models. So, you don’t agree with AVN’s Performer of
the Year nominees? Have your say when voting opens
at AVNAwards.avn.com/voting later this month.
DECEMBER 2016
12 | AVN.com | 12.16