LOS ANGELES — The Adult Performers Actors Guild (APAG) has called for the resignation of the board of their own "mother union," the International Entertainment Adult Union (IEAU) following the revelation to XBIZ by the office of Assemblymember Cristina Garcia that the controversial California bill AB2389 introduced yesterday was "brought to them" by the IEAU.
A "blindsided" Alana Evans, president of APAG, gave the following statement to XBIZ:
We are shocked, disgusted and angry that our parent union did this without discussing it with APAG, without discussing it with the industry and without discussing it with stakeholders.
At this time the board of the Adult Performers Actors Guild, including the president and the vice-president, calls for the entire resignation of the IEAU board. We will be filing a civil lawsuit.
We have been working against our mother union since our foundation because of their constant attempts to control what we do as a union. Nobody contacted us about this. Not the IEAU, not Assemblywoman Lorena Gonzalez, who I met Thursday to discuss AB5.
My union has complete dedication for the defeat of their bill.
XBIZ contacted Phyllisha Anne, IEAU's secretary, who refused to confirm or deny the statement by Assemblymember Garcia's staff.
The bill is widely seen by the sex worker community as stigmatizing and criminalizing.
No prominent sex worker group like APAG, APAC (Adult Performers Advocacy Committee), SWOP (Sex Worker Outreach Project), or industry trade group the Free Speech Coalition were contacted by Garcia before this bill proposal.
The Assemblymember's staff member who spoke to XBIZ had no familiarity with sex worker organizations or the Free Speech Coalition.
The controversial bill proposal mandates a State registration and licensing process to perform any kind of loosely defined "adult entertainment," stating that "a person shall not work as an entertainer at an adult entertainment business or as a performer in any adult entertainment video, including, but not limited to, internet web-camming sites, without having first obtained a valid business license or permit from the local business license issuing authority."
To read AB2389, click here.