Adult ‘Lobbying Days’ Begins on Monday

It’s the seventh year the organization has held its "Lobbying Days" event where adult industry leaders meet California legislators. The two-day event of the adult entertainment trade organization begins Monday.

“We’ll be seeing a good cross-section of the Legislature to educate them on what the adult world issues are, and give them our White Paper, which lists the latest stats on the trade,” Free Speech Coalition Executive Director Kat Sunlove told XBiz.

This year the pressing issue on the table will be the industry's self-policing health policies.

Adult Industry Medical Healthcare Foundation’s Sharon Mitchell will be on hand to discuss the clinic’s efforts with FSC members at a 9 a.m. press conference on Tuesday. She also is scheduled to meet with Assemblyman Paul Koretz, D-West Hollywood, and his labor staff to lobby for adult-performer rights relative to health issues.

“I think self-regulation works,” Sunlove said. “Sharon Mitchell [of the medical clinic which screens porn actors for HIV and other STDs] tells me that just in the Los Angeles-area alone, nearly 95 percent of the adult actors get testing done regularly.

“The recent outbreak was a hole in the dike, a small one, but it was a hole,” said Sunlove, who noted that it is a sure thing that there will be more questions this year from state politicians.

Sunlove said she considers the annual visit to be the best opportunity to provide state lawmakers with accurate and candid information about the industry.

“This educational process is ever more important as our stalwart free speech defenders succumb to term limits and newer members must step up to make decisions about our industry,” she said.

Among the adult personalities expected to attend are former gubernatorial candidate/porn star Mary Carey, as well as Nina Hartley, Kaylani Lei, Dave Cummings and Taliesin, as well as sexologist David Hall, an associate professor at the University of the Pacific; Jeffrey J. Douglas, criminal defense attorney and chairman of the FSC board; Joan Irvine, executive director of Adult Sites Against Child Pornography (ASACP); and Kathy Sisson, an activist with the Woodhull Freedom Foundation.