LONDON — Obscenity lawyer Myles Jackman has announced his launch of an appeal on the crowd-funding website Patreon for monthly donations to fund his pro bono activism.
Jackman is known for his work in representing criminal defendants charged with consensual adult pornography offenses and specializes in privacy and freedom of expression issues — especially for members of the BDSM, LGBTQ, adult entertainment industry and sex worker communities.
Calling the U.K.’s obscenity laws “20 years behind social values,” Jackman is concerned over issues such as the difference between the age of consent at 16 and the age of majority at 18, which has led to teens being criminalized for sexting selfies to each other; and also criticizes the Crown Prosecution Service for being “institutionally homophobic.”
The personal donations on Patreon, which currently range from pledges of $1 to $150 per month, will allow Jackman to work on legal challenges such as judicially reviewing the extreme pornography laws under which Tiger Porn defendant Andrew Holland suffered.
“Today I’m launching my appeal in the public domain, as the first lawyer to use crowd-funding to create social change,” Jackman explains. “I want to benefit society by challenging our arcane obscenity laws.”
Jackman says that given the current climate of government cuts to criminal legal aid, he knew he had to do something to continue his pro bono activism.
“I launched my Patreon appeal to my Facebook friends only, two weeks ago. Within 10 days I had [more than] 70 patrons, who had pledged to donate over $1,000 in total every month,” Jackman added. “I feel completely overwhelmed by the generosity of spirit my friends have demonstrated.”
For more information, visit Patreon.com/MylesJackman.
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