CANOGA PARK — The Free Speech Coalition said today that it has joined the National Coalition Against Censorship (NCAC) and will be working with the group on upcoming censorship issues, including the battle over California’s condom ballot measure waged by the AIDS Healthcare Foundation.
The NCAC is a diverse coalition of over 50 organizations, including the ACLU, the American Library Association, Planned Parenthood of America and the Woodhull Sexual Freedom Alliance.
It is dedicated to opposing censorship in all its forms.
Eric Paul Leue, the executive director of the Free Speech Coalition, said joining the coalition is an important step in fighting the war on sexual speech.
“While the regulation-as-censorship battles we face in California have been the most prominent, sexual speech and sexual expression are under attack nationally and internationally, from the Exxxotica Expo ban in Dallas and the Rentboy bust in New York to discriminatory zoning restrictions across the country,” Leue said. “Joining the NCAC gives us access to a deep network of experience, contacts and advocacy, and enables us to better educate the public about the adult industry. We are thrilled.”
Joan Bertin, executive director of the NCAC, called FSC’s move to join the group “a no-brainer.”
“The whole reason NCAC came into existence was in response to the 1973 Supreme Court decision in Miller v. California, which narrowed First Amendment protections for sexual expression and opened the door to obscenity prosecutions,” he said. “Four decades later, we’re fighting all forms of censorship, but the moralizing of sex, sexual expression, sexual identity, and sexual orientation remains the root of many of our free speech battles.
"NCAC is proud to join FSC’s advocacy against the relentless attacks on adult entertainment, and to have Eric and his team be a part of our national efforts to protect and promote free expression.”
The NCAC will announce FSC acceptance into the coalition by sending a recent op-ed by Leue regarding the condom battle to the organization’s member base.
