LOS ANGELES — The Free Speech Coalition issued a press release today calling on its members to lobby their senators against SESTA.
FSC also said today that it has created a #StopSESTA landing page, which easily allows members to look up and contact senators and representatives who support the legislation.
The adult entertainment trade group said the anti-trafficking legislation “threatens to decimate protections for sex workers and leave adult producers open to massive liability.”
“SESTA is dangerous, misguided legislation that will cost sex worker lives, and push consensual sex work underground,” says Eric Paul Leue, the FSC’s executive director. “This is our fight, and it is important that we stand by those who provide direct services. But make no mistake, this law is dangerous for anyone with a sex-related business.”
The SESTA legislation ostensibly goes after sex traffickers and websites that enable them, and it has gained broad bipartisan support, Leue said. However, the legislation does not distinguish between consensual sex work and sex trafficking, giving state attorneys the ability to prosecute any sex-related business.
Leue noted that nearly three dozen state legislatures which have passed, or are considered passing legislation that link pornography to sex trafficking. Currently, only California and New Hampshire have laws separating pornography from prostitution. SESTA would give each state attorney general wide latitude to prosecute adult companies under federal anti-trafficking legislation.
Given the hostile local climate, and the widespread presence of adult, Leue said the implications are astounding.
“Under SESTA, a zealous state attorney general could now prosecute a cam operator in North Carolina for facilitate trafficking based on a conversation between a performer and a fan, or even go after a Florida producer who flies in a performer from Vegas. There is no safe harbor, and the will at the state level is there.”
Leue encourages all FSC members to call their legislators today.
