YOU can help fight for Private Adult Sexual Rights
Please join the fight in Phoenix for swingers rights as a first step which
we plan to expand to all consenting adult sexwork once we see how effective
the fight against anti-swing club law is. Many cities across the U.S. are
watching this fight hoping to further restrict adult sex laws.
Phoenix Swing Club Support Suggested Letters
Encouraged by Dave in Phoenix, Liberated Christians
Swing and Polyamory Resource Center, and sexwork.com
http://www.libchrist.com
http://www.sexwork.com
I encourage everyone whether in Phoenix or not to support a letter writing
campaign to the City Council and new Mayor of Phoenix regarding the recent
busts of swing clubs based on a 1999 Phoenix law making swing clubs illegal.
There is an ongoing Court challenge of the law, and much media support for
police not wasting resources going after private consenting adult swing clubs.
Depending on success or not, of this campaign we might do a similar campaign
about enforcement of other consenting adult sex laws such as private sexwork
where even the media has called it Sheriff Joe's publicity stunt with his
recent bust of almost 300 private escorts. Likewise the TV investigative report
about cops spending $22000 in drinks and lap dance fees in strip clubs looking
for the slightest violations.
Phoenix has a new Mayor and, one new Councilman who is gay. We still have
an out of control vice dept head and assistant prosecutor who are behind most
of the Phoenix police actions. But they serve at the pleasure of the Mayor.
Therefore,, this may be the right time to see if we can get any positive response
and stop the morality law enforcement first against swing clubs and hopefully
against all private consenting adult sexworkers. The swing club issue is the
easiest to attack since its only a City law that had no justification and
the only such law in the United States, other than one city in Florida that
has now passed a similar law.
There are 3 letters, for Phoenix residents, Arizona Residents and out state
folks that wish to support the cause. In the announcement below the letters
is a website with all the relevant E-mail address and a way to send letters
directly to the Mayor and Council.
============================================
Letter 1 - for Phoenix residents
Dear Phoenix City Council Member:
I am a registered voter and resident of Phoenix. I oppose the recent City
of Phoenix enforcement actions targeting private membership clubs for consenting
adults interested in nontraditional sex practices. Surely the City of Phoenix
has more important things to spend time and the taxpayer’s money on than hassling
clubs that harm no one.
These police raids, and the ordinance on which they are based, are efforts
to impose on all of us a narrow-minded morality expressed by religious political
extremists. There is no reputable scientific evidence that these clubs or
their activities are harmful to individuals, neighborhoods, the City or anything
else. The Supreme Court of the United States recently ruled that such an effort
to impose a moral view can not justify government intrusion into our privacy
or infringement of our right to enjoy liberty and pursue happiness.
Millions of American adults - including your neighbors, friends, ministers,
teachers, military personnel, lawyers, and doctors - participate in these
activities. And many of them, like me, vote and want to support candidates
that oppose government interference in the private lives of consenting
adults.
============================================
Letter 2 - for Arizona residents
Dear Phoenix City Council Member:
Although I do not reside in Phoenix, I am a registered voter and resident
of Arizona, I oppose the recent City of Phoenix enforcement actions targeting
private membership clubs for consenting adults interested in nontraditional
sex practices. Surely the City of Phoenix has more important things to spend
time and the taxpayer’s money on than hassling clubs that harm no one.
These police raids, and the ordinance on which they are based, are efforts
to impose on all of us a narrow-minded morality espoused by religious political
extremist groups. There is no reputable scientific evidence that these clubs
or their activities are harmful to individuals, neighborhoods, the City or
anything else. The Supreme Court of the United States recently ruled that
such an effort to impose a moral view cannot justify government intrusion
into our privacy or infringement of our right to enjoy liberty and pursue
happiness.
Millions of American adults - including your neighbors, friends, ministers,
teachers, military personnel, lawyers, and doctors - participate in these
activities. And many of them, like me, vote and want to support candidates
that oppose government interference in the private lives of consenting adults.
============================================
Letter 3 - for Concerned Americans outside of Arizona
Dear Phoenix City Council Member:
Although I am not a resident of Phoenix, I travel and have considered Phoenix
as a place I would like to visit. I cannot, however, in good conscious, support
a city that takes such repressive action that infringes our personal privacy.
I will reconsider supporting the economy in Phoenix only when the city changes
its views on private clubs.
I believe that the recent City of Phoenix enforcement actions targeting private
membership clubs for consenting adults interested in nontraditional sex practices
are illegal. The United States Supreme Court recently ruled that government
has no business enforcing a narrow view of morality on its citizens. That
is precisely what is happening here.
There is no reputable scientific evidence that these clubs or their activities
are harmful to individuals, neighborhoods, the City or anything else. Surely
the City of Phoenix has more important things to spend their time and the
taxpayer’s money on than hassling clubs that harm no one.
Millions of American adults - including your neighbors, friends, ministers,
teachers, military personnel, lawyers, and doctors - participate in these
activities. You are going to find that they, like me, oppose government interference
in the private lives of consenting adults. This oppressive policy can only
alienate potential visitors to Phoenix (like me) and, I hope and believe,
impel Phoenix voters to get rid of a City administration that tolerates such
abuse of citizens’ rights.
============================================
The following is the official introduction to the Campaign
We have a very important message to convey to all lifestyle people. We encourage
you to take a few minutes and send the City of Phoenix a message. The email
below is currently being sent all over the country.
ALTERNATIVE LIFESTYLES UNITE
Concerned citizens, our goal is to alert Phoenix's new Mayor, Phil Gordon,
and our City Council, of our concerns regarding the repression of alternative
lifestyles in this City. We feel our constitutional rights to freedom of expression,
privacy, and to peacefully co-exist, in a society built on differences, have
been violated. Morality should not be dictated by the government!
Help us to spread the word that we are many, we have a vision and we have
a voice.
Please take 5 minutes out of your day to stand up and be counted. Email letters
can be sent automatically at
http://www.clubchameleon.com/LetterOfConcern.htm.
You can find form letters or create your own. All email addresses are provided.
(Dave adds in addition to the City Council please also send to Mayor Phil
Gordon at
phil.gordon@phoenix.gov)
Send this email to as many as you can. Numbers matter.
============================================
A Message To Our Friends And Allies From The Woodhull Freedom Federation
The Woodhull Freedom Federation has entered the struggle in Phoenix against
that city's repressive and, we believe, unconstitutional prosecution of gay
men's and swingers' private clubs. We need your help on this important effort.
For five years, an agency of the City of Phoenix has been raiding and harassing
swingers' clubs under a local ordinance that makes it a crime to 'operate
a live sex act business' . Recently, a gay men's bathhouse was also raided
under that ordinance. These actions fly directly in the face of the U.S. Supreme
Court's ruling, in Lawrence v. Texas, that governments cannot take action
against private sexual expression solely to impose moral views on its citizens.
This ordinance has no legitimate justification. Moreover, its enforcement
has discriminatively targeted sexual minorities,swingers and GLBT clubs while
ignoring businesses (like adult motels) that obviously fall within the terms
of this ordinance.
This will not be an easy battle. Powerful religious political extremist groups,
notably the Community Defense Counsel, are behind the Phoenix oppression and
will pull out all the stops to continue what they see as a significant vindication
of their anti-sex agenda. However, even though Phoenix is in many ways a conservative
city, polls show public disapproval of these raids and the local press has
thus far been largely on our side.
Phoenix residents are organizing politically to fight this battle, but they
need your help. WFF is helping these activists as part of our initiative to
help local communities organize around issues of sexual liberty. Please take
a moment to write a letter to the City Council about this important issue.
Email responses can be sent to the appropriate City Council representative
automatically at http://www.clubchameleon.com/LetterOfConcern.htm.
Thank you for your help and support.
Sincerely,
Judy A. Guerin
Co-director, Woodhull Freedom Federation
Woodhull Freedom Federation and Foundation
1312 18th Street NW, Suite 103
Washington, DC 20036
202-466-2900 (phone)
202-466-6242 (fax)
www.woodhullfederation.org
info@woodhullfoundation.org
jguerin@woodhullfoundation.org
============
The Woodhull Freedom Foundation and Federation (WFF) are devoted to education
and public advocacy in support of the proposition that safe and consensual
sexual expression is a fundamental human right.
Based in Washington, DC, WFF brings together experienced, successful sexual
freedom activists who seek to eliminate the barriers, governmental and private,
to expressions of human sexuality in the United States and around the world.
Helping to mobilize diverse grassroots communities, WFF utilizes lobbying,
outreach, and education to help change antiquated and unjust sex laws.
-------------
Dave adds:
Victoria Woodhull was the out-spoken, “racy” activist who introduced sex-positivist
values to America during the Victorian era. She believed that both men and
women had a right to “free love" without government or public intervention.
Throughout the 1870s, she lectured and published, arguing against society’s
sexual double standard. Woodhull advocated sexual satisfaction and love for
all, legal prostitution, the right to multiple partners, and supported people’s
abilities to make their own decisions about consensual sexual activities.
"To those who denounce me, I reply: Yes I am a free lover. I have an inalienable,
constitutional and natural right to love whom I may, to love as long or as
short a period as I can; to change that love every day if I please." - Victoria
Woodhull
They have a great website, discussions of the Texas law, and a FREE 84 page
manual that can be downloaded: "Advocacy for Sexual Freedom: A Practical Guide
to Creating and Leading Issue Advocacy Campaigns"
Judy Guerin, Co-Director I have met in Phoenix a few years ago when she was
with another Free Speech coalition group trying to help the Phoenix swing
clubs. She resigned shortly after however to help found the Woodhull Freedom
Foundation.
Their great website: http://www.woodhullfoundation.org
===============================================
Community Defense Counsel - The Enemy
Formerly known as The National Family Legal Foundation it is based here in
Scottsdale AZ. Since 1990, Community Defense Counsel has provided resources
and legal counsel to help communities take effective, constitutional action
against the harmful effects of "adult" businesses. CDC attorneys are frequently
called on to draft, review, or provide expert testimony on legislation at
all levels of government. Sample ordinances drafted by CDC attorneys are used
as models by counties, cities and towns seeking to enact legally sound regulations
for sexually oriented businesses. In less than a decade, CDC has provided
key resources and/or legal counsel to more than 1,000 cities, counties, and
towns dealing with the adverse effects of sexually oriented businesses. More
than three quarters of those municipalities requested assistance relating
to the drafting, implementation, or defense of adult business ordinances.
- Source http://www.communitydefense.org/about.cfm
============================================
Broader Fight than Swing Clubs
Everyone I have talked to regarding the swing club fight agrees we should
all support each other in fighting for privacy rights (porn, adult entertainment,
PRIVATE sexworkers, gays, B/D as well as swingers) But the easiest issue to
attack is the swing club law since it is only a Phoenix law not a State law.
Even if attack 1, the letter campaign is not successful in getting meaningful
dialog and change with the City Council and new Mayor, the media seems to
be looking for more stories about wasting public funds going after in private
activities. This could help in the phase two potential attack.
===============================================
Attack 2 - Voter Initiative
If we can't have beneficial discussions with City Council after the letter
campaign a voter initiative will be the next line of attack to force the issue
to be voted on in an election. The initiative will be for the decriminalization
of all forms of consenting IN PRIVATE adult sexuality.
===============================================
Attack 3 - The Courts
The Court battle is already underway and has had good media attention in Phoenix.
A lot of sex positive people see at least the potential of Court victories
or even trying to get lost cases appealed based on the Texas "Lawrence" privacy
case related to gays that could have far broader application including to
all private consenting sexwork. Club C already has cases on appeal at the
9th Circuit on the Phoenix Swing club ban law.
Here is some of the points in the Supreme Court Lawrence Opinion that seem
relevant to all forms of sexwork:
Lawrence v. Texas:
"Liberty protects the person from unwarranted government intrusions into a
dwelling or other private places. In our tradition the State is not omnipresent
in the home. And there are other spheres of our lives and existence, outside
the home, where the State should not be a dominant presence. Freedom extends
beyond spatial bounds. Liberty presumes an autonomy of self that includes
freedom of thought, belief, expression, and certain intimate conduct." [Kennedy,
writing for the majority, 02-102, June 2003]
Or:
"A law branding one class of persons as criminal solely based on the State's
moral disapproval of that class and the conduct associated with that class
runs contrary to the values of the Constitution and the Equal Protection Clause,
under any standard of review." [O'Connor, concurring in part, 02-102, June
2003
===============================================
In Phoenix we are trying to take action in whatever ways we can to fight the
battle against morality laws that criminalize consenting adult private sexuality.
Dave's Phoenix-Tucson Private List
A Community Sharing Honest Reviews/Info Since 1996
Including Private Escorts Not Wanting to be on Public Sites
http://www.sexwork.com/privateinfo.html
Decriminalize Private Adult Sexwork Coalition
http://www.sexwork.com/coalition/index.html
Sexwork Resource Center
http://www.sexwork.com
Liberated Christians
Swing and Polyamory Resource Center
http://www.libchrist.com
Back to the Sexwork Main Menu
|