YNOT – Nearly 100 adult studios have joined the crusade to defeat Los Angeles County’s notorious Measure B by signing on to the fundraising effort known as FreedomStreams.
A project to benefit the legal fund at adult industry trade association Free Speech Coalition, FreedomStreams will take place online April 15. First organized in 2006 as a landmark fundraising event to support industry lobbying efforts, the project is the brainchild of online video-on-demand provider HotMovies.com.
This year, studios including Adam & Eve, Evil Angel, Girlfriends Films, Hustler, Kink.com, New Sensations, Private Media, Vivid Entertainment and Wicked Pictures will donate their one-day VOD earnings to the FSC’s legal challenge to Measure B, a controversial new ordinance which mandates permits, on-site inspections and the use of barrier protection for all adult movies produced in L.A. County. Industry attorneys have called the ordinance an unconstitutional breach of performers’ privacy rights and an insupportable burden for taxpayers.
“Ordinarily you think of April 15 as tax day, but this year it means something even more important for the adult industry,” said Marci Hirsch, Vivid vice president and a member of the FSC board of directors. “It’s a chance for us all to exercise our rights and overturn a ridiculous law that affects an entire industry. For any consumers that have been planning on streaming or downloading a hot new film, we urge you to do it through HotMovies.com on April 15 so you can help this vital cause.”
Performers, too, are encouraging fans to participate.
“As you may have read in the news, Measure B broke my heart,” joked Ron Jeremy, referring to the surgery he recently underwent following a life-threatening cardiac incident. “Seriously though, I’m not letting anything stop me from supporting this great cause and I encourage everyone to join me.”
James Cybert, director of business development for HotMovies, said his company will match all donations up to $10,000.
“The biggest names in the industry are on board,” he said. “More than ever before, we are under attack. The AIDS Healthcare Foundation pulled the wool over voters’ eyes last fall, and the result was a measure that is designed to suppress adult filmmaking in greater Los Angeles under the guise of worker safety.
“[The ordinance] requires all adult performers to use protective barriers such as condoms and dental dams when performing any act likely to generate bodily fluids,” he continued. “It creates the need for oversight by already-taxed law enforcement and government agencies, and it is entirely unnecessary because the industry already polices itself very, very effectively.
“Measure B completely ignores all common sense and, perhaps most importantly, the overwhelming desire of the performers themselves.”
Content producers who wish to support FreedomStreams may [email=support@moviedollars.com]email the coordinators[/email] or contact HotMovies by phone at 800-611-6684.
Fans wishing to contribute by watching porn for a cause may log onto FreedomStreams.com on or before April 15 and buy minutes, then return on tax day and put their investment to good use.
Direct contributions to the FSC’s Measure B legal defense fund may be made online at StopCondomLaws.com.
