LOS ANGELES – Adult performer Tasha Reign has initiated a Change.org petition urging Congress to recognize independent contractors acting as small businesses in the sex industry. To read and sign the petition, click here.
In a statement announcing the petition, Reign noted that while the goals of the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act are to keep American workers paid and employed and provide financial assistance for American workers, families, and businesses “those working legally in the sex industry have been deliberately excluded from receiving financial aid from the CARES act, including access to funds made available in the form of PPP (Paycheck Protection Program) loans and EIDL (Economic Injury Disaster Loan) grants.”
As reported in YNOT’s previous coverage of the EIDL loan restrictions, the application includes the a stipulation that states the applicant “does not present live performances of prurient sexual nature or derive directly or indirectly more than de minimis gross revenue through the sale of products or services, or the presentation of any depictions or displays, or a prurient sexual nature.”
“That’s me, and all the people who receive compensation for promoting, supporting and advocating for sexual pleasure, nationwide,” Reign said. “In these uncertain times, it’s important that we come together, and remind people that a majority of sex workers are legally employed, pay taxes, support the economy and deserve access to the same social programs as everyone else.”
In her announcement, Reign observed that in a recent article by Buzzfeed, a spokesperson for the Small Business Administration (SBA) told the site that the federal agency will “probably not” waive the language excluding “prurient” sex workers and sex businesses from applying for CARES disaster relief.
Last week, Flint Michigan-based strip club Little Darlings filed a lawsuit challenging the SBA’s prohibition on loans to prurient businesses, arguing that to deny the club eligibility for an EIDL would violate the club’s Constitutional rights under the First and Fifth Amendments.
Yesterday, the SBA announced the agency is “currently unable to accept new applications for the Paycheck Protection Program based on available appropriations funding” and that it is “unable to enroll new PPP lenders at this time.”
“Congress holding an ambiguous judgment of morality during a pandemic that directly affects all lives, regardless of class or industry, is fundamentally immoral,” Reign’s announcement concluded. “Signing the Change.org petition and gathering as many signatures as possible is the first step in giving a voice to the voiceless.”
