1. Texas town clamps down on home sex club
2. Positive changes
3. AdultFriendFinder settles pop-up adware charges
4. 'Exposing' the Folsom Street Fair
NCSF Media Updates represent a sampling of recent stories printed in US
newspapers, magazines, and selected websites containing significant
mention of SM-leather-fetish, polyamory, or swing issues and topics.
These stories may be positive, negative, accurate, inaccurate – or
anywhere in between.
NCSF publishes the Updates to provide readers a comprehensive look at what
media outlets are writing about these topics. NCSF permits and encourages
readers to forward these Updates where appropriate.
Texas town clamps down on home sex club
by Paul J. Weber
Chicago Sun-Times
December 9, 2007
DUNCANVILLE, Texas — The most popular address on Cedar Ridge Drive is Jim
Trulock's split-level home, which has a group sex room and attracts as
many as 100 people to swinger parties.
But the festivities could soon be over. In response to neighbors'
complaints, the city has outlawed sex clubs in residential areas.
Citations have been issued, and search warrants may be next.
''It's crazy that they want to force their morality down our throats,''
said Dawn Burton, 45, a regular guest at the parties. ''We're all
frustrated.''
So are those who complain of the noise, traffic and parking problems in
their upscale neighborhood every Friday and Saturday, when Trulock's home
is transformed into the "Cherry Pit.''
Duncanville is an unlikely venue for a neighborhood swinger club. The city
of 36,000 just southwest of Dallas has about 50 places of worship but no
registered sexually oriented businesses.
Duncanville officials insist they are not just another prudish Texas town
giving the boot to spouse-swappers. They say it all boils down to a matter
of law: Trulock is operating a business featuring live sex acts.
''It's not trying to judge anyone or pass judgment on someone's
lifestyle,'' spokeswoman Tonya Lewis said.
To support its claim, the city notes the Cherry Pit accepts money from
guests and promotes the parties on its Web site.
Attorneys for Trulock, 59, say the Cherry Pit is nothing more than a
private residence where a group of friends get together on weekends to
socialize in whatever way they prefer.
[continued]
To read this entire article, go to:
http://www.suntimes.com/news/nation/688705,CST-NWS-club09.article
To respond, write to: letters@suntimes.com
Positive changes
by Mister Marcus
Bay Area Reporter (San Francisco)
December 6, 2007
Depending on your personal preferences about our leather/bdsm lifestyles
and institutions, be advised that in a press release from Leather Heritage
LLC, the owners of the International Leather Sir/boy and Community Boot
Black titles, (Mark Frazier, executive producer; Lou Molnar, co-producer;
and Randal Kinnear, co-producer) state that they are currently negotiating
to move the contest to San Francisco on Columbus Day weekend in 2008.
Let's hope they are successful in these negotiations; further, affordable
event packages will start at $79 for early registration, $99 for regular
registration and $129 at the door. The weekend package deals include
contest events on Friday and Saturday nights, 20 or more educational
workshops, and a Sunday brunch with a keynote speaker.
The press release also stated that Frazier, Molnar, and Kinnear feel that
"one of the most difficult obstacles we faced as new owners was the
resolution of allowing only 'bio born males' to compete for the titles of
'Sir or boy.' We are extremely proud to announce that with the vast
majority of support from our regional sponsors/producers, that the issue
has been resolved."
"Effective immediately, any individual who is 'legally male' and 'self
identifies as gay male' can enter any local, regional feeder contest for
ILS/b titles, as has been the case for the International Community Boot
Black title. We are very proud of these improvements and all the positive
moves ILS/b and ICBB are making for a 'progressive future' for our
communities."
[continued]
To read this entire article, go to:
http://www.ebar.com/arts/art_article.php?sec=mrm&article=135
To respond, write to: the author at HatchetQ@aol.com or the
editors at news@ebar.com
AdultFriendFinder settles pop-up adware charges
by Robert McMillan
IDG News Service
via InfoWorld
December 6, 2007
A site billing itself as the world's largest sex and swingers community
has settled charges with the U.S. Federal Trade Commission that it
bombarded consumers with sexually explicit pop-up ads.
The owners of AdultFriendFinder.com were accused of pushing the ads
through spyware that was often installed without consumers' knowledge, the
FTC said in a complaint set to be filed Thursday in federal court. Victims
who had never even visited sexually explicit sites would suddenly find
themselves face to face with full-screen pornographic ads after typing
innocuous sounding terms such as "flowers," "travel," and "vacations" into
search engines.
The site's operator, Various Inc. of Palo Alto, California, has agreed to
clean up its marketing practices and require consumers to give their
consent before ads are displayed, and to set up a Web site where consumers
can submit complaints. "The settlement bars the defendant from displaying
sexually explicit online ads to consumers who are not seeking out sexually
explicit content," the FTC said Thursday in a statement .
No fines were imposed as part of the settlement, Various' first with the
FTC, and the company has admitted no wrongdoing. Federal law prohibits the
FTC from imposing fines on first-time violators.
Various' other Web sites, such as Cams.com, Passion.com, and
NudeCards.com, are also covered by the terms of the settlement.
[continued]
To read this entire article, go to:
http://www.infoworld.com/article/07/12/06/AdultFriendFinder-settles-pop-up-adware-charges_1.html
To respond, write to: letters@infoworld.com
'Exposing' the Folsom Street Fair
by Rebecca Armendariz
Houston Voice
December 5, 2007
I just got back from attending the Americans for Truth About
Homosexuality, Concerned Women for America and PFOX news conference at the
National Press Club. The point of this gathering was to expose the
happenings of the Folsom Street Fair, an annual street festival in San
Francisco that's touted as "the grandaddy of all leather events."
I'd have to call Peter LaBarbera and Matt Barber two of my biggest …
nemeses. Well, they bring out the bitch in me. Their opinions and
arguments are so ludicrous that it's easy for many gays to simply ignore
their hate-filled speech because it's so over the top. But when I walked
into the room and saw them face-to-face, there were warm handshakes and
greetings. That creeped me out because the introductions were such a
facade. As soon as I said "Washington Blade," they knew who I was. They
handed me the "press materials" and a DVD and I accepted it with a thank
you. Too weird.
Attendance clocked in at less than 10 people — I only noticed one other
journalist, a young woman from Scripps Howard. The rest appeared to know
either Peter or Matt.
The organizers of Folsom Street are obviously not trying to hide the
nature of the festival. It's not like you arrive, pay your entry fee and
are shocked to realize that there's a strapping leather daddy leading
around his manservant on a leash. That's to be expected. The official
program itself makes it explicitly clear that this festival "brings
together a cross section of the leather / fetish / BDSM communities."
LaBarbera went to the fair with his video camera and caught the happenings
with every intention of "exposing" them. His main beef is that this area
falls within Speaker Nancy Pelosi's district. So they wrote Pelosi a
letter telling her that there should be a "limit to tolerance." The trio
of anti-gay organizations plans to "alert the nation of this egregious
behavior."
"The cover-up is over," LaBarbera said.
Barber has the biggest issue with the fact that children were caught on
video at the fair. LaBarbera later said he saw 5-6 kids there throughout
the day. Again, the parents of these children had to bring them there and
pay their way in, and it's completely up to them to decide whether that's
appropriate or not.
The most awkward moments occurred during Grace Halley from PFOX's portion
of the speech. She told her story about how she used to be a transgendered
FTM until God chose her to fulfill his mission of proving to people that
gays can change and aren't born that way.
Then, LaBarbera asked a question that made me cringe in disbelief. "As an
African American, how does it make you feel to see an African American
person being led as a pony by her master?"
[continued]
To read this entire article, go to:
http://www.houstonvoice.com/blog/index.cfm?type=blog&start=11/30/07&end=12/6/07
To respond, write to: the author at RArmendariz@washblade.com
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