The Consent Counts project involves the BDSM communities in a nationwide education and activism program coordinated and led by the National Coalition for Sexual Freedom. This multifaceted campaign includes a comprehensive is analysis of current laws and court decisions, the development of legal arguments for changing the laws, participating in court cases, and ultimately, through lobbying, education and grass-roots activism, changing state laws and the way the public and the courts view BDSM. An important element of the project also includes an Educational Outreach Program (EOP) to educate our own communities of the current state of the law, of the effort NCSF is undertaking and to involve them in our strategic planning process and development of “best practices” by which we can protect ourselves and facilitate change.
Click here to go to the Consent Counts Program Page
The women who have made allegations of sexual abuse against the former CBC host say he never raised the topic of BDSM.
NCSF's Incident Reporting & Response was created to provide assistance to individuals and groups within the alternative sexual expression communities. If you engage in SM, fetish, swing or polyamory practices, and are being persecuted or discriminated against because of it, please contact NCSF. If your group or business is being harassed by religious political extremists or if you need help doing outreach to your local law enforcement, please contact NCSF.
The National Coalition for Sexual Freedom (NCSF)’s Incident Reporting & Response (IRR) Program uses three primary criteria for taking a case:
Third quarter 2014 Incident Report
Child Custody
There were 10 requests for help with child custody, a drop from the 2nd quarter in which we had 13 requests for help with child custody. We assisted in family court cases in Arizona, Georgia, Indiana, Minnesota, Ohio, Tennessee, Texas and Washington.
Organizational issues
There were 6 requests for help from BDSM groups. Two separate incidents involved venues cancelling contracts for BDSM event in two different regions. NCSF strategized with the organizers, bringing in our legal counsel in one case, and in the other reaching out directly to the venue to protest the discrimination. NCSF also assisted with a case involving online defamation against an event, and gave advice on membership groups and how to operate legally.
Criminal issues
There were 16 requests for assistance with criminal issues over the past three months. 6 of those requests involved assistance in dealing with a kink-related sexual assault (one was a defendant). The other 10 incidents include: a request for help with green card issues because of BDSM activities; someone who was being stalked online needed assistance in reporting it and getting an order of protection; several people asked how to deal with an online solicitation from Asian slave traders (I reported the emails to the FBI); provided legal research for a kinky sex worker and referral to nswp.org; and two requests for expert witnesses in criminal cases in Florida and California involving BDSM and alleged domestic violence.
Civil law issues
There were 7 requests for help with civil law issues including: sexual harassment in the workplace because the person was kinky; someone who was told he had to stop being kinky as part of his court-ordered therapy; issues around a sexual surrogacy case; assistance for someone who had their photographs taken from FetLife and posted on YouTube; and 3 cases of alleged libel. These cases took place in California, Colorado, Maryland and New Jersey, among others.
Discrimination
There were 2 requests for help with kink-related discrimination. One person in the South lost their job because they are kinky, and the other needed help with therapy issues involving aspergers and kink behavior.
Unfortunately, due to limited resources the NCSF is only able to take a fraction of the cases that come to us. Many of the complaints we receive do not meet one, or several, of the above criteria. Even under the best circumstances, NCSF can only help a small percentage of those who merit it. All of our work is done by volunteers and we accept no payment for our services.
We are however happy to receive donations earmarked specifically for use in the IRR Program. Click here to donate, Make sure you note "Incident Reporting & Response" or "IRR" in the comment box if you want to restrict your donation. We do provide basic information as resources dictate and referrals to professionals as part of our Kink Aware Professionals database.
The criteria for acceptance listed were developed to meet the primary concerns of our voting constituencies, our Coalition Partners. When the NCSF agrees to take a case the impact can be realized by all of our constituents as a whole and therefore it is up to the policies set in motion by NCSF Coalition Partners to decide whether existing resources allow for a case to be handled effectively.