We hope you are staying safe and well, practicing social distancing. We are all being affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, and we know that many in our communities are facing serious challenges today and for some time to come.
With the cancellation of so many events, the NCSF Board, staff and volunteers miss getting out to see everyone and hear what's happening in our communities and what you need from us. Someday we will be able to safely get together in person, and we look forward to that day.
Meanwhile, NCSF continues to connect virtually with our communities and members. NCSF held a virtual Coalition Partner Town Hall on April 5th to discuss the current situation, with clubs, groups and businesses sharing information. NCSF plans to hold our next CP Town Hall on May 3rd to continue these discussions and help provide information and resources. You can also log into the new Coalition Partner Forum to get resources and talk about what's going on.
If you are producing a virtual event, please let NCSF know at ncsfreedom@ncsfreedom.org We'd like to stay connected!
Take care,
~The NCSF Board Members
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Sex in the Time of Corona: Tips for Groups
Guest Blog by RUSSELL J STAMBAUGH, PHD DST CSSP
This document is the product of the National Coalition for Sexual Freedom’s (NCSF) Board of Directors Educational Outreach Committee chaired by Susan Wright, and consisting of Tess Zachary of APEX, Matt Connolly, Western Region Polyamory Advocate and myself as Professionals Advocate.
The social distancing behaviors (we are using the media friendly term here even though the behaviors public health officials are recommending actually constitute physical distancing, not social isolation) recommended by public health authorities
https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/prevent-getting-sick/social-distancing.html
pose a severe challenge to those who crave the physical intimacy of sex, including many non-sexual behaviors in BDSM and kink settings. Many BDSM, poly and swinging social clubs have stopped meeting and many events have been cancelled in compliance with state quarantine provisions and the best medical advice. There are some indications that social discourse in many such groups is way down, and this raises the topic of what social clubs might do to help their members and the public cope with the disruptions imposed by social distancing and illness. NCSF created this resource to provide support for clubs and assemble some suggestions about best practices culled from NCSF Coalition Partners, psychological theory, and the new rules of social and sexual engagement with strangers.
First, the basics. Protection from COVID-19 means having sex with fewer partners and only with those who you know are healthy and managing their risks well. Because the COVID-19 virus has a 14-day incubation and hardly anyone has been tested, it is very difficult to know who is a carrier but not yet symptomatic. While obviously ill people can be avoided by simply moving away from them, being intimate with a non-symptomatic carrier creates a high risk of transmission. Yet neither you nor they will know who is ill. This makes it risky to meet and recommends that people stay 6 feet or more from one another, and it is no wonder that many clubs have cancelled all events and stopped meeting face to face as a result.
Read on...
Originally published on Elephant in the Hot Tub: Kink in Context.
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Check the Box: We are not prurient
By Susan Wright, NCSF Spokesperson
The U.S. Small Business Administration’s (“SBA”)
COVID-19 Economic Injury Disaster Loan Application
has one box you have to check or your business is not eligible to receive a loan. It says: “Applicant does not present live performances of a
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, of a prurient sexual nature.”
This language dates back to 1995 when the SBA proposed
a rule
to exclude “small businesses engaging in lawful activities of an
obscene, pornographic, or prurient sexual nature.” The SBA included examples such as “nude dancing, or a book, magazine or video store containing merchandise of a prurient sexual nature.”
You may be wondering if this applies to your club or business. What does prurient really mean?
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2020 Coalition Partner Meeting
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The Coalition Partners, Board Members, NCSF Advocates and Staff attended the 23rd Annual Meeting of the NCSF Coalition Partners in Houston, TX, on March 7-8, 2020. The meeting again featured online participation this year, allowing more people than ever to participate without having to travel.
The Coalition Partners elected the new Board Members and discussed new and ongoing projects, like Metamour Day and the NCSF 2020 Consent Survey. The CPs also approved the financial statements for 2019 and the 2020 budget, and reviewed the Annual Reports for 2019. Tess Zachary, current Chairperson of the Board, received the Volunteer of the Year award for her dedicated service to NCSF.
Read on to find out more...
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NCSF would also like to thank Colette Clubs, a Coalition Partner, for hosting the NCSF Consent Social at Bang Bang on Sunday evening where Board Members were able to network with local lifestyle members and talk about consent. NCSF also thanks Zach Budd for providing his workshop “The Five Pillars of Consent” during the consent social, providing attendees with a codified, easy way of establishing consent.
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K
eira Harbison Receives Service Award
At the Annual Coalition Partner Meeting, Keira Harbison stepped down from the Board, having served as Vice-Chair for two years. Keira volunteered for NCSF for eight and a half years, serving as a Board Member, Volunteer Director, KAP Director and Chair of the "I am NCSF" committee.
Keira also founded
Metamour Day
, the February 28th holiday created to honor the relationships between you and your metamours, however that might look. Check out the Metamour Day cards on the NCSF website!
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Incident Reporting and Response
1st Quarter 2020 Report
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NCSF’s Incident Reporting & Response received 36 reports & requests for assistance from individuals, groups and businesses in January, February and March 2020. This is nearly the same as the 38 requests received in the 4th Quarter of 2019, however only 2 reports were received in the latter half of March.
NCSF maintains the confidentiality of those who come to us for help, however we balance that need with the need to report the services we are providing and to provide the community with a record of where the need is the greatest.
The 36 reports include:
- 15 groups or people dealing with groups requested resources
- 11 requests for resources and information involving criminal legal matters
- 5 requests by professionals or for referrals to kink and polyamory aware professionals
- 3 reports involving child custody
- 2 reports regarding civil matters
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NCSF Thanks!
1st Quarter 2020 Donations
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NCSF thanks
Dark Odyssey Winter Fire
, the
DC Dommes
and the
DC Sub Club
, a Coalition Partner, for hosting the NCSF VIP Reception that raised $4,850 for NCSF. Dark Odyssey also sponsored a Silent Auction and raffles that raised $2,832 for each of the three beneficiaries: NCSF, The Effing Foundation and the Pride Center of Maryland in Baltimore. The total raised for NCSF at Dark Odyssey Winter Fire was $7,682!
Thank you to
Fetish Friday Indianapolis
, a NCSF Supporting Member, for donating $4,500 from the proceeds of Fetish Friday February 2020!
NCSF thanks
Square Peg Toys
for donating $800 in January from the sales of their make a dildo workshop.
NCSF thanks
Jaiya
, a NCSF Coalition Partner, for donating $730 to the NCSF Foundation during the first quarter of 2019!
NCSF thanks
MSDB,
a Coalition Partner, for donating a total of $695 to NCSF raised at this year’s Silent Auction as part of their 20th Annual Bizarre Bazaar.
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NCSF hosted a virtual discussion on April 4th at 7:30 PM for
Virtual AZ Pride
! We provided a tour of our programs and educational resources on our website, including Consent Counts which offers sample consent policies and guides for groups on how to deal with consent incidents. We also talked about NCSF’s special initiatives like Consent Month and Metamour Day.
Arizona typically holds their Pride in April rather than June because of the cooler weather. While we could not physically be together this April, this is a time when our community needed to come together and support one another even more than ever. And that is why LGBTQ+ organizations across Arizona came together to present the first-ever Virtual Arizona Pride on April 4-5, 2020, which included livestreamed online events such as online drag performances, musician and DJ sets, educational discussions, activist trainings, LGBTQ+ history events, and other offerings promoting the spirit of Pride.
NCSF is proud to be a part of tapping into the vitality and creativity of our communities to think of new ways for us to come together to celebrate, learn, and support each other during this time. We look forward to participating in more virtual events!
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NCSF at Creating Change in Dallas
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NCSF exhibited at
Creating Change
in Dallas, TX, on January 15-18, 2020. The Creating Change Conference is run by the National LGBTQ Task Force, is the foremost political, leadership, and skills-building conference for the LGBTQ social justice movement.
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Liz Newsom, LCSW-Supervisor, is a NCSF Board Member and her therapy practice, Realistic Expectations PLLC, is a NCSF Coalition Partner.
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Ruby B. Johnson, LCSW, is the Coalition Partner representative for PolyDallas Millennium and Black & Poly, and has served on the NCSF Board of Directors.
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NCSF at Poly Living East
NCSF exhibited at
Poly Living East
on February 7-9 in Philadelphia. This was the 15th annual Poly Living East that was produced by Loving More.
Jackie "Bebe" Harris decorated the NCSF table with our
Consent Signs,
offering a variety of consent slogans suitable for a variety of consent cultures within the kink and non-monogamy communities.
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The Benefits of Coalition Partner Membership
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NCSF hosts a Coalition Partner Town Hall online every Quarter to discuss important issues facing our communities today.
In January, we talked about serving your neurodiverse members and clients. At our last CP Town Hall, we talked about the current impact of the pandemic on groups, clubs, businesses and the people in our lives. At our CP Town Hall in October, we created the basis for our new
Key Concepts for Clubs
! Join NCSF today and take advantage of all our Coalition offers.
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Show your support for NCSF and your appreciation for consent culture with products from our NCSF and Consent Counts shops! Every purchase helps us work harder and spread our message to more people. There's a wide variety of merchandise to choose from, highlighting NCSF or the Consent Counts logo.
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NCSF Media Updates are a sampling of recent stories printed in US newspapers, magazines, and selected websites containing significant mention of BDSM-leather-fetish, polyamory, or Lifestyle issues and topics. These stories may be positive, negative, accurate, inaccurate or anywhere in between.
NCSF publishes the Media Updates to provide readers with a comprehensive look at what media outlets are writing about these topics and to urge everyone to make comments that dispute stereotypes about alternative sexuality. NCSF permits and encourages readers to forward these Media Updates where appropriate.
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NCSF is a grassroots coalition run by volunteers.
Your donations go directly to our advocacy efforts.
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Get In Touch!
822 Guilford Avenue
Box 127
Baltimore, Maryland
21202-3707
(410) 539-4824
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