Newsletter - 1st Quarter 2018
NCSF Elected a New Board and Officers 
At NCSF's Annual Meeting on March 9th in Atlanta, GA, the Coalition Partners elected the Board Members and discussed new and ongoing projects, like Consent Counts which aims to decriminalize sexual conduct between consenting adults.

NCSF was fortunate to have Aida Manduley, MSW, provide a 3-hour diversity training on Sunday for the Board and Staff so we can continue the process of ensuring NCSF is a welcoming and accessible organization for everyone. We're looking forward to our next training!
The Board of Directors of the National Coalition for Sexual Freedom is also pleased to announce the appointment of D. “Choc Trei” Henderson as an NCSF Board Member for a one year term. Choc has been active with NCSF in representing our Coalition Partner, 1st Capital Finance, and heading up the NCSF Southern Advocates team, The House of Trei.
 
Fight Online Censorship!
The new SESTA/FOSTA law
NCSF supports the National Sex Worker Lobby Day on June 1st and the mass direct actions on June 2nd around the country against the FOSTA law which is already having an impact on websites that serve consenting adults in an over-broad effort to stop sex-trafficking. NCSF has been contacted by a number of our constituents who are concerned and would like to advocate for safety, civil rights and offer support.

Local lobby training in the DC area will be provided by NCSF, so please contact us to Find Out More.
Incident Reporting & Response – 1st Quarter 2018 report
NCSF’s IRR program received 87 reports & requests for assistance from individuals, groups and businesses in January, February and March, 2018. That was almost twice as many as the 46 reports & requests in the 4th Quarter 2017, and 38 requests in the 1st Quarter 2017.

Find out what kind of reports we received in the 1st Quarter.
NCSF Thanks Jan-Mar, 2018 -
1st Quarter Donation Report
NCSF Board Members and Choc Dionne, Coalition Partner representative from 1st Capital Finance, gratefully accept a check for $1,240 at the Annual Coalition Partner Meeting from Ms. Atlanta Eagle and Kae with the House of Trei, who co-produced the 1st Capital Finance’s Coalition Partner fundraiser for NCSF on March 3rd. 

Find out who our other donors were in the 1st Quarter of 2018!
Consent Counts Objective
At the Annual Coalition Partners Meeting in Atlanta in March, the Board Members and Coalition Partner Representatives updated the Consent Counts objective to better reflect the work of the program:

Our objective is to decriminalize sexual conduct between consenting adults. As part of this we spread understanding of the need for, and nature of, consent. Our Consent Counts program is designed to assist our communities in promoting a culture of consent through education and providing resources on how to deal with nonconsensual incidents. A chief goal is to decriminalize consensual BDSM (Bondage, Discipline, Dominance/Submission, Sadomasochism) that does not result in serious physical injury by ensuring that consent will be recognized as a valid defense to criminal charges brought under assault laws and other statutes.

Visit our Consent Counts page to find out more!
Northwest Region Community Wide Consent Summit Survey
The National Coalition for Sexual Freedom and several Portland based community partners are exploring hosting a Consent Summit for the Northwest Region in Portland, OR. Your feedback is invaluable as we begin our planning process. Your responses are confidential and will be used exclusively for the purposes of developing this summit. If you live in the Northwest, please take a few minutes to fill out this online survey. This is a community-based survey, not an NCSF survey. 


Please direct any questions to Judy Guerin, NCSF Consent Counts Director, at judy@ncsfreedom.org
NCSF is Out and About!
The women of ONYX Southeast Pearls celebrated NCSF's 21st Anniversary with Chairperson Susan Wright in the Hospitality Suite at LLC in Atlanta in March
NCSF was proud to exhibit at Bound in Boston in March, and we shared our table with Network La Red, a survivor-led, social justice organization that works to end partner abuse.
At the NCSF Hospitality Suite at Southwest Leather Conference with NCSF Northwest Advocates Phoenix B and Adella, along with Susan Wright and our supporters.
NCSF News
Discrimination Against Kinky Parents
“De-Pathologization of Consensual BDSM” written by Susan Wright as Invited Commentary in the Journal of Sexual Medicine, is now available.

This article tracks the discrimination against kinky parents in child custody cases that were reported to NCSF before and after the American Psychiatric Association (APA) differentiated between consensual sexual behavior and the Paraphilic Disorders in their Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fifth Edition (DSM-5).

Being Out as a Kinky Person of Color 
WHY I STARTED PERVERTS OF COLOR

by Jaki Griot

When I began attending local kinky event around 2006, I was often one of the only Black faces in the dungeon. I knew I wanted to learn about rope and kinky power dynamics because I read every book I could find. I was eager to gain real-world exposure to the Kink/BDSM/Leather community and naive about how to establish peer relationships.

Fight in 2018! An Interview With Our Volunteer Coordinator 
by Julian Wolf

Was one of your resolutions for 2018 making a difference? Current politics have you ready to stand up and fight for your freedom? Have extra time and a passion for serving your national community? We'd love to have you work with us! Our volunteer coordinator extraordinaire Keira joined me virtually to answer a few questions about how you can help the work of the NCSF actively this year.

Thanks for joining us! What sort of help does the NCSF need? Is it always sitting at tables?

Keira: Most of the volunteering is actually done via the internet. We are always looking for skilled volunteers for all sorts of projects. We tailor the project to the volunteer. The most common projects require creative skills like writing and graphic design, but we really do find something for everyone. Once we even asked someone to create coloring book pages for us!

NCSF is celebrating our 21st Anniversary this year!
NCSF's year-long 20th Anniversary celebration has now come to a close. We want to thank all of the events that held NCSF Birthday parties for us throughout the past year! We also want to thank rigger/photographer TinyK, mistressme for the ducktape wrapping, and model Katt for letting us use their fabulous photo for our 20th Anniversary postcards.
Media Updates and Web Features
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 swing issues and topics. These stories may be positive, negative, accurate, inaccurate or anywhere in between. Here's a sample of some of our recent featured stories.

NCSF publishes the 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 Updates where appropriate.

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NCSF is a grassroots coalition run by volunteers.
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Box 127
Baltimore, Maryland
21202-3707
(410) 539-4824