I'm adding a second hot topic to the section this week, partly inspired by the one Thorn started (about where the Scene is going). As folks are discussing in that thread, the Scene has undergone exponential growth in recent years. With this growth has also come a steadily increasing number of busts and other run-ins with legal agencies.

I'd like the folks who visit gloria-brame.com to be the first to raise their awareness that, under the current Administration, we will need to be ever-more vigilant about protecting our civil rights. We must use discretion in the pursuits of our pleasures but without caving to fear and paranoia.

Most of you will never feel the heat directly. But don't be surprised if BDSM clubs come under attack or if busts get bigger and more sensational. It is hard to criticize Bush's policy on terrorism, but his domestic policy, in my opinion (and please feel free to disagree, folks!), is leading American down a perilous path, particularly as regards free speech and civil liberties.

So how can we SMers protect ourselves? First, by knowing our local laws and doing out best to abide by them. Second, by limiting our risks through our choices of partners and the conduct of our relationships.

Ask yourself--are you aware of the risks of doing SM stuff in your community? Do you think that you are safe from legal prosection, no matter what you do in the bedroom, as long as your partner consents? Do you know if it is legal for you to attend SM clubs in your area?

Judging by what travels through my email and on various mailing lists I belong to, the people most likely to get busted right now are pro dommes and victims of toxic relationships (i.e., vindictive ex'es ratting people out to the cops). Seems to me that many of those arrests would never have occurred if the people involved had demonstrated common sense.

If you are a pro, at the very least, you should have a competent attorney who you can call at a moment's notice; and you should dot all the i's and cross all the t's when it comes to acquiring business licenses and other legal or tax documents. Don't locate your business in a neighborhood restricted to residences (there are a lot of prudish neighbors out there who will call the cops if they think you're weird). And, unless you work in Nevada, keep your clothes on during sessions. In the 49 other states, the moment a pro takes her clothes off, she can be prosecuted for prostitution.

Obviously, it's much harder to insulate yourself against lovers who either go nuts on you or turn out to be totally different from the way they initially represented themselves. But you can practice damage-control when ending a relationship by swallowing some of your own anger for the sake of a peaceful transition (which is good common sense in ALL relationships).

There was recently a "relationship gone terribly wrong" arrest in NYC--it's still up in the air whether the DA will prosecute but the basic story is as follows. Someone's ex-sub called his house and got into a screaming match with his new lady. Ex-sub then called the cops and said her ex had videos depicting her taking beatings from him. The cops showed up on the ex's doorstep and he let them in, and also showed them to his library of SM videos. (My guess is that he assumed they were all legal because they all showed consenting adults.) That was all the cops needed. He was hauled off to the pokey and his life turned upside down. Stay tuned to find out if the DA ever takes this one before a judge. Right now the NCSF is working frantically to talk them out of it.

Anyway, during the course of the threads about this case in NYC, I posted some generic advice on dealing with cops, should you be unlucky enough to ever have them show up at your door. The editor of The Crystal Bridge ( http://www.crystal-bridge.com/brame0102.html ) asked if she could print it, I said yes, and now, here below, to spare you a click, is the text she reprinted:

                **************************

As a pervert who's been around for a while, I'd like to offer some very basic (layman's) advice on dealing with cops.

If cops show up at your door, ask to see the warrant and READ IT to be sure you know exactly what they are looking for and why. Then watch them like a hawk. This is an area where cops make lots of technical mistakes, and just one juicy technical mistake can get the whole thing thrown out before it ever comes to trial. If they are authorized only to seek in certain areas but walk into another area, you've got them on a technicality that could save your ass.

If cops show up at your door without a warrant, DO NOT LET THEM IN. You are not obliged to, legally. Ask them to return with a warrant, please, and then call your lawyer immediately.

If cops have a clean warrant, let them in immediately and without protest but DO NOT TALK TO THEM. Do not believe them when they say it will be better or easier for you down the line if you cooperate now. They're lying.

If they ask you to go down to the station with them, but are not arresting you or filing charges, DO NOT GO WITHOUT A LAWYER! Do not volunteer anything. Do not believe them when they tell you this is in your best interest. It never is. It's always and uniquely in the interest of law enforcement.

If they arrest and Mirandize you, SHUT UP. Go quietly and keep your mouth SHUT until your lawyer arrives. (If you're wildly lucky and they goof and don't Mirandize you, make a mental note and tell your lawyer as soon as s/he arrives. End of arrest.)

NEVER resist arrest, under any circumstances. Don't argue with cops and most of all do not in any way do anything that could be perceived as attempt to flee or use of physical force (light pushing included). If you do either, you may end up in jail on THOSE charges! Don't waste your breath protesting your innocence or threatening lawsuits. Stay calm and call your lawyer at your first opportunity.

DO NOT SPEAK TO COPS, DA's or ANYONE else on the law enforcement side UNTIL you have either spoken to your attorney or (preferably!) have your lawyer there with you, guiding you on what to answer.

Many many years ago, when the scene was barely organized and SM was much more readily prosecuted, an attorney friend of mine also in the Scene handed me a pre-printed card he gave to all his clients: the card basically said "I will have no statements to make until my attorney is present." It's the best legal advice I've ever received.

copyright#2001 Gloria G. Brame

Gloria-this is all really interesting; I wanted to add a few things to this; first of all up until last year I was not aware that some states still had sodomy laws in effect, and that these could be allowed to exist in America as I feel that making any consensual sexual act among adults illegal is a direct violation of the part of the Constitution about the pursuit of life liberty and happiness. Until the government does something to get rid of these laws as unconstitutional, I am refusing to travel to any state that has any law limiting sexual freedom in place. With Ashcroft in office, I am not hopeful about that happening anytime soon.

I was as equally as devastated with the way our current President IMHO thieved the election, the smug self righteous piety of the religious right about it, and most of all the election of Ashcorft in a direct appeal to the religious right as I was the tragedies of late this year, this entire year to me has seemed to be a step backwards for American freedom.

In re the law, I have thankfully had no problems there, but I will say that after my last girlfriend left me both financially and emotionallly devastated she proceeded to justify herself by telling those who were critical of her abandoning me the details of our intimate/fetish activities, of "what a pervert I was" and implying that she participated in certain things under duress (things she said she loved to do, totally accepted and intiated) and that I "took advantage of her" sexually, which hurt me. I am so submissive sexually that I never make any type of first move sexually at all without full permission from the woman I am with, I never intiate sex. So then I got the reputation among her family and friends that I "forced" her to participate in my fetishes, and that I deserved everything I got. I was reminded of this in the story about the guy who was arrested for the videos after the "relationship gone wrong". Thank God there were no police involved but the guy she knew who was calling me up and accusing me of "taking advantage" of her and being a "rapist" did not help my attitude, nor the fact that the man she left me for and married was very all-American macho and totally vanilla. If I go to any mainstream person about what happened I am told I deserved to lose the relaitonship for being such a pervert.

For those California folks it may behoove you to check the books for Domestic violence. you will find that a finding of physical injury however slight requires mandatory arrest. Whether you and yours want to or not! So, if the police have reason to believe you have committed a battery with or without signs of such, then someone will go to jail. Also, if one of you state that it was mutual... meaning each struck the other.... then you will both go to jail - the DA prosecutes even if you do not file charges. I dont know how the clubs do it, but I dont go to clubs to play - good reason to keep it private

Gloria,
       As usual, you nail it directly on the head with a deadblow hammer. i believe that the first thing that people probably need to do, as you have already suggested, is be aware of the law in the area that they are living, fornicating or simply innocently beating the shit out of someone. I remember a judge telling me once that "ignorance is not am excuse in the eyes of the law." Justin Translation: don't be stupid. I believe that there are 13 ( or is it 18?) states remaining that have laws making it criminal to give or receive oral sex ( even though thats not "really" sex) or engage in anal sex. Including the one I live in. I am not so much worried about the government truly trying to regulate sex in a pointed crusade, but I would advice against butt fucking your parnter on the police department steps. Law enforcement has had its bell rung too many time over the last couple of years to continue along the same lines of "attack" that they have used in the past. I would imagine that there are prosecutors across the nation who have nightmares about Judy calling from the NCSF. But if its made easy for them, if they can nail your ass to a tree for a code violation, such as working in a gated community that prohibits home businesses, as a pro, then dang....I ain't got to much sympathy. You also mention that our civil liberties may now be at risk, like never before (at least in my short lifetime). America seems happy to trade them off right now, for feeling safer from terroists. Somehow, I don't think that we need to give up those liberties to be safe(r) than we were before Sept 11, though we will surely have to change the ways that we approach certain things, such as getting on an airplane. Under the current situation I don't think its unreasonable to think that as far as bdsm is concerned, this may lead to the heterosexual version of Stonewall. Things will continue to be the way they are until more people are willing to:

1) Vote
2) contact their congressmen and senators and let them know that they do keep up AND care what goes on in their towns, state capitols and Washington.

Gays have proven that you do not need be the majority to be taken seriously. However, so long as we are willing to sit back on our tushies and not do *anything* about it, we really can't expect things to be much different can we?

Justin Medlin
Going To Buttfuck
gloria with, of course
  Poodle Flair

Gosh Justin, give me a serious guilt complex - but damn if your not right about your statement

"However, so long as we are willing to sit back on our tushies and not do *anything* about it, we really can't expect things to be much different can we?"

Kate
going to the bathtub to soak her well buttfucked butt

To: GloriaBrame

An exceptional topic, Doctor -- and indeed very timely. :-)

My attorney made a comment to me several years ago that rang true in my thinking about many things (not just SM). She said (in effect) that it's not so much blind obedience to archaic laws that the enforcement machine seeks nearly as much as how much work they'd have to do to nail you.

Her point was: Why go out of your way to make it easier for enforcement to HAVE to take action? As Justin pointed out, there are still several states which outlaw anal or oral sex. Nevertheless, are there nightly raids on people's homes or FBI agents jumping out from under the bed with arrest warrants for such 'criminal' behavior? Of course not. Yet give just about any agency even the slightest bit of overt ammunition to use against you, and they almost always will. It's 'easy money' for them.

The more cases that are publicized as ultimately having been wasted effort by law enforcement, the less apt they'll be to go after similar ones. Ideally, the best solution would be for law makers to revise or strike ridiculous laws in the first place. Law makers are voted for -- and as Justin also alluded to, if you've helped put someone in office who will support your views, then you've done something specific about solving your own potential problem. If you do nothing, then expect nothing -- and don't complain about it. Nevertheless, it's not really the average Joe or Josephine doing their thing consensually and without potential for future retribution in their bedroom that seems to be the target, but J&J taking their adventures outside their bedroom (or any extrapolation of that concept). Exposure is risky by its nature. Just by doing so, you've taken the first step in making it easiER for law enforcement to react. And in today's climate of being able to 'justify' privacy intrusion under the guise of 'protecting public safety', it's probably a wise precaution to at least look under the bed these days before getting on it. 'Exposure' is much easier to accomplish than it used to be. A smart person doesn't fear that. Simply use that knowledge intelligently and take appropriate protective action. Again, if you think the intrusiveness may go too far (even under the current circumstances), then avail yourself of the system to do something responsible about it.

I realize this all may seem as though I'm advocating a 'do it in the dark' philosophy, but that's hardly the case. What I AM advocating is that it's an intelligent strategy to not go out of your way to antagonize a potential response. There's a major difference. And indeed as you suggest, Doctor, the greatest deterrent to having a problem is in being personally responsible. KNOW what you're doing in the first place. KNOW what the actual risks are (in ADVANCE). KNOW how to minimize them. And for goodness sake, KNOW how to apply contingencies when they're needed BEFORE they're needed.

PS: Just a side note for anyone unfamiliar with the term 'Mirandize'. The Fifth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution provides for a right against being required by law enforcement to make statements which might be self-incriminating. As part of U.S. legal procedure, a law enforcement official MUST advise you of that right before any statement you might make can be used as part of any prosecution. If you open your mouth AFTER you've been advised, you're potentially incriminating yourself. As advocated in post #1, don't do it. THAT is one of the reasons why you would want your attorney right by your side.

Have a safe 2002,
Thorn

To Justin ......

As usual, i enjoy your rather outspoken and somewhat "realistic negativity" about "life as it is."

***"I remember a judge telling me once that "ignorance is not am excuse in the eyes of the law." Justin Translation: don't be stupid."***

How true .....but there is also ....... "don't" be naive or all that trusting of what you have learned or been told about "life ... liberty and the pursuit of happiness."

It really is not my intent to be as negative as my words may sound ..... it is just a fact of life that i have been painfully exposed to over the years. Be is called "lack of common sense" ..... "stupidity" ... or maybe even "sheltered from the real world" ... i do not know ... and really it does not matter. Realities have a way of sneaking up and smacking you right in the face when you least expect it ..... negating the "facts" as you know them.

How many of us "consult a lawyer" before we "live our lives" as we have been taught to? How many of us would recognize "those who sit in the dark ... waiting," as we live our lives under the guise of both our constitutional "freedom" and our "human" freedom to be. Simplicity of living, imho, has long since disappeared and i doubt that it shall ever be a part of living again.

If "ignorance is not an excuse in the eyes of the law" ... then pray tell what is "obscurity in what the laws are that are in the system" .... "intent of the words of the law" .... "interpretation of the law" ... or even "liberty and justice for all"?

Seriously .... knowing the law is not enough ...... having a lawyer is not enough ...
There are many variables which i have found out about the hard way. Honesty ... Truth ..... Respect and oh so many other words seem to have little to no place in that world.

Ahhhhhh just another heard from

Storm

Storm,
      Actually if I come across in a negative fashion then I have failed. Poodles are not negative, they are happy go lucky realists. My main point (I think) was to point out that it is better to know what the consequences may be before you go blindly forward. After you have some idea of what MAY befall you then you can make a much more edu-ma-cated `cision. I sure as hell do not sit around studying law books before I beat on someone. I have been known to beat the waitress that was waiting on a table of pervs in a back room who wanted to try......everything. Don't recommend it and it could have been bad had her manager walked in. So it was an informed choice on my part. Same withe the violet Wand demo in the Honda bodyshop office. She was cute and kept asking questions, even if her mom or older sister that was with her did look on somewhat aghast. The Hertz guys looked kinda shocked too, but what the hell. Now while I might do the things I just mentioned again, ask me if I will go to a play party in New Jersey at a hotel that has a liquor license? Nope, nada, not happening. I am neither Partyman or Jailbird. I may not be good looking, but I am too cute for jail for a reason such as that. With all the information that is available at our fingertips we should be able to make decisions so that we do not INADVERTENTLY end up doing handcuff play with someone who has a uniform fetish to the degree that they wear one everyday to work. Thats sorta kinda my point. But you know us poodle people.......

Justin Medlin
YDWPF!