DALLAS – Many years ago, I found myself out front of an adult entertainment industry trade show in New Orleans, briefly sharing the convention center steps with a group of outraged, disgusted, sign-holding Christians.
At first, I figured they were there for the same event I was, just a different purpose. Whereas I had come to “network” and “build relationships” (which roughly translates to “collect a stack of business cards from people with whom I will never speak again, especially about the exciting deal they just told me they were very interested in consummating”) I assumed the assembled faithful had come to protest the porn expo I was there to attend.
As it turned out, we had been brought together by a scheduling snafu: As fate would have it, their family-friendly, churchly organization had rented space in the same convention center as we smut-minded porno industry heathens, without either party learning of the other’s event.
With any luck, a similarly entertaining scene might meet the attendees of eXXXotica Dallas, which in a delightful serving of piping hot irony will take place at the Kay Bailey Hutchison Convention Center deep in the heart of Big Hair.
So what, you ask?
Hosting an adult industry trade show in a venue named for former U.S. Senator Hutchison is a bit like having a medicinal marijuana symposium in a building called Harry J. Anslinger Memorial Hall. While less vocal in her social conservatism than some of her more extreme Republican peers, nobody would mistake Hutchinson for a champion of free speech when it comes to sexually explicit expression.
The sort of folks who turn out at the polls in eager, lever-pulling droves to throw their support behind conservatives of Hutchison’s bent probably aren’t going to be too jazzed about a sex industry trade show in a building named for one of their local heroines.
I’m not sure how much thought, if any, the organizers of eXXXotica put into their choice of venue, nor do I have any idea how it will play out. Perhaps eXXXotica Dallas will come and go with nary a peep of protest from the local socially-conservative contingent, but I won’t be one bit surprised if attendees find themselves confronted by a throng who aren’t exactly displaying the unique brand of homespun hospitality for which Texans are famous.
On the bright side, there’s nothing quite like a gaggle of loudly disapproving Christians to draw unanticipated attention to all things porn-related. What’s more, over the course of the past several years, it seems the rest of the public has become more apt to join us in making fun of the protesters than to join the protesters in calling for the courts to ignore the past few decades of First Amendment jurisprudence and ban what we do for a living.
Time will tell what sort of experience awaits eXXXotica Dallas attendees, both inside the Hutchison Center and beyond its walls.
Of course, even deep in the heart of socially-conservative Texas, there’s always an opportunity to put our differences aside and come together in the name of brotherhood. Even if slogan-chanting, anti-porn types do show up to tell eXXXotica’s attendees and exhibitors just how displeased their Lord has become with their sinfulness, the answer isn’t to get mad, but to make the most of the situation.
If someone approaches you holding a sign deriding the adult industry as the ruin of all humanity, don’t argue with them. Instead, ask if you can take a quick selfie while holding their sign. If they read to you from the Bible, return the favor by reading to them from marketing materials being distributed at the show.
Better yet, don’t wait for the protesters to engage you. Take the initiative and start the bridge-building and olive-branch-offering on your own. Tell a protester you want to trade “likes” on Facebook: They can like your porn studio and you can like Jesus!
If this offer doesn’t prevent the sun going down on their anger, I don’t know what will….
