The Free Speech Coalition recently announced the winners of its 2009 “FSC Awards,” and most of the names on the list are familiar to adult industry professionals. When you start listing tireless industry proponents like Larry Flynt, John Stagliano and Stormy Daniels, you realize the FSC has put together a list of the elite players amongst us.But just because we recognized the names on the list didn’t mean YNOT could just give the FSC a free pass when, in fact, it’s so much more fun to be a pain in the ass! So for the sake of thoroughness, we pinned down the FSC’s Executive Director Diane Duke, and asked her to justify three of the winners on the list, wondering if we might succeed in catching her off guard. Seriously, imagine the fun if she couldn’t manage to justify even one of them!

We started with what should seem like an obvious choice in Ron Jeremy, who was awarded the “Positive Image Award” for a male performer. Sure, we all know who this guy is, but other than having sex with our industry’s most beautiful women – what has he done for us lately?

“Ron is always out there bringing adult entertainment into mainstream conversation,” Duke explained, then listed off an impressive bunch of accomplishments this past year alone.

Duke pointed out a few things you may not know that Jeremy has been up to recently. For starters, Ron has been on a debate tour this year, and has debated Craig Gross, founder of the anti-pornography Christian group XXX Church. I imagine the debates start with Gross (what a great name for an anti-porn zealot!) explaining that masturbation is bad, mmkay, followed by Ron whipping it out and… no, we’re sure Ron keeps it respectful and academic.

Ron has also been a spokesperson for the “Restricted to Adults” (RTA) label, which was created by the Association of Sites Advocating Child Protection (ASACP). In that job, Ron has appeared on an RSA public service announcement that reminded parents that they too had a role to play in keeping children away from adults-only content.

Duke also added that Ron has been highly visible this year, with a profile in Time Magazine, plus numerous sightings of him stalking the ladies at the “Mercedes Benz Fashion Week” in New York City.

So okay, we’ll give Ron a pass. But then, we always knew we would. But Duke wasn’t off the hook yet, so next up was Video Secrets, who was awarded the “Business of the Year Award, Internet.”

On this one, Duke was starting off with a disadvantage because clearly YNOT should have won this award. But we were willing to listen.

“Video Secrets exemplifies excellence in all aspects of their business,” she started. “This year has proven difficult for the adult entertainment industry with companies downsizing or going out of business due to the recession. That being said, Video Secrets has continued their unwavering support of the industry as is apparent in their numerous sponsorships of conferences and events.”

So part of the reason they won was because they survived!

It has indeed been a tough year for the industry, and in times like this we start to understand why any industry needs stable leaders at the top of their field. And Duke is definitely right that the few companies who do step up and sponsor conferences and events are the companies that allow these events to happen in the first place.

As organizers of Cybernet Expo, we’re absolutely aware how vital these stable sponsors are for putting on events. Now, if we could just get Video Secrets to sponsor Cybernet in San Francisco, we’d be even more convinced at this point.

Sensing we were probably still on the fence, our minds wandering to the upcoming sales pitch we planned to give Video Secrets about the staggering number of benefits to San Francisco-based events, Duke continued.

“They have aptly earned the award of FSC Internet Business of the Year with a successful business model that embraces the latest in Internet technology to build real-time relationships with their consumers. A cutting edge business model, support for the industry and high professional and ethical standards has earned Video Secrets Internet Business of the Year.”

Okay, sounds like some thought was put into this choice too, although we still think YNOT got robbed! And all kidding aside, the reasons that Duke cited here are indeed very important factors when deciding which companies stand apart from the crowd. There are a lot of excellent Internet companies who help drive technology forward, and who support the industry in big picture ways. We were glad to see that one of these companies was selected for this award.

So we had one last chance to nail Duke, Colbert style, and what better award to question than something as frivolous as the “Woman of the Year” award? As IF this industry needs women in the first place! So sell us on this “Peggy Oettinger” person, Duke, if you can.

“Peggy was part of the Adam and Eve group that fought the obscenity charges in North Carolina and prevailed,” Duke reminded us, and my heart sunk. Damn, an industry legal hero – we were starting to realize that the FSC had actually put some thought into this.

“She became CEO of Sinclair Institute when it was founded in 1991,” Duke continued. Duke pointed out that Sinclair produces a number of sex-positive products that are geared towards enhanced sex for couples, and donates more than a third of its profits to the fight against HIV/AIDS.

You win this time Duke, but just wait until next year!

Editor’s Note: Other award winners this year include Hustler founder Larry Flynt for the “Legacy Award,” director and Evil Angel owner John Stagliano for “Man of the Year,” super-babe and Wicked Pictures director Stormy Daniels for “Positive Image Award, Female Performer,” novelty company Screaming O for “Business of the Year, Novelty Company” and the popular “Titan Media” for “Business of the Year, Production Company.”