UPDATE as of 5/27/13: Everyone, we can breath a bit easier. We have reached our goal of garnering the necessary funding to pay our attorney, Daphne Pattison Silverman of the Silverman Law Group in Austin, Texas, thanks to all of you. We will be closing the event on Facebook to garner said funding, as it will no longer be necessary. We can not express proper thanks to those who donated to or shared our event. You are all angels to us!
From the entire team, we owe you our sincere gratitude…
Many individuals, not only those in the United States and not just animal activists, trumpeted their voice behind the effort to pass a law which labels the creation, sale, purchase, ownership or distribution of animal crush video a felony in the U.S.. Together, we did so to generate more severe penalties for those who inflict said sadism against nonhuman animals. It was the main goal of the effort to see video/depiction of the sexualized torture and murder of animals placed into the same felony-bracket as child pornography.
United, we also did this to protect children in our society. Most everyone has always understood this. A good number of individuals reading this fought for the effort and we know that they will be there, standing tall for the innocent, once again.
Recently, a United States District Judge named Sim Lake decided that animal crush video deserves the label of “free speech” once again, even after everyone’s hard work, their lobbying, their demands to the federal government to criminalize any dealings related to animal crush video, as felony. By throwing-out charges levied against the Texas couple arrested for violating the Animal Crush Video Prohibition Act of 2010, Judge Lake set an early stage for our expected battle to defend the law that we all fought so hard to enact.
See HERE for a copy of Judge Lake’s decision to throw out the charges against the Houston couple:
In the early 80’s, certain individuals were taking a similar stance toward protecting child pornography under the label of “free speech”, such as those connected to staunch ACLU philosophy, and if this were the early 80’s, we would be standing against them in regard to that issue, just as we are now. We want to be clear in stating that we do not hate the ACLU and like-minded ideology. We agree with much of what said individuals stand for, however, in regard to their 1980’s stance on child pornography, they were wrong, just as their stance in regard to animal crush video today, is also wrong.
We are not extreme liberals, nor are we ultra-conservatives. Our philosophies lay somewhere in between and we are bipartisan. We have defeated all of the excuses opposed to generating felony legislation against animal crush video in the past and we will defeat the arguments opposed to implementing section 48 of the United States Constitution to its fullest degree.
The Animal Crush Video Prohibition Act of 2010 does not criminalize video or depiction of animal husbandry slaughter. The Animal Crush Video Prohibition Act of 2010 does not criminalize video or depiction of vivisection footage. The Animal Crush Video Prohibition Act of 2010 does not criminalize video or depiction of hunting acts. The Animal Crush Video Prohibition Act of 2010 does not criminalize video or depiction of any other acts of violence which do not appeal to the prurient interest of those who purchase animal crush video for the explicit purposes of sexual gratification.
There is no “gray area” and the law is specifically tailored, as Congressman Elton Gallegly(Congressperson whom we worked with throughout our campaign and drafted the original law) attests in a recent conversation with Stopcrush.org founder, Marla Stromwolf Patty. Congressman Gallegly stated, “While I am not familiar with the case, based on what you have said it appears that the judge (United States District Judge Sim Lake) did not do his homework. As I am sure you remember, my original bill, after many years, was challenged all the way to the US Supreme Court. After their ruling, I made a couple of modifications. It was reintroduced, successfully passed, and it was signed into law. In drafting the bill we were very sensitive in making sure the 1st amendment was protected.”
If you are not familiar with what animal crush videos are, it is animal torture pornography. The majority of the videos feature scantily clad(or nude) women torturing animals in the most horrific ways imaginable, for as long as possible, until the animal dies. In most of the videos, the women use their high-heels to crush the animals(hence the terminology, “animal crush videos”). It has no place in civilized society and those who produce, distribute or buy such horrific depictions, are simply dangerous. Would you want your companion animal, or your child living around the corner from an individual who pleases themselves to such imagery? Our guess is that most of you would be disinclined to say yes and our opinion is that such individuals either need intensive psychiatric treatment, or a prison cell.
In the wake of this poorly thought out ruling, we have sought the services of a Texas lawyer who is partial to animal protection causes. She has agreed to handle the legal groundwork at an extremely reduced rate. She believes that it will require 100 hours of work, including the filing of a motion for permission to file an Amicus brief, which will likely be granted, so long as the ruling is appealed(which we are counting on). She will then have to research the history of the case, animal crush video in general(which we will gladly help her with), draft all of the necessary documents/information, and then file the brief, as well as represent us.
Even a minimal charge for legal fees will still be rather expensive, however, and we are not a large group with any form of fundraising department, nor have we ever been very good at asking for money. It is likely that it will cost over $5,000 to start the process and one of us will also have to fly to Texas to represent the organization. So, we do need your help. For those working with a larger, well-funded organization who are reading this, we would most certainly accept your assistance and work together to fight this ruling. We need unity, now more than ever.
Donations can be made through the main page(click the organizational logo at the top of either website for the main page) on either the Stopcrush.org or the AELLA websites through our donate tab in the right hand column. if you would rather send a check, please contact us via email at stopcrushteam@yahoo.com. You can also contact Marla Stormwolf Patty or Anthony Damiano directly. Please specify “amicus brief” along with your donation. We will let everyone know when funding for the case is no longer necessary.
Please, also continue to sign and share our petition to the United Kingdom Parliament ~ Outlaw animal crush video by enacting legislation with severe penalties HERE.
The entire team owes you our gratitude.