National Coalition for Sexual Freedom

In 1997 the NCSF was founded by Susan Wright, under the auspices of the New York SM Activists. Black Rose, The Eulenspiegel Society, Gay Male S/M Activists, National Leather Association International, and the Society of Janus were its founding coalition partners. ==Mission==

The NCSF's mission as described on its web page is: The NCSF's mission has changed since its founding. In 2002 the rights of swingers, polyamorous people, and some other alternative sexuality groups were added to its mission. ==Programs==

NCSF's Education Outreach Program provides education for professionals about the BDSM-Leather-Fetish, Swing and Polyamory communities, information for members of the BDSM-Leather-Fetish, Swing and Polyamory communities concerning consent and legal issues that may affect them, and support in the outreach and education efforts of those communities’ groups, clubs and events to local law enforcement, service agencies and authorities. The Kink And Polyamory Aware Professionals Directory, formerly known as the Kink Aware Professionals list (KAP list), has been maintained by the NCSF since January 2006. It is a directory of professionals who have “volunteered to be available to be contacted by people involved in ‘kinky’ sexuality (leather, BDSM, fetish, polyamory, the Lifestyle, etc.)” NCSF's Media Outreach Program provides sound bites and tactics for its advocates and allies in dealing with the media. It also regularly provides media training and conducts interviews. Consent Counts: In 2006, NCSF was part of a leather leadership roundtable at the Creating Change conference that discussed the goals of the BDSM-leather-fetish communities, particularly the decriminalization of BDSM. A subsequent town hall meeting at the Leather Leadership Conference == Research ==

From 2005–2013, NCSF's Incident Reporting & Response program collected reports from constituents that the American Psychiatric Association's Diagnostic and Statistical Manual DSM-IV-TR paraphilias section was being used in criminal and civil proceedings to informally “diagnose” kink-identified individuals as unable to control their behavior and therefore unfit to retain custody of their children. The APA's Paraphilias Subworkgroup posted its proposed revisions to the DSM-5 in February 2010, that differentiated consensual paraphilias from paraphilic disorders, and this was largely successful in changing the way BDSM behavior by a parent is considered by family courts during a child custody hearing, typically removing BDSM behavior as a detrimental factor in those cases. As word spread with the publication of the DSM-5 in May 2013, the number of cases reported to NCSF's IRR dropped significantly, from 124 parents reporting issues with child custody in 2008 down to 15 parents in 2017. NCSF's 2015 Psychological Functioning and Violence Victimization and Perpetration survey found that only 9.8% of the 816 respondents stated they are completely open about their involvement in BDSM, while the rest were closeted to varying degrees due to the stigma that is still associated with kink behavior. The majority of participants reported having been victims of violence (26% reported being assaulted while 42% reported being sexually assaulted) but participants themselves were not prone to perpetrating violence, with low rates of aggression proneness, sexual aggression, and endorsement of rape myths. Defined as being a victim of a crime based on actual or perceived BDSM practitioner/kinky status, 7.7% of participants also reported they had been victims of a BDSM-based hate crime. == Legal ==

Nitke v. Gonzales: On December 11, 2001, the NCSF filed a lawsuit in New York City's federal court with Barbara Nitke, a New York City artist who has been exploring issues of sexual relationship and desire through photography since 1982. This historic lawsuit against The United States of America challenged the constitutionality of the CDA's obscenity statutes on the grounds that they violate the free speech of Internet content providers and inhibit the discussion of sexual issues on the Internet among consenting adults. The attorney for the case is John Wirenius, author of First Amendment, First Principles: Verbal Acts and Freedom of Speech (Holmes & Meier Publishers, Inc., 2000). United States, Appellee v. Miles: On March 25, 2014, NCSF successfully motioned to file a brief as amicus curiae in support of appellant's petition for grant of review in a military case involving a marine who engaged in what he claimed to be a consensual threesome, and because of that was convicted of adultery, attempted sodomy and indecent conduct, a crime based solely on undefined sexual conduct inconsistent with “common propriety.” NCSF argued in its amicus curiae that the conviction of LCpl Miles for attempted sodomy under Article 134, UMCJ, violated his constitutional liberty as defined by the U.S. Supreme Court in Lawrence v. Texas, and that the UMCJ provisions concerning consensual, non-injurious sexual conduct are inconsistent with current sexual mores in American society. Nevertheless, in an unpublished opinion, the Navy-Marine Corps Court of Criminal Appeals rejected Miles' appeals on August 21, 2014 and affirmed his sentence. The court noted that despite Miles being acquitted of aggravated sexual assault, abusive sexual contact, and wrongful sexual contact, the facts of the case did not support a description of Miles' sexual acts as "consensual". ==Awards==

In 1999, 2002, 2005, and 2010, NCSF received the Large Nonprofit Organization of the Year award as part of the Pantheon of Leather Awards. == See also ==