He’s known in some circles as Mr. L.A. Leather 2014, but Eric Paul Leue isn’t bound to that title alone.

As the newly appointed executive director of the Free Speech Coalition, Leue leads an organization that protects a multibillion-dollar industry vilified yet idolized in popular culture.

Formed 25 years ago this year, the Free Speech Coalition’s mission is to protect and promote the well-being of the adult-entertainment industry, much of it based in the San Fernando Valley. That includes film production, pleasure product manufacturing, talent agents, distributors and wholesalers that support thousands of jobs. Pornography is regulated and protected in California under the Freeman decision of 1988, but the Free Speech Coalition also speaks for adult-entertainment businesses nationwide on censorship and discrimination issues.

Leue, 29, was born and raised in Germany and traveled to Los Angeles in 2010. He fell in love with the city the minute the plane landed, and he decided then and there “to do something important in my life.”

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In his role at the Free Speech Coalition, Leue’s job is to protect the rights of all adult-entertainment workers while also emphasizing sexual health, a subject important to him, since he knows what it means to lose friends who’ve contracted HIV. One of the current battles in California is an upcoming ballot measure that asks state voters to pass a law that requires condoms on all adult-film production sets.

Leue and others have said condoms aren’t the best way to prevent sexually transmitted diseases while making adult films.

The state measure would be similar to Measure B, passed by Los Angeles County voters in 2012. It became known informally as the condom-in-porn issue and was lead by Michael Weinstein, the president of the AIDS Healthcare Foundation. Leue said the Free Speech Coalition supports worker safety and sexual health, but he believes forcing condoms on sets would only encourage enforcement that in the end will harass performers, generate lawsuits against producers and force the industry out of California. Here’s what else he said in a recent interview:

Q: Your background is in sex education. What attracted you to lead the Free Speech Coalition?

A: We’re at a turning point in how our society deals with sexuality. I think that the freedom of expression, the freedom of speech are core values to our American society that are important to defend and for people to make choices over their own lives and to make a career with it. I find it motivating to think about all the work this industry has done. We as an industry created ASACP (Association of Sites Advocating Child Protection), which advocates against child pornography, works with producers, works with people in the industry to keep children safe. I think it’s important to understand that this industry is so driven to talk about sexual health and wellness and well-being and pleasure at a time when our generation and culture has changed their position toward that.

Q: People might say Eric, isn’t your work parallel with the AIDS Healthcare Foundation? How would you explain to the public that you’re different?

A: A very easy comparison to make is if we look at the Republicans’ value to reproduction rights and the Democratic values to reproductive rights. The Republicans try to say you are inept to make choices for yourself, and so we’re going to tell you what to do and can’t do, and we will take complete control over your rights and your bodies, whereas the Democrats, say here are all your different choices and you should be allowed to make your own choices because it’s your body and you’re supposed to take agency over your own body. We will give you the explanation, the knowledge, the understanding and tools to look after yourself the best way possible. We’re all about agency over one’s own body, choices, letting people be responsible adults and also knowing what’s good for them and what’s not for them. I always see myself more as the Bernie or the Hillary, and Michael Weinstein as the Trump or Cruz.

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Q: The adult-film industry and the Free Speech Coalition scored a victory in February when Cal/OSHA’s standard board decided not to move forward on additional regulations on film sets, such as requiring dental dams and eyewear. How did you feel after they made that decision?

A: I think we were all a little bit in disbelief because it was really the first time the industry was actually being listened to. We had over 100 industry professionals that took days off from work and flew from all over the country to be there to make their voices heard. They don’t need somebody else speaking for them. They need to be given their own voice. It was a very emotional day. It was six hours of testimony. You could see in the standard board’s eyes that there were serious questions as to why there were things not talked about. Why wasn’t it thought about that a husband and wife can’t work together? And who are we to tell a husband and wife not to work together? There were a lot of issues that were really brought to daylight.

Q; A measure will appear on the November ballot that asks California voters to pass a law that condoms should be used on all adult film sets across the Golden State. Why does the Free Speech Coalition object to what’s being portrayed as worker safety?

A: Most people look at the state ballot initiative and say this is about worker safety. The problem is it’s not about worker safety. It’s not about sexual health. It is not about protecting people from something. This is completely about harassing workers. We need to stop pushing an industry that is legal and safe out of this state. We see this as a repetitive conversation. We’re launching a PAC, and we’re going to oppose this. Harassing workers, no matter if we agree with the job or not, is never the right thing.

Q: You’ve said the industry is leaving the San Fernando Valley because of Measure B. But some studios have remained and some producers said it’s easier to just follow the state’s safety rules. How has adult filmmaking changed in the San Fernando Valley?

A: The industry is always focused on safety, so let’s make that clear. We’ve written a blood-borne pathogen plan that specifically applies to the adult-film industry. We were the ones who created PASS (adult-film performer testing system) because we knew we needed to create options that are valid choices for what people are doing and how they are doing it and it needs to be things that actually work. If we’re looking at the Valley specifically, some in the industry have left. We know that companies have left from outside of the Valley and have left the state completely because they said they don’t want to be here for the fallout. There are a lot of third-party vendors benefiting from our industry, from cleaning companies to set rentals, to set dressers to makeup artists. We are a serious business. The other companies that are still here are saying we’re going to wait this out. We’re going to support this fight because there is no time for running. At the same time, they’re holding in the back pocket, what if? Can we still operate in the state of California if the (state ballot measure) goes through? That’s a question we face here at the trade association each day.

Q: What would you like to tell people about the FSC or your goals for this industry?

A: Nothing is more valuable than a dire conversation and that’s really what FSC is really here for. We want people to understand that our industry takes itself and the well-being of workers as incredibly important and serious. We’re not the 1970s Netflix interpretation of what the adult-film industry is. We have accountants and HR workers and distributors. I just want us to move away from judging others just as we were all told not to judge a book from its cover. Just because something is not what I want to do, who am I to tell somebody else not to be allowed to do that. Not everybody has to be part of the leather community, but I have the right to be part of the leather community. Who are you to tell me I’m not.