Embattled adult expo finally finds a Houston home The show will go on, inside an area gentleman's club

Adult star Katie Morgan was recently added to the roster of stars scheduled to appear at the TEXXXAS expo in Houston, which announced on Tuesday it would now take place at area gentleman's club Cover Girls. Click through to see other adult stars coming to the event... less Adult star Katie Morgan was recently added to the roster of stars scheduled to appear at the TEXXXAS expo in Houston, which announced on Tuesday it would now take place at area gentleman's club Cover ... more Photo: Bobby Bank/WireImage Photo: Bobby Bank/WireImage Image 1 of / 24 Caption Close Embattled adult expo finally finds a Houston home 1 / 24 Back to Gallery

John Gray, the man behind next month's TEXXXAS adult expo, has announced that his event's inaugural run will take place at an area gentleman's club.

TEXXXAS will be held at Cover Girls near U.S. 290 and Beltway 8 from Aug. 17 until Aug. 20. All of the after-parties scheduled for that week at area clubs are still slated for their original venues, Gray said Tuesday afternoon at Vivid Live, another strip club in the Galleria area.

The club temporarily turned off the house music for the small press conference. A dancer clad in bra, panties, and high heels took a break from the stage as Gray and Adam & Eve's Bob Strother began fielding questions from the assembled media.

Strother owns three of the adult novelty stores in Houston.

Since the event was first announced in mid-July TEXXXAS has been booted from two different local hotels due to concerns raised by the National Center on Sexual Exploitation, an advocacy group that speaks out against pornography in all forms. The group also said the event would create an atmosphere conducive to sex trafficking, a point that Gray flatly denied.

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Haley Halverson, the group's spokeswoman, said Tuesday that the National Center sees Gray's event being moved to a less public venue as a major victory.

"Because the event has been pushed out of mainstream hotels, and must resort to a strip club which makes the purpose of the event clear, which is -- as our statement says -- to leer at, and sexually exploit, women," Halverson says.

"It's important because John Gray claimed the event was mainstream, but it's been rejected by the local mainstream corporations that don't want their brand associated with it," she added.

Her group has no plans on picketing the event, she says. That doesn't mean that local groups will leave it alone, though.

The showdown comes in a city with a plethora of legitimate adult entertainment businesses but which also has been established as a hub for sex traffickers who force people into the illegal sex industry.

Gray says he's happy that he's finally found a home for the event, now just weeks away.

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"I had to make a decision outside of the box for this thing, for the sponsors, for the fans," Gray says. "We're a legal business. There will be no nudity at my event."

"The expo will be a lot tamer than an episode of 'Game of Thrones,' I can assure you," says Gray.

The event, featuring adult stars and vendors, will be held on the second floor of Cover Girls, where he says there is some 9,500 square feet of space, all separate from the stages downstairs.

Gray said he sees the publicity as a speed bump to success.

HoustonChronicle.com: Adult expo says 'Third time's the charm' despite opposition

"None of it has been bad," he says. "Other than venues not honoring their contracts, of course."

He wouldn't comment on the two hotels that booted his event. Since Cover Girls is an adult club there shouldn't be any fear of children wandering inside, like some suggested would happen at the hotels.

He's always been quick to point out that the National Center was going after the wrong event and was being targeted by those trying to curb sex trafficking and related crimes.

"They are worried about us bringing sex trafficking and prostitution," he told the Houston Chronicle last week. "The people I'm bringing here are professionals and don't engage in that. If they have an ax to grind, they need to go after the Super Bowl that will bring more sex trafficking and prostitution to this city than anything."

The National Football League's championship game is scheduled for February at Houston's NRG Stadium.

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The list of adult stars scheduled to appear at the event hasn't changed, Gray notes. In fact, he's added more adult performers these past few weeks, even while the event was under fire.

Adult star Katie Morgan, who was featured in a series of porn-centric specials on the decidedly-mainstream HBO channel, was recently added to the roster. As for the expo side of next month's event, one of the major sponsors is adult toy outlet Adam & Eve, which is due to have a strong presence, along with a handful of Houston-area strip clubs and adult-themed businesses.

Morgan joins adult stars Ron Jeremy, Nina Hartley, Evan Stone, Mia Vallis, Aysia Garza, Cherie Deville, Olivia Austin, Dillion Harper, and Brett Rossi among others who will be on hand to meet fans and sign autographs at TEXXXAS later this month.