Sexual Freedom Summit COVID-19 Statement
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE — March 24, 2020 — Washington, DC
Virtual #SFS21
Once the decision was made to cancel the in-person Sexual Freedom Summit (#SFS20) we got down to the harder work – moving as much of the Summit online as we possibly could. Our mission? To foster collaboration, provide information, and to create virtual programming that will enhance networking and community-building in this time of isolation and even beyond.
There are so many advantages to moving the Summit online.
- Programs will be free to viewers.
- We’ll be able to reach an even broader audience than those who have joined us in-person for the last 11 years.
- All programs can be accessed anywhere. Live discussions will be via chat functions.
- Every program can be accessible with either closed-captioning or ASL interpreters.
We’ll be reaching out to some of the people who submitted proposals for this year’s Summit and they’ll be sharing their wisdom with our audiences. And we’ll be hosting live-chats with many of our favorites from prior years.
Below is the statement we made when we decided to cancel the in-person Summit.
We know that this is a difficult time. People are struggling to care for themselves and their loved ones. We have been carefully monitoring updates on the coronavirus and have made the difficult decision to cancel in-person portion of the 11th annual Sexual Freedom Summit scheduled in August of 2020.
We can tell you we didn’t come to this decision lightly. There is no way to know where we’ll be as a nation in August. But what we do know is that for many Summit attendees, a week, even a day, without income is often catastrophic. People will have used up personal time from work, and some will have had to shelter in place with no income at all. Already negatively impacted by FOSTA, many sex workers are now without any income or access to community resources. Our ability to fundraise for much-needed scholarships is limited right now, as our communities give their time, talents, and treasures to mutual aid in this crisis. Given the circumstances, the individuals who will benefit the most from the Summit programming will be least likely to be able to attend.
We are working on ways to make the Summit content and experience available to our communities in other ways. We don’t have specifics yet, but we’ll keep you informed as we work this out. If you submitted a proposal for the Summit, we will be in contact with you in the coming weeks with more information and opportunities to collaborate.
If you have questions, thoughts, or concerns, please message us at [email protected].
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