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"Domination & Differences - Miss Ann's case takes ... - 4/27/2006 9:51:11 PM   
MaitresseMissAnn


Posts: 46
Joined: 7/10/2005
From: Indianapolis IN
Status: offline 		Paul Pogue has written another excellent and unbiased report on my ongoing legal matter with the City of Indianapolis.  My comments regarding the NCSF are available in THE REFORMATORY Yahoo Group.  Anyone interested in D/s, politics, reform, and freedom is welcome to join my uncensored (yet somehow tolerant and well behaved) forum.  Many of the numerous articles concerning my fight with the city, as well as past positive and informative mainstream news articles about my work, are linked from my site.
Miss Ann
THE REFORMATORY

NUVO NEWSWEEKLY
April 26 - May 3, 2006 -- Pg. 13
"Domination & Differences - Miss Ann's case takes new turns"
by Paul F.P. Pogue
It's Tuesday morning, and Melissa Donaghy, also known as Miss Ann, is
not happy. "the City of Indianapolis is invading my home!" she says
several times, more irate each time.  The two city zoning inspectors pay
little attention as they go through the house room by room, taking
measurements and asking questions to determine which areas were used for
Donaghy's business.

the inspection is the latest step in Donaghy's ongoing zoning
controversy with Indianapolis. The city maintains that her home
business, in the residential neighborhood of Meridian-Kessler, is a
sex-based dominatrix operation; Donaghy maintains that while her work
discusses matters of dominance and submission, it is primarily an
education/artistic endeavor protected as an allowable home business in
Marion County. After several phases of discover, the next phase of the
case opens next Wednesday when depositions begin. One of the main
deponents will be the undercover police officer who investigated
Donaghy's services in September 2005.

It may all prove to be moot; the inspectors informed Donaghy and her
attorney, Mark Small, that a home business is limited to either a third
of the total livable space or 600 square feet.  Though they had not yet
determined which areas of the house constituted business use, it
certainly seems possible their measurements will top that limit.

"I think they're reaching," Small said.  "They're doing anything they
can to come up with a citation." Small said he and Donaghy would be
commissioning their own inspection and bringing the numbers into court.

City inspectors aren't the only controversy in play; the case revealed
divides within the BDSM community about the best way to deal with such
issues.

In particular, the National coalition for Sexual Freedom, a nationwide
legal support group said that Donaghy is picking the wrong fight; that
while the NCSF supports the legal establishment of domination businesses
in proper zones, residential neighborhoods are the wrong place for it.

"Donaghy is denying the obvious by stating that her work is not sexually
oriented," said Susan Wright, national spokesperson for the NCSF. "this
does not accord with NCSF's media strategy, which is designed to further
tolerance for alternative sexuality. Donaghy's statements to the media
are also creating a climate in Indianapolis that is adverse to BDSM and
is not representative of the local BDSM community...If this were
something that she was doing because she enjoyed it, NCSF would fight to
the death for the right for her to do it in her home.  But there's money
exchanged, and now you're subject to consumer laws, which are very
different than those that apply to a private citizen in their own home."

Donaghy, who said she has been a supporter of NCSF in the past, said
that is came down to strong differences of interpretation.

"She's of the opinion that professional dominatrices, when they have
zoning disputes, should just bow down and do what the city says,"
Donaghy said. "Their position is that I'm not appropriately or correctly
representing what BDSM is, and I contend that as a dominant I can create
and make my world whatever I want it to be including nonsexual with my
submissives.  So while BDSM may very well be a sexual expression for
many people, in the way I conduct it in my business, it is not."

Profile   Post #: 1
RE: "Domination & Differences - Miss Ann's case ta... - 4/27/2006 10:11:35 PM   
Wulfchyld


Posts: 2618
Joined: 12/7/2005
Status: offline 		Stunned!

_____________________________

Loki, forum god of Mischief

Submission is not a gift... it is plunder!
Where there is a whip, there is a way!
Dom/mes of a feather, beat the f*ck out of slaves together


(in reply to MaitresseMissAnn)
Profile   Post #: 2
RE: "Domination & Differences - Miss Ann's case ta... - 4/28/2006 4:55:27 AM   
TheHungryTiger


Posts: 454
Joined: 3/9/2004
Status: offline
quote:


"Donaghy is denying the obvious by stating that her work is not sexually
oriented," said Susan Wright, national spokesperson for the NCSF.
I am more and more often disagreeing with the NCSF, but in this case I think they are spot on. If what you had been doign was an "art project" like you claim, why are you posting this at a place like collarme? Shouldn't you be posting this at some performance artists forum trying to drum up support from other artists?

I wonder what the kink equivalent of "playing the race card" is? .....



_____________________________

Bondage Ropes
High quality center-marked
bondage ropes and supplies.
www.kinkyropes.com

Ads by Goooooogle

(in reply to MaitresseMissAnn)
Profile   Post #: 3
RE: "Domination & Differences - Miss Ann's case ta... - 4/28/2006 4:13:47 PM   
MaitresseMissAnn


Posts: 46
Joined: 7/10/2005
From: Indianapolis IN
Status: offline
quote:

I am more and more often disagreeing with the NCSF, but in this case I think they are spot on. If what you had been doign was an "art project" like you claim, why are you posting this at a place like collarme? Shouldn't you be posting this at some performance artists forum trying to drum up support from other artists?


My work is noted and posted in arts circles.  Have you looked?  I am the executive producer of the Erotic Arts Ball and my work with the monthly Wicked Wednesday fetish event is heavily attended and marketed in arts circles. I advertise as a "Maitresse" which is an archetype of a dominant woman.  It translates as "teacher". I've always advertised as tutor, guide, and artist of D/s Arts.  Because I practice the power exchange known as D/s, I post on this board.  Have you seen anything in my profile that suggests I offer sex for hire? 

The NCSF's comments were unsolicited by our community and I believe are political in nature.  I think it is prudent for anyone who is considering contributing their hard earned fundraising dollars to the NCSF to first check to see any significant victories have been scored by them on behalf of our national community.

A couple months before this article was published, I publicly moved my fundraising support from the NCSF to the Electronic Frontier Foundation. www.eff.org  The EFF's scorecard is like seeing victory on steroids. This is likely due to the fact that the EFF is staffed by some of the brightest lawyers, IT professionals, and freedom activists in the country.  I am not sure about everyone else, but I want my fundraising work and personal donations to go to winners, particularly winners who are tolerant of diversity in opinion and viewpoints.
Miss Ann
THE REFORMATORY


(in reply to TheHungryTiger)
Profile   Post #: 4
RE: "Domination & Differences - Miss Ann's case ta... - 4/28/2006 6:03:46 PM   
TheHungryTiger


Posts: 454
Joined: 3/9/2004
Status: offline
quote:

ORIGINAL: MaitresseMissAnn Have you seen anything in my profile that suggests I offer sex for hire?
Ok, you do realize that you are not even being charged with offering sex for hire. If that were true then the charge would be "prostitution" and not "zoning violation". Zoning violation implies that you were running a business in a residential zone.


The whole thing strikes me as entirely two-faced. When you go before the courts, you claim that you are NOT a pro-dom, but when you go before the media cameras you claim you ARE a pro-dom. To the law you are trying to convince folks that what you do is NOT erotic and should be judged only on the basis of being a "museum". To the masses you are trying to convince folks that what you do IS erotic and that you are being persecuted because of your sexual orientation.


About a year ago there was a big media blitz about a strip club in Boise, Idaho that passes out pen and paper to customers asking them to sketch the dancers. They did this because city law didn't allow nude dancing and they tried claiming to be "art". But they weren't fooling anyone. It was a Gentleman's Club through and through. Your own claim seems just as transparent to me. You *ARE* a professional dominatrix.

_____________________________

Bondage Ropes
High quality center-marked
bondage ropes and supplies.
www.kinkyropes.com

Ads by Goooooogle

(in reply to MaitresseMissAnn)
Profile   Post #: 5
RE: "Domination & Differences - Miss Ann's case ta... - 4/28/2006 6:32:23 PM   
Reasonable


Posts: 459
Joined: 4/20/2006
Status: offline 		Reads the topic,hmms,but then exits before the tiger can pounce..............

(in reply to MaitresseMissAnn)
Profile   Post #: 6
RE: "Domination & Differences - Miss Ann's case ta... - 4/29/2006 4:38:58 PM   
Alumbrado


Posts: 5560
Status: offline 		I wouldn't be surprised that the NCSF sees everything as a battle for sexual freedom, and I wouldn't expect them to be a perfect fit for the 'artistic' dominatrix argument.

OTOH, I wouldn't expect the courts to buy that  'Maitresse' translates to 'teacher' either.

I've got no intention of going into pro-domination, but if I were, and ended up butting heads with municipal bureaucrats, I would select the psycho-drama/therapist defense, bolstered with a few certificates in counseling or even ministry from somewhere...easy to get, hard to disprove.


(in reply to Reasonable)
Profile   Post #: 7
RE: "Domination & Differences - Miss Ann's case ta... - 4/30/2006 5:06:13 AM   
dommeTulsa


Posts: 5
Joined: 5/25/2004
Status: offline 		All negative?? No positive posts???  Makes me wonder the reason behind that?

I can see that you can be "pro domme in fact" and still not be a "pro domme in your home office"?  Sounds like a wonderful place for badly needed training and if you can make a good living by sharing your knowledge Then I applaude you!!

_____________________________

Looking for mate... handsome, generous, very financially secure, good sense of humor, intelligent, and has submissive tendencies and not long distant.. Impossible? I don't think so *smiles* Miss Ann

(in reply to Alumbrado)
Profile   Post #: 8
RE: "Domination & Differences - Miss Ann's case ta... - 4/30/2006 6:04:46 PM   
Spankinatrix


Posts: 90
Joined: 7/5/2004
Status: offline 		I must say that I once met Miss Ann at a community function back when I was living in Indy.  It was a brief meeting, but her pressence was amazing.  Pure class!  I was just awed!  I was quite surprised when I saw her on TV the next evening, since I did not know who she was when she introduced herself to me.  Keep up the good fight!
N

(in reply to dommeTulsa)
Profile   Post #: 9
RE: "Domination & Differences - Miss Ann's case ta... - 5/1/2006 1:38:52 AM   
MsMacComb


Posts: 808
Joined: 3/30/2005
From: My Mothers womb.
Status: offline 		This is all the more reason I try to point out to people that sex IS politics. As long as people try to blur the lines between what criminal law is versus their infusion of biblical law things like this will continue. If what you are doing is artistic, political, theraputic etc they can't bother you. If its considered sexual and sexual alone, the fundies come running. Especially when its election year, lol.

_____________________________

Not looking for anyone for anything, any time.

(in reply to Spankinatrix)
Profile   Post #: 10
RE: "Domination & Differences - Miss Ann's case ta... - 5/7/2006 8:30:01 AM   
MaitresseMissAnn


Posts: 46
Joined: 7/10/2005
From: Indianapolis IN
Status: offline 		I appreciate the comments on this board and encourage them to continue. Our legal system is not about real justice which is why the city of Indianapolis accusing me of "erotic torture", etc. in my home dungeon, and as part of their position,  invaded my privacy and came to take measurements and photos of my entire home.  They work every little legal angle they can and so will I.  The game of justice is really about working the angles of the written law. 

Hungry Tiger....I DO know what the city's complaint says.  I know every facet of this case and every facet of what my lawyer does and says on my behalf. I appreciate it that you visited my website and read the legal documents I post.

The city's first angle was to try to entrap me as a prostitute.  "Exhibit A",  the undercover officer's notes, clearly state this.  Soliciting prostitution is a misdemeanor or a felony (with prior convictions) in Indiana.  The state is immune from obeying its own laws.  The undercover officer attempted to pay me for every sexual act under the sun.  Over and over he was told to go elsewhere, that I could not perform what he wished, nor could I take his money.  Over and over he was told professional domination is not sex.  Finally he told me he just wanted to be taught what it is like to be a submissive.  At that point (one hour into his interview) I agreed to take his session and took a deposit because he sought education. He was told emphatically that I do not engage in sex acts with my submissives, that this is not sexual in nature to me, and that I promote chastity and healthy lifestyles.

While even therapists have told me the work I do is therapeutic, I would never market myself as or call myself one because I am not trained as one.  Marketing oneself as a therapist without training IS clearly illegal, let alone unethical.

I represent myself as a Dominatrix who is both an educator and artist and my widely documented work supports that fact.  The word "dominatrix" means dominant woman.  It does not necessarily mean she has sex with her subjects, although admittedly for many it is about sex. To say that dominance is about sex and must be about sex for everyone (NCSF's position) is very limiting to freedom of the individual.   If you check back in the archives of my on line group, you will see that the hypocritical NCSF once supported my right to practice non-sexual domination as a home based business!  They changed their tune, after I publicly pulled my fundraising support of InKinK (a coalition partner) and ultimately the NCSF.  This angered their media spokesperson to the point, that in official capacity as spokesperson, she telephoned literally screming at both myself and my attorney berating my position and my practice during two separate phone calls.  A media spokesperson in corporate America who behaved as such would be summarily dismissed from the position.

The bottom line is Indianapolis is spending plenty to go after me on a trumped up zoning violation because they knew they couldn't possibly have a chance at anything else.  I figure they have spent upwards of $50k so far. Who pays for this witch hunt?  Ultimately the citizens of Indianapolis pay the bill even though not one single citizen of this state complained about me or my work. Conversely, many citizens (including my vanilla neighbors) have written city hall in support of my freedom to perform my work and the media seems to be in my corner too.  Basically they see I'm not causing harm to anyone and therefore the government should stay out of it.

This IS politics and I intend to continue to drive the message that it is.  It isn't about what is right or wrong, just or unjust.  It is about politics and a photo op for the mayor.  And sadly, the politics of the City of Indianapolis and the NCSF are contrary to freedom of the individual. 

I believe as citizens of the world we should all be activists for personal freedom.  If we are not diligent the government will ultimately extort our freedom and use our own money (tax dollars) to extort every drop of freedom from us and assimilate us all into politically correct herds they can control.

Never forget that, "WE The People" are the dominants, not the government.  (Why do you think the founding fathers capitalized "We The People"?)  The government is our public servant.  In the government's case against me they serve no one except the petty agenda of a failing politician, Mayor Bart Peterson.  They certainly are not advancing or protecting freedom of the individual.

Regards,
Miss Ann
THE REFORMATORY





(in reply to MsMacComb)
Profile   Post #: 11
RE: "Domination & Differences - Miss Ann's case ta... - 5/7/2006 12:27:36 PM   
MaitresseMissAnn


Posts: 46
Joined: 7/10/2005
From: Indianapolis IN
Status: offline
quote:

Ok, you do realize that you are not even being charged with offering sex for hire. If that were true then the charge would be "prostitution" and not "zoning violation". Zoning violation implies that you were running a business in a residential zone.


Yes, I realize that this is merely a citation for a zoning violation (carrying a $2500 fine) .  In other cases of zoning violations for home based businesses the persons involved are not issued lawsuits, but are asked to cease operations first.  Why is it in my situation that they send the local tabloid news channel complete with camera shoved in my home office window?  Why is it that things were perfectly timed for the local tabloid news reporter, Jack Rinehart, to be at my door first with a copy the city's complaint and have camera poised and running when the sherrif served me the document a half hour later?

I advertise and work as an artist and tutor which are allowable home based businesses.  I am the ONLY home based business the city has filed suit against.  Why is that? There are literally 100's of women who run home based businesses in this city including many in my neighborhood.  Maybe the city filed suit because they are pissed they couldn't find evidence I am a prostitute and our failing mayor needed a photo op.

History is full of examples of witch hunts.  This is just another one.

Miss Ann
THE REFORMATORY

(in reply to MaitresseMissAnn)
Profile   Post #: 12
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