Tes Fest '06 – total victory

 For historical value, here is a post I just put on the SM-ACT mailing list about TES Fest ‘06.

Sent Tue 7/4/2006 4:37 PM

I am posting here the text of a message I put on TES-Talk about TES Fest ’06 because it is related to the concept of BDSM acceptance. Before it though I want to thank Susan Wright and the NCSF for all their hard work. I see TF’06 as complete vindication of the NCSF’s policy of pro-active education and open communication with the agencies and businesses that are involved in such things. At no time was TF’06 “under the radar”… as a result there was no shock, fear or resulting feelings of betrayal on the part of our host hotel or venue. The police officers who responded to an mistaken “911” call (hotel room dialing mis-hap) were completely in the loop about what they would find and never once was there any hint of disapproval.

For gods sake the local FIRE MARSHAL took an impromptu class in fire play and stayed all night at the dungeons! At the end of the Fest we gave him a award during our little ceremony and he thanked us saying that he had found the experience extremely educational and that we were good people.

I had discussions with the hotel manager on duty about getting some extra chairs while sissy maids rode a huge tri-cycle through the lobby. I (to be polite) asked her if that was something I should put a stop to and she said hell no, they looked like they were having fun!

The hotel security staff and maintenance staff constantly told us that we were great guests, often telling us that it was OK to not clean up after a meeting or something that it was their job and we should go have fun. Rumor has it that some of the hotel staff (I won’t out them) came to the event themselves 🙂

Anyway – here it is…

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Hello. My name is Ken… and I am going to gloat for a minute. Before I get there though let me say that TES  Fest ’06 was an incredible success. A boatload of class, a ton of special events, huge dungeons and more than a thousand attendees.

Now the gloating. TES Fest ’06 is COMPLETE vindication for New Jersey and BDSM. After the problem in NJ at a previous TES Fest I and other NJ residents had to listen to conspiracy theories, wild ass speculation and full on denigration. NJ some sneered was too backwards, to mean and too intolerant to host a major BDSM event in. There were rumors that the Governor had ordered the “raid” on the last TES Fest. I have, for years now, had people ask me if I was afraid to be into BDSM in NJ because of “how it is in NJ for people like us”.

It didn’t matter that none of the conspiracy theories were true – truth wasn’t the issue. There has and had always been a certain distain for “the bridge and tunnel” participants in the NY scene and the problems with the police at the previous TES Fest gave many the excuse they needed to stay smug and ignorant.

Hopefully TEES Fest 06 will shut them up.

Not only was TF ’06 in NJ… it was in the same basic part of NJ. It was in the heart of NJ. There was not one whiff of harassment. There was not one moment of trouble. IF the governor planned to shut us down apparently the rest of the state lost the memo.

And it wasn’t “luck”. Because of mistakes in dialing ROOM NUMBER 911 there were at least two separate times when a police cruiser had to show up to check out a 911 call. They checked the room because they had too and then they left. They were polite, supportive and they were completely and utterly aware of who and what we were. If they had wanted an excuse to fuck with us – they had it. They didn’t.

The hotel staff loved us.

The convention center staff loved us.

The police were amazingly polite and supportive when we came in contact during the normal course of events. Hell, the police that patrol the industrial areas routinely stop into the hotels for coffee and to use the rest room. They continued to do so and never one gave us a single problem.

The Fire Marshal >personally< became a fire play convert and watched several fire play scenes so that we could enjoy that fine art and not worry about breaking any rule.

We were polite.

We were honest.

We were open about who and what we are.

There was no backlash.

It's funny though… prejudice dies hard. A single TES Fest attendee made a crude gesture to a passing police cruiser than launched into a classic tirade about how he doesn't "like cops". He complain of persecution and being hassled. Yet the police had been PERFECT/. It was a dumb, infantile gesture.

You know it's odd when the police are the ones with the open mind.

I'll be writing or podcasting about the event in the days to come… but I just wanted to gloat. EXACTLY AS I TOLD "you people" (the nay Sayers) NJ IS A GREAT PLACE to host an event like this.

Thanks 🙂