California has been known to be the home of pornography for generations, especially during the Golden Age of Porn during the 1970s and '80s. Unlike most other states, laws on adult films are lax.
The only other state with limited laws on porn is on the other side of the country, in New Hampshire. Porn stars are either retiring there or are trying to start adult entertainment businesses there.
One such porn star is Ashley Fires. A Golden State native who started out a lesbian porn star who starred in over a hundred porn movies. She is an award-winning actress who has done many types of porn with male and female porn stars.
Now residing in New Hampshire, married to porn director Jack Kona, Ashley Fires said in an interview, "I would love to bring more people out here to shoot. We wouldn’t have to worry about all of the laws we have in California and getting fined and everything. I’m trying to move everyone out to New Hampshire; it’s going to be the new porn state."
She still does porn, but she travels to California and Las Vegas, Nevada to do so, since outside Manchester and few other cities most of New Hampshire is pretty rural. The Free State Project, a libertarian project to bring 20,000 like-minded individuals to the Granite State to bring about liberty in our lifetime, is growing the freedom population.
In 2012, gubernatorial candidate Kevin H. Smith, a former state legislator in the late 1990s and executive branch official under FSP-friendly governor Craig Benson, ran on opening up to the porn industry. However, he lost in the GOP primary with over a quarter of the vote. He is now a town manager of Londonberry, New Hampshire.
New Hampshire is also home to Wasteland.com, a BDSM porn site founded by the married couple Colin and Angie Rowntree. The mini-mansion, just northwest of Boston, is the set of high-quality porn production and a literal safe haven for fetish models and porn stars.
The Rowntrees have a long history in the adult entertainment industry since the 1990s, both have been inducted into the Adult Video News Hall Of Fame. They created the pro-privacy adult search engine Boodigo.com and the female-oriented porn site Sssh.com.
A state supreme court case in 2008, New Hampshire v. Theriault, ruled that pornography is not prostitution. This case makes New Hampshire one of two states, the other being California, where video-recording porn movies with intent to sell is legal. The court also cited some case law, such as Burstyn v. Wilson (1952), Miller v. California (1973), and Ashcroft v. Free Speech Coalition (2002).
Most of the opinion of the court was this was a business deal about video recording, not just about sex. It should also be noted that Ashley Fires, Kevin H. Smith, and the Rowntrees are porn-friendly individuals who seek to further the economic successes of the Granite State.
Colin Rowntree stated in an interview with Xbiz that the "condom wars" is forcing porn stars and producers to look to Las Vegas, but " filming porn in Nevada is illegal, and falls under the prostitution and pandering laws. And maybe worse, Vegas is a 100% Union Town."
New Hampshire, like California, porn can be filmed legally; even though it is common for porn to be produced in Texas, Florida, and Nevada. It is illegal in those latter states and thus the statist government would make life for a producer a living hell.
As Rowntree points out, the Granite State is beautifully located between Montreal and New York City, and a stone's throw from Boston. Not to mention it rests on international waters, bordering Canada, and home to many airports. No wonder Ashley Fires travels a lot from her home.
Southern New Hampshire is home to the state's biggest city, Manchester, and other major areas like Nashua, Portsmouth, Keene, Hampton Beach, and the state's capital of Concord. While Northern New Hampshire, warns Rowntree, is more rural.
New Hampshire lacks state income, sales, estate, and inventory taxes; while having only two sin taxes, on beer and cigarettes, the lowest in the country. Because the state is home to some of the most beautiful scenery and landmark homes, land value is expensive, but renting houses and rooms are affordable and available.
Not to mention it has the biggest game arcade in the world, some world-renowned festivals, a slew of music festivals, a couple major music venues, and year-round seasonal activities like beaching, skiing, mountain climbing, hiking, camping, and boating. It should be noted various forms of heating are available for the winters.
There are many good reasons why porn stars and producers are moving to New Hampshire, either to work or retire. Manchester has earned the nickname ManchVegas for a reason, as well. The city is also where kink-friendly radio shows are broadcast from, like Flaming Freedom and the Rebel Love Show. In nearby Keene, Free Talk Live is broadcast, a nationally-syndicated radio show that does not shy away from adult topics (so long as the language is clean on air).
The state ranks high in health, insurance affordability (only state to not require auto insurance and only one to not have seat belt laws for adults), jobs growth, median income, wifi coverage, and even in alternative currency activity.
For more information on why New Hampshire is a safe haven for the porn industry, check out the 101 reasons to move there.
In the past decade many things have turned for New Hampshire, making it more friendly and safer for pornography workers. Miss Ashley Fires specifically would like to push for the Live Free or Die State to also be the new Porn State. Who will join her in this endeavor?
