News
May 26, 1998
Mike Diana Says Good Morning America!
Northampton, MA -- Controversial comics creator Mike Diana was featured on ABC's Good Morning America on Tuesday, May 26. Produced by ABC News correspondent John Stossel, the segment profiled Diana's 1994 obscenity conviction and the stringent terms of his sentence.
The story acted as a preview for Stossel's ABC News Special Report, "Sex, Drugs, and Consenting Adults." The program, which airs on May 26 at 10:00 p.m., focuses on the absurdity of victimless crimes in American society. Diana was convicted of obscenity, not because he had harmed anyone or was selling his work to children, but because the court decided his work was "harmful to society." Increasingly, according to Stossel, the United States legal system concerns itself with legislating what can and cannot be done by consenting adults in the privacy of their own homes.
"These laws take away our freedom," said Stossel in his introductory remarks. "Freedom is what America's supposed to be about. It's why the founders came here. They felt their countries had become police states. We move closer to the police state with these laws."
The segment also included interviews with Nadine Strossen, president of the American Civil Liberties Union. "What I find particularly appalling," said Strossen, "is that Mike Diana has now been prohibited from even making drawings for himself in the privacy of his own home, for only his eyes to look at. I can't think of anything closer to the mechanism of a police state."
Diana was convicted of obscenity by a Florida court in 1994 for his self-published 'zine "Boiled Angel." With the assistance of the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund, the conviction was appealed to the Florida Appellate Court and eventually to the United States Supreme Court. The Appellate Court upheld the original conviction, and the Supreme Court refused to hear the case. Diana is now the first and only American artist ever to be convicted of obscenity for his or her artwork.
Diana is still serving out the terms of his three-year probation. In addition to a $3,000 fine, Diana must perform 1,248 hours of community service, enroll in a journalistic ethics course, undergo psychological testing, and can have no contact with minors. During his probation, Diana's residence is subject to search, without warning or warrant, to determine if he is in possession of, or is continuing to create "obscene" material.
The Comic Book Legal Defense Fund was founded in 1986 as a 501 (c) 3 non-profit organization dedicated to the preservation of First Amendment rights for members of the comics community. Donations and inquiries should be directed to the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund.
For additional information, call 413-268-7776 or e-mail the CBLDF staff.
271 Madison Avenue, Suite 1400
New York, NY 10016
800-99-CBLDF
info@cbldf.org
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