Just When You Thought It Couldn’t Get Weirder…

[Photo Credit: Los Angeles Times]

By Jillian Robertson

It is a bit cloudy and overcast in Los Angeles. But perhaps the weather is fitting considering the occasion: It’s Stormy Daniels Day in West Hollywood.   By the time three satellite trucks, reporters from CNN, Reuters, and KTLA, plus a crowd of curious onlookers had gathered, the sky had cleared. A perfect Los Angeles day for Daniels, a sunny blonde, to be presented with a key to the city.

Photo: Jillian Robertson

The site of the event was fitting, if a little on the nose. Chi Chi LaRue, an adult toy and porn boutique, was named after a gay pornography director and drag performer of the same name. It has been a fixture on Santa Monica Boulevard, the main drag that runs through West Hollywood since late 2008. The perfect place for a pornstar turned political activist to make a statement, at a podium in front of a large banner with #Resist in hot pink letters.

Photo: Jillian Robertson

“Welcome to West Hollywood,” said Mayor John Duran, “…where the women are strong and the men are pretty.” The crowd tittered appreciatively.

“Out of the chaos of the Trump administration came our own Lady Godiva,” said Duran of Daniels. The historical lady Godiva rode through the streets naked, on the back of a horse, in the 11th century, to protest high taxes. The parallel is a strange one to make. Perhaps because the themes of resistance and nudity played a large part in both stories…

Mayor Duran presented Daniels, whose real name is Stephanie Clifford, with a key to the city. The key, according to the Mayor’s remarks is to commemorate Daniels “protesting, standing up to the most powerful man on the planet.” He also declared May 23rd “Stormy Daniels Day,” though he didn’t elaborate on what celebrating such a holiday might look like. Daniels’ lawyer, Michael Avenatti, spoke briefly as well.

The crowd cheered when Daniels and Avenatti spoke, some shouting out, “Thank you Stormy” and “Stormy for Congress,” while others stood in quiet agreement, one sporting an “ITMFA” t-shirt, short for “Impeach the motherfucker already.”

ITMFA, Impeach The Muther Fucker Already

People often talk about the importance of not normalizing the shenanigans and reprehensible actions happening in and around this administration, but some situations resist normalizing:

A pornstar receiving a hero’s welcome from a crowd of gay men in Hollywood for sleeping with the President of the United States and refusing to be bought into silence, and turning her tryst into a call for impeachment and a sudden switch from porn to politics.

That’s not normal, it’s #resistance. All that in about twenty minutes, on a Tuesday afternoon in West Hollywood.