Phil Harvey
Phil Harvey | |
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Sexual Health | |
Spouse | Harriet Lesser |
Phil Harvey (April 25, 1938 – December 2, 2021) was an American
Harvey used profits from Adam & Eve to supplement support from international donors to protect millions of poor couples from
Biography
Harvey was born in
He returned to the U.S. in 1969 and enrolled in the
Harvey co-founded Adam & Eve in 1972 and continued as its president until his death. He also founded DKT International in 1989 and stepped down as its president and chief executive on December 31, 2013.
He served as executive producer on the 2015 documentary about censorship in comedy, Can We Take a Joke?,[3] and the 2020 free speech documentary about former ACLU Executive Director Ira Glasser, Mighty Ira.[4]
Harvey died from natural causes in Bethesda, Maryland, on December 2, 2021, at the age of 83.[5]
Business and non-profit enterprises
Harvey's operational philosophy was unique[
Harvey realized the potential of mail order when, at the University of North Carolina, he joined forces with Tim Black to begin selling condoms through the mail. Their efforts to expand the range of products led to the evolution of the sex products business. In Harvey's own words, "(w)e tried to get our customers to buy leisure wear, shipbuilding kits, belt buckles, model airplanes, but they just yawned at that stuff. Every time we put something with erotic appeal in the catalog, the bells would ring."[6] Profit from their mail-order business provided the funds to launch Population Services International.
Legal Challenges
Between 1977 and 2007, Harvey was involved in several legal battles with the U.S. and New York state governments, in which he both challenged and defended himself against governments he believed were debasing
In 1986, Adam & Eve's offices in Carrboro, North Carolina were raided by 37 armed local law enforcement agents. For the next six years, Harvey defended himself against multiple indictments for obscenity brought by the Reagan Administration's Department of Justice under Attorney General Edwin Meese. Ultimately, he prevailed in the Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals in 1992 after initiating proactive litigation against the U.S. government. Harvey documented this story in his 2001 book "The Government vs. Erotica: The Siege of Adam & Eve." Nadine Strossen, then-president of the American Civil Liberties Union, wrote in the foreword of "The Government vs. Erotica": "Phil Harvey not only survived the government's relentless efforts to bully him out of business, as it had done to other businesspeople who also sold constitutionally protected materials to adults who sought those materials, even more inspiringly, Phil Harvey and his impressive legal team secured new legal precedents and prosecutorial policies that will protect other individuals and businesses from similar government harassment and oppression."
Mexico City Policy
In 1987, while embroiled in the prosecutions of the Reagan Administration, Harvey challenged the U.S. government for its "
DKT International
Harvey named DKT International, in memory of the late Deep Kumar Tyagi, an early pioneer of family planning in India.[9] In 2006, DKT International refused to accept the U.S. government's policy that all NGOs receiving federal funds to fight AIDS or sex trafficking adopt an organization-wide policy opposing prostitution and sex trafficking. Harvey believed that the pledge was a form of coerced speech and that it would interfere with HIV prevention efforts. DKT challenged the pledge as a violation of First Amendment rights, with the support of the American Civil Liberties Union. Judge Emmet G. Sullivan ruled in favor of DKT in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia in 2006, but the District of Columbia Court of Appeals reversed the decision the following year. The issue, through a separate case, was argued before the U.S. Supreme Court on April 22, 2013, and that Court, in a 6-2 decision, held that the requirement was an unconstitutional infringement of organizations' free speech rights. The policy is therefore null and void.
On December 31, 2013, Harvey stepped down as president of DKT after 24 years. He continued to serve DKT as chairman of the Board of Directors during the remaining years of his life.
Books
- Let Every Child Be Wanted: How Social Marketing is Revolutionizing Contraceptive Use Around the World (1999)[10] – This book provides the only comprehensive examination of contraceptive social marketing, documenting a form of international assistance that has attracted support from governments, foundations and other donors.
- The Government vs. Erotica (2001)[11] – Harvey traces the various prosecutions of his company, Adam & Eve, which started as a mail-order supplier of condoms, then branched into the distribution of adult films and sexual paraphernalia.
- Government Creep: What Government Is Doing That You Don't Know About (2003)[12] – Strip searches, confiscated homes, stolen children, denial of due process. Sounds like life in a Third World country, but this is our own federal government invading our personal lives, supposedly for our own good.
- Show Time (2012)[13] – Harvey's first novel is a psychological thriller that takes on reality shows.
- The Human Cost of Welfare: How the System Hurts the People It's Supposed to Help (2016) co-authored with Lisa Conyers – Drawing on research including interviews with men and women on welfare, this book shows how welfare programs keep people from working with crippling consequences not only for them but for our whole country.
- Welfare for the Rich: How Your Tax Dollars End Up in Millionaire's Pockets - And What You Can do About it (2020) co-authored with Lisa Conyers; Foreword by David Boaz - The issues tackled in these pages -agricultural subsidies, financial bailouts, taxes and tariffs, zoning and business regulations, the power of lobbyists, and much more-provide timely analysis for readers with a professional or personal interest in economics, political science, wealth reform, as well as the workings of state, local, and municipal governments.
Awards
- 2006 AASECT – Humanitarian Award[14]
- 2007 AVN Awards – Hall of Fame – Founders Branch[15][16]
- 2009 XBIZ – Lifetime Achievement Award[17]
- 2010 XRCO – 1st Amendment Special Award[18]
References
- ISBN 0-618-44670-2.
- ^ "DKT International Family Planning and HIV Prevention". Dktinternational.org. Retrieved 2014-01-17.
- ^ "Can We Take a Joke?". Samuel Goldwyn Films. Retrieved 2020-12-30.
- ^ Mighty Ira (2020) - IMDb, retrieved 2020-12-30
- ^ "Phil Harvey, Adam & Eve, PHE founder, passes away". newsoforange.com. December 4, 2021. Retrieved December 4, 2021.
- ^ Nerve.com / By Steve Almond (2002-07-21). "Sex Aid: Porn to Save the Third World". Alternet. Retrieved 2014-01-17.
- ^ United States Supreme Court (June 9, 1977). "Carey v. Population Services International". Findlaw. Retrieved 26 March 2018.
- PMID 12346727.
- ^ "Mother Jones". Archived from the original on 6 March 2008. Retrieved 4 April 2015.
- ISBN 0865692823.
- ISBN 157392881X.
- ISBN 1559502347.
- ISBN 978-1935448112.
- ^ "Phil Harvey Receives Aasect Humanitarian Award". Adameve.com. Retrieved 2014-01-17.
- ^ "AVN Awards". Archived from the original on June 22, 2010. Retrieved August 16, 2010.
- ^ "AVN Awards Hall of Fame – official listing". Archived from the original on April 15, 2009. Retrieved 2016-03-13.
{{cite web}}
: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link) - ^ "Winners". XBIZ Awards. Retrieved 2014-01-17.
- ^ X-Rated Critic Organization
External links
- Official Website of Philip D. Harvey
- Feature on Phil Harvey on blog of Georgetown University Center for Social Impact Communications
- Feature on Phil Harvey at The Economist
- "Hard-Core Philanthropist," Feature on Phil Harvey at Mother Jones
- Feature on Phil Harvey at AlterNet
- Phil Harvey at AuthorViews
- Feature on Phil Harvey at Reason.com
- Adam & Eve Sex Toy Store
- DKT International
- Population Services International