Behind a paywall, dammit
Also what's her name?
For academic purposes.
Va. Dem. House candidate performed sex online with husband for tips
Susanna Gibson is running in a competitive district with control of the House at stake
By Laura Vozzella
Updated September 11, 2023 at 6:18 p.m. EDT|Published September 11, 2023 at 3:30 p.m. EDT
Campaign literature for Susanna Gibson, a Democratic candidate for the 57th District in the Virginia House of Delegates. (The Washington Post)
RICHMOND — A Democrat running for a crucial seat in Virginia’s House of Delegates performed sex acts with her husband for a live online audience and encouraged viewers to pay them with “tips” for specific requests, according to online videos viewed by The Washington Post.
Susanna Gibson, a nurse practitioner and mother of two young children running in a highly competitive suburban Richmond district, streamed sex acts on Chaturbate, a platform that says it takes its name from “the act of masturbating while chatting online.”
In at least two videos, she tells viewers she is “raising money for a good cause.”
In multiple videos, Gibson interrupts sex acts to type into a bedside computer. Speaking directly into the screen, she urges viewers to provide tips, which are paid through “tokens” purchased through the site. In at least two videos, she agrees to perform certain acts only in a “private room,” an arrangement that requires the viewer to pay more.
“I need, like, more tokens before I let him do that,” she responds to a request that they perform a certain act.
“One token, no. More. Raising money for a good cause.”
Almost immediately, as tips apparently arrive, she says “thank you” five times and tells her husband she will agree to that act.
Gibson takes the lead in addressing viewers on videos viewed by The Post, but in one case her husband, an attorney, chimes in with, “C’mon, guys,” to echo her entreaties for tips.
In a written statement, Gibson called the exposure of the videos “an illegal invasion of my privacy designed to humiliate me and my family.”
“It won’t intimidate me and it won’t silence me,” she said. “My political opponents and their Republican allies have proven they’re willing to commit a sex crime to attack me and my family because there’s no line they won’t cross to silence women when they speak up.”
Daniel P. Watkins, a lawyer for Gibson, said disseminating the videos constitutes a violation of the state’s revenge porn law, which makes it a Class 1 misdemeanor to “maliciously” distribute nude or sexual images of another person with “intent to coerce, harass, or intimidate.”
“We are working closely with state and federal law enforcement,” Watkins said.
The Post typically does not identify victims of alleged sex crimes to protect their privacy. In this case, Gibson originally live-streamed these sexual acts on a site that was not password-protected. The couple had more than 5,700 followers there. Many of the videos remained available to the public on other unrestricted sites as of Saturday. Watkins said Gibson was not aware of, and had not authorized, the posting of Chaturbate material on other sites.
Asked why Gibson had a reasonable expectation of privacy on Chaturbate, Watkins pointed to a 2021 Virginia Court of Appeals ruling that found it was unlawful for a man to secretly record his girlfriend during a consensual sexual encounter even if he did not show the video to others.
In that case, Ronnie Lee Johnson v. Commonwealth of Virginia, the court found that consent to being seen is not the same as consent to being recorded, writing that there was a “stark distinction between an image existing only in someone’s memory … [and] a permanent file that may be shared or re-viewed indefinitely.”
Gibson faces Republican David Owen, a retired home builder, on Nov. 7, when all 140 seats in Virginia’s House and Senate will be on the ballot.
“Me and my team found out about this story today like everyone else,” Owen said in a written statement Monday afternoon, soon after The Post published an article about Gibson. “I’m sure this is a difficult time for Susanna and her family, and I’m remaining focused on my campaign.”
The Republican operative who alerted The Post to the videos denied any connection to the Owen campaign or other groups active in Virginia elections this year. The operative provided the information on the condition of anonymity to avoid being drawn into the controversy.
Corey D. Silverstein, a prominent adult entertainment industry lawyer, said there is nothing illegal about streaming sex acts online as long as the participants and viewers are consenting adults — even if they are paid to perform specific acts.
“There is absolutely no law that they are violating — none,” he said. “In this case, you have two adults who are engaging in consensual sex, and they’ve decided they want to broadcast that, and they’re doing so in exchange for tipping. There’s absolutely nothing illegal about it.”
“I think it’s fantastic you have someone running who has an open sex life. It’s actually very refreshing,” added Silverstein, who is based in Michigan but practices around the country and the world.
Gibson and Owen are both well financed and running with support from their parties’ senior leaders. They are vying for an open seat in the 57th House District — highly competitive territory that covers parts of Henrico and Goochland counties.
Theirs is one of just a handful of contests in each chamber expected to determine control of the legislature and whether Gov. Glenn Youngkin (R) can enact a conservative political agenda that includes banning abortion after 15 weeks, with some exceptions. The outcome on Election Day also could boost or dim Youngkin’s prospects as a potential last-minute candidate for the GOP presidential nomination.
Saddled with a divided Capitol for the first half of his four-year term, Youngkin has been unable to enact the abortion ban, corporate tax cuts or other priorities. Virginia is the only Southern state that has not tightened abortion restrictions since June 2022, when the Supreme Court ruled that states could make their own decisions about the procedure.
Both chambers are up for grabs as Republicans defend their narrow majority in the House (49-46) and Democrats try to retain theirs in the Senate (22-18)
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The state’s newly drawn political maps triggered a wave of retirements and created a host of open seats, including the one Gibson and Owen are seeking in a toss-up district. After Youngkin won it by three points in 2021, the district tilted ever-so-narrowly blue — 50 percent to 49 percent — in last year’s congressional midterms, according to an analysis by the nonpartisan Virginia Public Access Project.
Gibson has outraised Owen $377,000 to $340,000, but Gibson spent nearly $300,000 of her haul battling a fellow Democrat in the June 20 primary. She defeated Bob Shippee by double digits for the nomination but had just $77,000 on hand in the fundraising period that concluded June 30. Owen, who faced no primary opponent, had about $166,000 in cash at the end of that period.
Gibson’s two largest donors are the environmental group Clean Virginia Fund ($45,000) and the abortion rights outfit Emily’s List ($20,000). Her campaign website lists priorities that include preserving abortion rights, banning assault weapons, lowering the cost of living and protecting the environment.
Gibson appeared alongside other Henrico-area legislative candidates Saturday afternoon at a rally headlined by Sen. Tim Kaine (D-Va.).
Gibson said alerting the media to the videos is dirty politics — aimed at silencing “women when they speak up.”
“They are trying to silence me because they want to silence you, and I won’t let that happen,” her statement said. “My opponent and his allies know that the people of this district are on our side on the issues, so they’re stooping to the worst gutter politics. There’s too much at stake in this election and I’ll never stop fighting for our community.”
Gibson’s campaign website displays pictures of her smiling in a white lab coat and scrubs, a stethoscope over her shoulders. Other photos show her interacting with her husband and children over a meal and a board game.
The site says she has worked in the medical field for nearly 15 years in the greater Richmond area, including in geriatrics, home-based primary care, emergency medicine, internal medicine and obesity medicine. It also identifies Gibson as a graduate of the University of Virginia and Columbia University, a Virginia native and a resident of western Henrico for more than a decade.
Dalton Bennett contributed to this report.
