Wednesday, February 09, 2011

What's Really Going On at Lupin Lodge?

According to their website, a California "Human Fox Hunt" erotic lifestyles group has booked May 6 through 8 at Lupin Lodge Clothing-Optional Resort for one of their fetish events (please note registration is required on their website to get access for specifics on the event). Another ponyplay fetish site, The Stampede, describes the event as follows:
The original human fox hunt team and The Stampede is gearing up for our second event in our new venue! All animal role players are welcome to explore their inner animal in a natural setting. Our clothing optional venue provides a safe, sane, and consensual environment to romp in as you please. ALL ANIMAL role players welcomed, Puppies, ponies, foxes, furries, and mythical beasts! There will be outdoor space for lunge, ad cart pulling, and indoor BDSM play space, and a large forested area for the hunt.
Lupin Lodge in Los Gatos, California, is affiliated with the American Association for Nude Recreation (AANR) and The Naturist Society (TNS). Both organizations support nude recreation in a non-sexual environment. In the past few years, at least three AANR affiliated resorts have withdrawn from the organization due to overtly sexual activities and marketing to swinger lifestyle groups: Caliente, Paradise Lakes and  Seminole.

Lupin also disassociates itself from sexual activity, declaring that anyone visiting the resort agrees to "avoid behavior which is aggressive, harassing, embarrassing, overtly sexual, or otherwise inappropriate to Lupin's family environment" (rules). Minor children are welcome and are admitted free as long as they are accompanied by their parents. On a page entitled "Lupin, Nudity and Sexuality" it is stated emphatically that "Public eroticism and sexual exploitation are not acceptable at Lupin."

The controversy over the erotic lifestyle groups is not new and was previously reported here. AANR was notified at the time and Terry Justice, Club/Member Liason, gave the following response:
I immediately called the club and spoke with the owners, I also sent them any information I was able to find. Of course they were shocked and very annoyed that this was about to befall them, they are very proud of their family-friendly, non-sexual resort. They thanked the AANR office for catching this, and assured us that there would be extra security at the gate and in the resort. These groups will be turned away and or ejected, and will never be welcome at Lupin Lodge.
Information on the Fox Hunt website contradicts AANR, and openly describes an event held at Lupin last September:
The new venue was perfect for this event, and the feedback from both the venue, other guests, and guests of the fox hunt has been exceptionally positive! We will be doing this again, and there is even consideration to doing this twice a year, since our ideal weather, and time of year is on the edges of the venue's busy season, and into their down season.
Upon registering and logging into the Fox Hunt site, one can read a message from Fox Hunt member "Smash" describing the problems encountered with Lupin and AANR:
This controversy appears to date back to mid-May, 2010. This was the day that Smash, the event organizer, met with Lupin Lodge representative, Cindy Gregory, and the date for this event was confirmed. Shortly thereafter, a preliminary announcement was posted onto The Stampede Talk and copied to the Equus Eroticus events listing. While only members of Stampede Talk can read Stampede posts and these posts can not be found through Google, the EE posting was publicly viewable.

The conservative watchdogs have Lupin Lodge, and the Lodge's website, in their searches. They have made an issue out of the Fox Hunt to the AANR. AANR has politely asked the Fox Hunt Organizers to remove all references to Lupin Lodge and any Lupin URLs.

The Fox Hunt organizers have combed this site and removed all references to "Lupin", or "Lupin Lodge" and now merely refer to it as "The Venue". All references and links to Lupin Lodge in the articles can now only be seen by registered users.
AANR has denied any knowledge of these events at Lupin, yet "Smash", the event organizer, claims that AANR requested that the Fox Hunt site remove all references to Lupin.

Lupin Lodge, AANR and TNS have all been asked to comment on this situation, and as of this writing there has been some communication but no official statement.

Screen shots of the Fox Hunt websites are below in case pressure is put on them to change or remove their information about Lupin.

AANR bills itself as "the credible voice of reason for nude recreation Since 1931" and fields a Government Affairs Team to liaison with public officials over legal and public lands issues. Currently AANR is in communications with the California Parks and Recreation Department over setting aside some public lands for nude recreation.

Lupin Lodge was founded in 1936 and the history of their first 50 years can be found here. The Naturist Society has scheduled its annual Western Gathering at Lupin for August 11-14, 2011.







http://foxhunt.lycanthrope.net/
http://the-stampede.org/events.html

6 comments:

Tom Mulhall said...

Hi Nudiarist, This is Tom Mulhall. I am writing here in my official capacity as a board member on AANR West's Board of Directors and AANR's pr team. Since I have been blogging for many years such as yourself, I was asked to be the official AANR rep for this post. As I mentioned to you yesterday, AANR in Florida just received information about the Fox Hunt yesterday morning. You received a response from Susan Weaver who is President of AANR yesterday, and I followed up yesterday afternoon stating "Hi Chet, I read Susan's response, what you see as a "canned response" I see as statement of fact. Susan is not speculating, but waiting for the facts of the situation to unfold.
As the owner of a nudist resort, and member of AANR West's board, the confidentiality of our members, guests, and clubs is extremely important to us as it is also to our membership. It is something we all take very seriously. AANR just received information about the Lupin event today. It will be thoroughly looked into. AANR can not discuss an open matter while they are waiting for all the facts. You would want the same consideration if someone had written to AANR concerning your membership in AANR. It is my understanding that when Susan Weaver receives information and a decision is made, she will contact you. I am a pr team member. Due to confidentiality, this is not an issue that I would be privy too as it is not part of my responsibilities. I am a friend of Susan Weaver. Feel free e-mailing me or calling at 800-786-6938 (8am-10pm PST) to discuss your concerns. Remember spring is just around the corner :-)
Tom"
This is actually TWO official responses you received from AANR within 8 hours of their being notified of this situation, Susan's and mine. IMO, that is a very quick response from AANR. Again feel free calling me or e-mailing me. Tom

Nudiarist said...

Tom, what you say is simply not true. AANR was informed about the situation at Lupin last May. I was also in touch with Erich Schuttauf about the situation last July and he told me that AANR could do nothing unless there was a signed complaint.

Yes, both you and Susan contacted me yesterday, but as I said, I received no official response, only that the matter was being looked into. Susan did in fact give me a canned response, exactly as follows: “AANR and all seven regions have as part of their governing procedures an Internal Administration (IA) investigation system. The first step is reporting a potential violation to the region involved, which carries out its investigation and reports its findings to AANR. The Lupin situation was brought to the attention of the Regional President for action. No recommendation has yet been received from the region.”

Neither you nor Susan would give me a direct answer as to whether or not Lupin is under investigation.

My fervent wish is that the truth be told, because someone is clearly lying about who knew what and when about the Lupin erotic lifestyle events. In addition, AANR needs to explain why they have allowed this to go on right under their noses when they've known about the situation for nearly a year.

Nudiarist said...

I just want to add that it gives me absolutely no pleasure to have reported this situation. To think that one of the cornerstone naturist resorts is perhaps knowingly marketing to sexual fetish groups is not only disheartening, it's disastrous.

Tom Mulhall said...

Hi Nudiarist, It is popular for politicians to make decisions and say things without having full information, but look at the problems they cause around the world. That is not how AANR operates in situations like this. As I said, you may feel Susan Weaver's response, and Susan is the President of AANR, to be a canned answer. It is not. It is the correct response. She is simply stating facts about AANR's procedures, and will not speculate on this matter until the facts of the situation unfold. That is the responsible thing to do. Susan has said she will contact you when a decision is made. A decision is not going to be made in 24 hours. As I wrote to you, confidentiality is very important to AANR. They will not wildly speculate. Susan's response is an official response, as is mine here. That is 2 official responses within 8 hours of AANR's office being made aware of your e-mail on Monday morning. And another 2 today from me representing AANR West and national. You may e-mail me or call me at 800-786-6938. As Susan said, when a decision is made, she will contact you. Tom

Nudiarist said...

Tom, you still fail to explain why AANR has sat on this issue for nearly a year. Either they are unaware what is going on under their own noses (hard to believe), or there is some sort of cover-up. I wouldn't be surprised if AANR turned a blind eye to these events in order to keep Lupin in the fold, especially given its historical significance. That would be politics.

Unknown said...

I'd like to just tell everyone to calm down and let the club be rented out to the fetishists on occasion if it helps pay the bills. I've heard enough about clubs closing and being converted to non-nude clubs over the years to not be worried about the affiliations and certificates of approval and so forth. It's nudism and it's supposed to be non-sexual, but it's also a club that has property tax bills and if it takes special events to pay the bills, so be it.

I don't complain about my local video store having a porn section, since I'm glad to have a local video store.

I'd rather let some sleaze in than have purity and a locked gate.