TeXXXas porn expo organizers find new Houston location

HOUSTON – The organizers of an adult film expo have finally found a Houston venue after two local hotels backed out of agreements to hold the event.

Called “TeXXXas, The Show,” the event will be held at Cover Girls at 10310 W. Little York Rd., Aug. 17 - 20. It will include meet and greets with porn film stars and sales of adult movies and merchandise, along with parties at local strip clubs.

The event was originally scheduled to be held at a Hilton Hotel in southwest Houston. The hotel cancelled after being contacted by the National Center on Sexual Exploitation.

The backup location, a Holiday Inn in southwest Houston, cancelled about two weeks later.

Corporate managers with both chains were pressured by the center, which contends the event could encourage prostitution and sex trafficking.

“This pornography expo is a welcome sign to traffickers and pimps.” Haley Halverson said. "They know they can bring people here to sell. And this (has) shown to be true in Dallas. Another expo brought several sex buyers to attention of police directly connected with that expo.”

The expo's chief organizer, John Gray, said there's no empirical data to back up the group's claims.

“How dare this organization in Nebraska and Washington say adult clubs have anything to do with violence against women,” Gray said. “Males and females that work in these clubs ... they're here by choice, they're not forced into anything."

Ironically, the center learned about the adult expo when the organization began booking space for its own event to be held in Houston at the end of September. It's called the Coalition to End Sexual Exploitation Summit.