Even for a porn shop filled with leather harnesses and every kind of sex toy imaginable, this was an unusual sight.
The sidewalk outside adult entertainment store Chi Chi LaRue’s, on Santa Monica Boulevard, was swarming with dozens of reporters, photographers and local dignitaries dressed to the nines on Wednesday, as West Hollywood honored porn star Stormy Daniels with a key to the city and her very own “Stormy Daniels Day.”
“Welcome to West Hollywood, where the women are strong and the men are pretty,” West Hollywood Mayor John Duran (pictured below) said. “We’re here to recognize a very, very strong woman today.”
Daniels, whose legal name is Stephanie Clifford, is embroiled in a fierce legal battle with President Trump to challenge a non-disclosure agreement she signed in exchange for remaining silent about a supposed affair with the president.
“Our values have been under threat by the Trump administration in the past year and a half,” Duran said. “As you know, Lady Godiva rode naked through the streets of England, to protest injustice and taxes. We have our own Lady Godiva here in the city of West Hollywood.”
Daniels has become a celebrity in this neck of the woods, where an estimated 46 percent of West Hollywood’s population is LGBT. The city council has passed several resolutions opposing Trump administration policies. A city announcement Tuesday called Daniels a leader in the Trump resistance movement.
“The City of West Hollywood is a very special place, very close to my heart,” Daniels told the crowd. “This community has a history of standing up to bullies and speaking truth to power and I’m so very lucky to be a part of it.”
Daniels was accompanied by her lawyer, Michael Avenatti (pictured below), who promised she would not give up the battle.
“I think she’s a strong woman,” Avenatti told TheWrap. “I think she has significant fortitude and I think that she stands for truth and principles that people identify with.”
“She’s going to be getting a lot of awards from a lot of different groups and organizations,” he added.