Crime

Lesbian YouTube star Chrissy Chambers wins ‘revenge porn’ case against ex-boyfriend, gets engaged to celebrate

Jan 18 2018
Written by Nick Duffy

Lesbian YouTubers Bria Kam and Chrissy Chambers have announced their engagement – after winning a high-profile revenge porn battle.

Ms Chambers, who lives in the US, has been awarded substantial damages in the landmark case, which was brought through UK courts against her British ex-girlfriend.

The YouTuber brought a claim against the man for breach of confidence, misuse of private information and harassment at the High Court in London, after he posted explicit videos of her to pornographic websites.

Ms Chambers was awarded “substantial” damages in the case.

She celebrated her victory by popping the question to her girlfriend, Ms Kam, on the steps of the High Court.

The pair’s joint YouTube account, BriaAndChrissy, is one of the most popular lesbian YouTube channels, with more than 750,000 subscribers.

Ms Chambers tweeted: “I could not be more elated to announce that I won my revenge porn case and also asked the most incredible girl to marry me. I’m the luckiest girl in the world!!!!!”

Bria said: “This is the happiest day of my life.”

Speaking to the press outside the court, Ms Chambers said: “We have been able to set a legal precedent that should serve as a warning to those who seek to extort and harm with revenge porn: you cannot do this with impunity, and you will be held accountable for your action.

“For anyone who has been living in fear of revenge porn used against you, there has never been a better time to come forward.”

Before proposing on the steps, she said: “This is the end of a very difficult chapter in our lives.

“This has taken up four and a half years of our six year relationship, and I don’t want to waste another moment ending this chapter before I start the next one.”

Her girlfriend was overwhelmed by the proposal.

She said: “This is the bravest, most incredible human being that I’ve ever met. I can’t be more happy to be beside her.”

Speaking to the Guardian, Ms Chambers’ lawyer Georgina Calvert-Lee of McAllister Olivarius said: “Victims of revenge porn always tell us of their humiliation and shame.

“Their identities have been stolen and distorted and they think they are powerless to do anything about it.

“Their attackers – those who have violated their trust and posted their images, or copied and shared them, or profited off them – bank on this humiliation and sense of powerlessness.

“Chrissy Chambers’ case shows that victims of revenge porn need feel powerless no more… All they need do is use the law to stop the revenge porn, and the industry that feeds off it, and take back control of their image and their identity.”

Speaking previously about the case, Ms Chambers explained: “When I was 18 years old, I started a long-distance relationship with a man who was 6 years older than me. As you might expect, soon enough the relationship grew strained and we broke up. I still cannot believe what happened next.

“Before the relationship ended, and without my knowledge or consent, my ex filmed himself having sex with me, and when we broke up he posted them online and they were shared to over 30 pornography sites.

“It wasn’t until two years after they were posted, when a link to one of those videos was emailed to me, that I found out they existed or even that this sexual encounter had taken place.

“Each one included my full name, and my ex had included text calling me a slut and a horrible role model. By the time I found them, they had been viewed tens of thousands of times.

“Life as I had known it ended. It was like I had been hit in the chest and couldn’t catch my breath.

She went on: “It only got worse when I found out that there was nothing I could do to get them taken down.”

“There are currently no federal laws in the United States that criminalize ‘revenge porn’, meaning sexually explicit photos or videos posted online without consent.

“My ex posted those videos for revenge, plain and simple. He wanted to hurt me, and to tarnish my reputation. But he won’t succeed.

“I am standing up to fight back, not just for me, but for the tens of thousands of other women (and men) who have been put in this same situation with no way to defend themselves. With the help of our lawyers at the firm McAllister Olivarius, we are bringing the first ever civil lawsuit against revenge pornography in the UK.”

The couple are prominent supporters of LGBT equality on YouTube.

They previously appeared in a video which utilises a 360-degree camera to allow LGBT people to tell their story like never before.

It features a number of other well-known LGBT YouTubers telling their stories about coming out and finding love.
Bria of BriaAndChrissy recalls: “When I first came out, I came out to my mum, and I remember she said to me, ‘when am I going to look at you and not see gay?’

“The truth is, I knew exactly what she meant, because I couldn’t look at myself and not see gay.

Chrissy says: “When I first came out I was really afraid of being judged by my conservative small-town community, and I was. It was really difficult to have people look at me in the face and not see me as the person that I was.”

However, they slowly explain that through finding the LGBT community, they were able to come to accept themselves.

Stephanie Frosch said: “I think the important thing to remember is, no matter what the struggle you’re going through, it’s almost like a thunderstorm.

“You may not see happiness at the end of it, but just like thunder clouds go away, the sun is always there the whole time.”