While in Chicago this week, I spent some fascinating time at the Kos Convention. There were 1500 people there working for progressive political change, most of them bloggers. I did an author hour, was interviewed for the virtual world Second Life, and went to a few sessions.
Almost every progressive cause was represented: organized labor, farm reform, immigration, internet access for the poor, universal healthcare. Dozens of political figures attended, and Hillary, Barack, and the other aspiring Democratic presidential candidates held a spirited debate.
The sessions had titles like “Countering corruption in Congress,” “Workers and the global supply chain,” and “What to do about the Religious Right.” There were lots of opportunities for bloggers to network and learn how to expand their influence.
The convention offered everything except sex.
No, I don’t mean what people did privately after hours (insert your preferred joke here about computer geeks, sexual frustration, and online personas).
I mean there was nothing about contraception, sex education, the unfairness (and complete failure) of sex offender registries, or mandatory internet filtering in public venues.
Nothing about any part of America’s War on Sex (yes, of course I offered).
Worse still, there was absolutely nothing about the theft of our rights to “indecent” entertainment; to private, consensual sexual “perversion;” and to accurate information in government-funded websites and programs.
Everyone talked about how the government lied to get us into a destructive war 10,000 miles away. No one talked about how the government lies to keep us in a destructive war against a gigantic, demonic, phantom army of alleged sexual predators, porn addicts, and swingers.
Aside from the assumption that people shouldn’t be persecuted for loving someone of the same gender, no one talked about sexual justice as a justice issue, or sexual rights as human rights.
People still don’t connect the dots. In fact, many liberals, progressives, and feminists insist that porn, swinging, and “too much” sexuality are bad for everyone. Especially, of course, for the children.
Oh, my progressive brothers and sisters. Please, please notice America’s War on Sex. Please notice how the government is criminalizing our imagination, destroying our right to read and see what we want, changing the rules of our courtrooms.
If the subject of these massive legislative changes wasn’t sexuality, of course you’d notice. Well, you’ll eventually get the chance—because now that the government has created these changes to deal with the public health menace of sexuality, it will use these expanded powers in other ways.
As with all incremental seizure of power and erosion of our rights, people will wonder how it happened.
Why aren’t progressives talking about how the government’s war on sex is destroying our non-sexual rights as well?