Check out this link: http://www.eqca.org/site/apps/cd/content.asp?c=kuLRJ9MRKrH&b=4028667&eventid={A1F26F06-9546-4045-AB8B-D15F0A6A6D71}&contentid={8D4FC7AE-CAAB-4AC1-BC37-D535F1784987}&seid=
]]>You should also not forget that gay marriage was legalized in Conn.
The final outcome in California is far from decided too.
]]>What do you mean by the decline in sexual freedom and LGBT rights? Proposition 8 was revolting, but it isn’t clear to me that this signifies a backlash- rather than merely a discrete victory for the bad guys. I would agree with you there’s something going wrong on sexual freedom- Bush’s reactivation of obscenity persections, the End Demand act, the city-by-city assault on the prostitution industry, and a general social atmosphere which encourages rampant discrimination. (and San Francisco’s pansexual BDSM Folsom Street Fair is now being politically harassed by masked crypto-Nazis- ‘for the children’, of course). But this also occurs in a social context where a very cynical heirarchical porn industry has been mainstreamed in the bluer parts of the United States and is pervasive everywhere. Meanwhile, Sex and the City is mainstream (in New Zealand, the government riffs off the image for safety campaigns), and both alternative and popular culture promote a loud and occasionally sincere sexualised ideology- I say insincere because it’s all about status, not selfhood or pleasure. The pattern I see is less simple repression of sexuality than the formation of a heirarchical pattern of class double standards- the classic imperial pattern. Or, yet more precisely, there’s a more ‘liberal’ version of the power elite that wants a power-obsessed winner-take-all type of sexuality, and a conservative power elite that wants to see sexuality outside of reproduction crushed altogether. The second group is more evil and is more dangerous, having more history and cultural subtance behind it- and if the Enlightenment crashes, they win. But looking outside America, they aren’t the whole story. One may take Madonna as a symbol of sexuality’s version of the monopoly neocorporate order. The supermodel is sexuality in the image of the grande bourgeois pimps of the neofascist ‘free market’.
Incidentally, my suspicion is that sex work in the United States is going to increasingly resemble a third world model of prostitution- as American prosperity fades, mass prostitution is likely to increasingly become a visible social presence- one continually persecuted and marginalised to keep it in its social place, with the result of ghettoised exploitation.
BTW, I’m always glad to see you writing here. You give me at least a little hope that there remains some individualism within libertarianism.
]]>Interestingly, I was at a Reason mag release party the night before. I was in the presence of Matt Welch and Radley Balko — neither of whom are major influences. I do appreciate Radley’s work on paramilitary policing though.
I’ve been considering whether to start an ALL chapter here. The Ron Paul crowd has their campaign for liberty. Pete and company have Bureaucrash. The ALL serves the function of introducing a radical voice in Libertarian circles. Fortunately, the interest Pete showed in sex workers rights march shows that BCS can be a good force for non-conservative Libertarian work. I have him pegged as a potential member of any Alliance chapter around here.
]]>For anyone who’s watching, don’t forget that March 3rd is International Day to End Violence Against Sex Workers! (and yes, holidays should end in exclamation points).
And Nick, if you run Pete Eyre again, ask him about the John from Baltimore who spoke toward the end of the national march. It’s a hilarious story. And tell him you know Soviet Onion from Chicago, the guy who wrote about Somalia.
]]>Good stuff!
]]>Me thoughts:
Couldn’t they just change their minds…?
Then again, I am inclined to see the Prop 8 pushers drop dead right now. What a “waste” of my intellectual energy they’ve engendered via their nonsense.
The Supreme Court rules again on March 5th! Time to see where theocratic politics in America will go or not go.
Crosses fingers
I am hopefully going to be able to go out and celebrate at the nearest LGBT event whenever news of a potential positive ruling hits.
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