Dallas Voice (Dallas, Tex.), Vol. 28, No. 19, Ed. 1 Friday, September 23, 2011 Page: 18 of 48
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Politics and the rutting season
>
Hardy Haberman
Flagging Left
Like wild animals looking to mate,
politicians during campaigns make
a lot of noise over sex, but the real
substance is the diminishment of
our sexual freedom
P oliticians are strange animals. They hiber-
nate for years at a time, only emerging to
participate in the curious ritual known as
"campaigning."
Much like "rutting
season" for deer and
elk, the politician
spends much of the
campaign season
trying to make as big
a show as possible of
his prowess.
The culmination
of the rutting season
ends in showy bat-
tles where animals
clash their antlers to-
gether, making great cracking sounds in the 'for-
est. For the politician, this clashing happens in
televised debates where there is much sound and
fury and very little substance.
The only reason I say this is because there is an
undertone of the whole season that is disturbing.
For elk and deer, it is the season of mating, and
only the heartiest males can herd together a siz-
able group of females to impregnate and then
leave.
For politicians it is the season to gather to-
gether. voters whom they will screw in a
metaphorical manner and then abandon, break-
ing all the pledges they made to their con-
stituents.
OK, so I tortured that metaphor about as much
as I can. Here is the point of this whole thing:
Both rutting season and campaign season have
one thing in common — sex.
For politicians the campaign is the ideal time
to focus on the most incendiary topics, and sex is
right up there in our society, along with taxes and
religion.
The advantage in focusing on sex is it deflects
focus from the real issues of the economy, war
and jobs.
After all, it's difficult for the average American
to understand the real issues behind the eco-
nomic problems, job losses and the ongoing
wars. But sex? Well, that one is easy.
For politicians, focusing on sex is a slam-dunk.
Point to those folks who have sexual preferences
that differ from the majority of your voters and
you are taking fewer risks.
In a society as sexually repressed as ours, any
variance from the perceived norm causes panic,
and that can be used to sway votes your way.
It is a sad fact that Americans do not consider
sexuality and more specifically sexual freedom,
a basic human right. Because of that, politicians
find it easy to whip voters into a frenzy using sex
as a campaign issue:
"Ban gay marriage! Stop the homosexual
agenda! Stop teaching sex education! Fhd public
access to contraception! Stop HPV vaccinations!"
At their root, these issues are all about sex and
the discomfort Americans feel even discussing it.
It's time America grows up and stops behav-
ing like a herd of deer. If we could honestly and
thoughtfully address our discomfort in talking
about.sex, we would go a long way towards be-
coming a greater nation.
The sooner we accept sexual freedom as one
of our basic and sacred human rights, the sooner
we will cease being a dysfunctional, adolescent
society.
Sexual freedom is the fundamental human
right of all individuals to develop and express
their unique sexuality. It is nothing to be afraid
of, yet politicians and clergy have taken this sa-
cred right and tagged it with incendiary language
like "promiscuity" and "immorality."
It should come as no surprise that they are lying
to us. Sexual freedom, like all our rights, is some-
thing to be taken seriously. It is the right to express
in speech and writing our unique sexuality.
It is the right to obtain medically accurate and
inclusive information about sex and sexuality. It
is the right to control our bodies and our relation-
ships. It is the right to engage in consensual sex-
ual activity as an expression of who we are as
human beings.
It is one of the many gifts we have been en-
dowed with, yet sex is systematically excluded
from most discussions of citizens' rights.
This Friday, Sept. 23 is Sexual Freedom Day.
The Woodhull Sexual Freedom Alliance cele-
brates this day each year with seminars, confer-
ences and media events. This year the conference
takes place in Washington, D.C. at the Pew Char-
itable Trust Foundation Conference Center and
will feature panelists from across the country and
around the world.
The idea is to provide a safe space to start talk-
ing about sex and human rights.
Elevating the conversation is vital to assuring
our rights as LGBT Americans. The sooner we
can mature as a country, the sooner issues of sex
and sexuality will cease to be tools for use by
politicians.
And the sooner we can stop behaving like a
herd, the sooner we will cease to be treated like
frightened animals.
Maybe then we can concentrate on actually
making our country a safer, healthier and better
place. ■
Hardy Habermanis alongtimelocal LGBT activist
and a board member of the Woodhull Freedom Al-
liance. His blog is at DungeonDianf.blogspot.com.
Feedback
Is Kidd Kraddick anti-gay?
An open letter to Kidd Kraddick with the
Kidd Kraddick in the Morning Show on 106.1
KISS-FM:
I am writing in response to your account
Monday morning, Sept. 19 on your morning
radio program, Kidd Kraddick in the Morning
on 106.1 KISS-FM, to what was presumably a
story about your plight of not being able to gain
access to your residence because of road clo-
sures perpetuated by the 28th annual Alan Ross
Texas Freedom Parade, aka the gay Pride pa-
rade, on Sunday, Sept. 18. Your account of these
events ended up being sprinkled with unnec-
essary and offensive-stereotypes..
As your story goes, you were attempting to
speak with a nearby female Dallas police officer
regarding having to park on the street in a des-
ignated "No Parking Any Time" zone. Appar-
ently, you were trying to ascertain from the
police officer if your car was at risk of being
towed.
My first and obvious comment is: It doesn't
take a rocket scientist to figure out that one
would stand a better than 98 percent chance of
having his or her automobile towed by illegally
parking along the street in an area that is clearly
and visibly designated by signage as a no park-
ing zone. Any prudent, intelligent individual
would not even need to seek out the counsel of
a police officer to make this determination, es-
pecially during an event like the parade where
parking and traffic are, without a doubt, going
to be atrocious. These are the times when traffic
and parking laws and restrictions are most
often enforced.
But I digress. As your odyssey unfolds# your
efforts to speak with the female police officer
were thwarted because there was a scantily-
clad man who was already speaking to the po-
lice officer, attempting to determine whether or
not his attire, which according to your accounts
consisted of flip-flops and canary yellow un-
derwear, were within the boundaries, of the law,
and not considered indecent or illegal clothing
that might result in his arrest.
Because this conversation was taking place,
you were not able to get the attention of, or
speak to, the police officer.
In your account of the conversation between
the man in the yellow underwear and flip-flops
and the police officer, you used a lisp when re-
counting the words spoken by the parade-goer.
Mr. Kraddick, using a lisp in this manner
■ FEEDBACK, Next Page
18 dallasvoice.com ■ 09.23.11
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Nash, Tammye. Dallas Voice (Dallas, Tex.), Vol. 28, No. 19, Ed. 1 Friday, September 23, 2011, newspaper, September 23, 2011; Dallas, Texas. (https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth239186/m1/18/: accessed April 23, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, UNT Digital Library, https://digital.library.unt.edu; crediting UNT Libraries Special Collections.