A PR contact, who  represented a condom company, suggested I write a Congressional Resolution for sex, as a way to get some buzz going for America’s Sexuality Day in ‘2009.

I thought he was nuts, but I’m often a rather obedient woman, and within a day wrote the text below. I even knocked on some doors while I was in D.C. that February. It got quite a few smiles from aides, on both sides of the political aisle, but it was clear that I was no Anthony Comstock. No resolution for sex in 2009 was going to get passed as quickly as the landmark censorship against sex did in 1873. Anecdotally, dear Anthony got Congress to pass the sweeping piece of national legislation in just a few hours in one day, on March 3, the last day of that Congressional session.  The Comstock Act  broadly made illegal: sexual education, sexual content in the arts, let along any hint of sexual misbehavior– all on behalf of protecting the American people. Parts of the Comstock Laws remain in the books to this day, and it sired a legacy of restrictions on sexual expression that you won’t know about until it affects you.  

FACTS:                                                                                                                                                                                

•  Congress has never officially recognized the significance of sex to our individuality, humanity and democracy. 
• And the Supreme Court has yet to  include sexual  speech as one of the  protected forms of speech. 

What does this mean to you, or any of us? First Amendment attorneys can be a lot more specific, but basically your sexual choices are not fully protected in the lay of the land, and more concerting is that what rights you do have– if you can figure out what they are- could be taken away, at any time, with a quick legislative swipe of the pen by your state and local government, Congress or a Supreme Court decision.

Democratic governments  have long grappled with balancing any individual right to privacy and liberty with the need to protect society, at large. Our constitution leaves much room for interpretation, as a living document should. The debate is not as easy as it appears, because sex itself is complicated in its own right. Many people who believe in sexual freedoms might not all agree that government’s role is to protect them. What about sexual abuse and how do we guide our  children in a media environment that thrusts cleavage and pelvic gyrations in all our faces?  It’s easy to say parents are responsible for what their kids see and do, or that sexual abuse is punished under rape and victim laws. But here, too, the answers are too simplistic in the real world. Our future posts will add more detail and opinions from lawyers and philosophers and advocates about the many complexities  of sex and the law and how it affects your sex.  

But back to why did I draft this text for a Congressional Resolution for Sex?

Simply because sex needs to be affirmed.

Between all the scandals and all the laws against it, sex fundamentally needs to be acknowledged,  to  say that it is important, probably the most important thing to humanity as a whole, right along there besides food, water and shelter.

1. Starting  March 3, you’re invited to add your 2 cents to what I’m affectionately calling “The Edit The Sex Text,”  or more specifically “National Sexual Awareness and Free Speech Day” 
2. ( we’ll add it to a forum or ning network as soon as we can, so you can discuss and edit it more easily, comparing other people’s comments by sections, along with yours, too)
3. on September 17,  Constitution Day, you’ll be invited  again to add your John Henry to the final petition.
4. We will present the petition to Congress on the Bill of Rights Day December 15, 2010
5. Lobbying for its its passage on March 3, 2011, on our own America’s Sexuality Day, the anniversary of Comstock, while singing The Star-Spangled Banner ( It’s National Amthem Day, on March 3, too!)
6. and if we miss? We’ll petition it  again.

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The Preliminary Text for the Congressional Resolution for Sex Petitioning Congress to approve March 3 as National Sexual Awareness and Free Speech Day, on the anniversary of The Comstock Act of 1873. 

SYNOPSIS of the Five Section  

>1. Sex and Gender shape our human experience   > 2.The role of arts, education and equality are important for sexual knowledge >3.  Celebration of pleasure as the pursuit of happiness >4.  The Comstock Act harmed democracy   >5.  Honoring sexual dialogue benefits and strengthens individuals, families and democracy      =    Therefore, We the People, petition Congress, to Affirm March 3 for Sexuality and its Free Speech

1.  Whereas, sexuality and gender are indisputably inseparable from human experience in shaping individual identity, eros and culture;

2.  Whereas, the arts, education and adherence to civil rights are fundamental to understanding, enriching and upholding the inherent sexual nature within our humanity;

3.  Whereas, individual sexual expression contributes to the pursuit of happiness;

4.  Whereas, the Comstock Act, adopted by Congress on March 3, 1873, unjustly restricted sexual education, culture and individual freedoms, causing immeasurable harm to educators, artists and countless individuals and families, who in turn, were implicitly denied from benefitting from them;

5.  Whereas, honoring sexual awareness furthers personal education and societal wisdom, helping to prevent sexual abuse and victimization, supporting familial cohesion, and empowers democratic discourse, embracing the very definition of the fabric of our nation, as a whole;

We herewith, ask Congress  to recognize March 3, 2010 as National Sexual Awareness and Free Speech Day.