Commentary on the Manifesto of Sexual Freedom

From: loebner@ACM.ORG (Hugh Loebner)
Date: Wed, 28 Jun 1995 15:46:39 +0000 (GMT)
Organization: ACM Network Services

                            COMMENTS ON A MANIFESTO

Men and women of the Internet--would you be free from police oppression and
harassment of your sexuality?

If we, sexually oppressed citizens of the United States, ever wish to be
free we must *seize* our destiny by demonstrating political power.

We can do this with the power of the Internet, and a commitment to liberty.

Liberty, Happiness, and Sex Appeal--no politician can go far wrong who builds
his platform with these planks. Such a cause is ultimately invincible.

What should you do if you agree with this cause?

FIRST.  Publicize this manifesto.  Forward it to friends.  Don't assume
they will receive it from someone else, or that they read alt.sex newsgroups.

SECOND:  Lobby your local and state political leaders.  SPEAK UP.
Argue for the advantages of decriminalization.  Decriminalization
would:

 1.  End expensive and useless police efforts.
 2.  Provide safe sensual pleasure.
 3.  End an unnecessary source of human misery.
 4.  Provide protection and safety for sex workers and clients.
 5.  Provide an opportunity to reduce the incidence of STDs.
 6.  Reduce the flow of money to organized crime.
 7.  Provide a source of LEGAL employment to those who would do sex work.

THIRD: Come out of the closet.  There is nothing intrinsically shameful in
commercial sex.  The rich and the famous patronize prostitutes.  It is a
*normal* human trait to pay for sex or to be paid (one way or another)
for it.

FOURTH: Demonstrate.  On Sunday, June 9, 1996, from 11:30 AM to 12:30 PM,
I will promenade outside City Hall in Manhattan, NY, carrying a sign with
the words "END SEXUAL OPPRESSION" written on it.

If *I* demonstrate alone, so be it. *I* will be shown to be a buffoon. That
would be no great loss.  However, if *we* march together *we* will be free.
That would be a blessing.  My course of action is clear.

This mission would be quixotic, if it were not for the fact that men and 
women are being arrested daily.  It would be quixotic if it were not for the
fact that promoting prostitution is a felony punishable by *years* of
imprisonment in NY and other states.  It would be quixotic, if it were not
for the fact that Miss Heidi Fleiss has been sentenced to 3 years in prison
in California for pandering (Oscar Wilde's *infamous* sentence was 2 years).
This would be quixotic, were it not for the fact that people are losing their
reputations, their cars, their jobs, their tranquillity, and their freedom.

This would be quixotic, were it not tragic.
============================================================================
Who am I?--It really doesn't matter, for if this succeeds it will be because
of *us* not *me*.  However, for the curious:

Hugh Gene Loebner

BA   '63  The Johns Hopkins University, Liberal Arts
MA   '65  New York University, Sociology
Ph.D '72  University of Massachusetts, Demography

President, Crown Industries, East Orange NJ- Mfg of Restaurant Equip.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Donor, The Loebner Prize for Artificial Intelligence
(see) 
WIRED "What's it Like to be Human?" April 1995 Vol 3, No 4 pp 132-137
NY Times "So Who's Talking: Human or Machine?" Tues. Nov 5, 1991 p C1
NY Times "Can Machines Think? Humans Match Wits" Sat.  Nov 9, 1991 p A1

Note: The Loebner Prize is the Turing Test for Computer Artificial
Intelligence. (Rules and info are available on comp.ai or e-mail
requests to me at loebner@acm.org)
 
Alan Turing was a British Mathematician whose work in code breaking during
WW II helped the Allies defeat the Axis powers.  Turing did basic work in
the theory of computers.

Alan Turing was arrested for the crime of homosexuality and in 1954
*committed suicide*.  It is the knowledge of his martyrdom that drives me
in this endeavor.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Unrepentant john 
(see)
NY Newsday "A Regular John-And Proud Of It," Thurs., Aug. 25, 1994 P. A6
ADAM "Talk of the $troll - New York Johns Take a Stand," Tracy Quan,
    July 95, V.39, N.7 p. 34

------sig of the month---------------------------------------------------------
Voice Mail 1-500-EGO-TRIP        Hugh Gene Loebner       e-mail loebner@acm.org
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 
     My reaction to intelligence is the same as my reaction to pornography,
               I can't define it, but I like it when I see it.