THE GAT MISSION, PART 1
By Jonathan Duffield, Government Affairs Chair
I travel frequently throughout the Region and, wherever I go, I often encounter the same question: “What, exactly, does the Government Affairs Team do?” The answer is surprisingly simple.
The GAT serves a dual mandate: 1. to protect and preserve what we’ve got, and 2. to win and secure more. In Part 1 of this article, I’d like to discuss how we go about protecting and preserving our current nude recreational venues.
“ETERNAL VIGILENCE IS THE PRICE OF LIBERTY”
That quotable quote is most often attributed to Thomas Jefferson. Though no one has ever actually found it in any of his writings, it does, nonetheless, pretty accurately describe the first part of GAT’s mission.
You see, the woods are full of wolves – prudes and bluenoses – who think we’re all a bunch of sickos who need to be locked up, and our resorts, clubs, campgrounds, parks, and beaches permanently closed. Sadly, that may be the attitude of the majority of Americans.
But fortunately, while we do have majority rule in this country by design, our founding fathers soon realized that they had also inadvertently created a system of government by which the majority could tyrannize a minority, and that was not their intention. So two years after adopting our Constitution in 1787, the framers then adopted its first ten Amendments in 1789. They intended the Bill of Rights to correct their oversight – to protect the rights of minorities.
You have an absolute right to take your clothes off and run around naked in public if you want to (as long you’re in an appropriate setting and you’re not being lewd or lascivious, that is). You have the right to live, work, play, and even socialize in the nude. And where, exactly, do these rights come from?
Well, most good citizens who remember what they were taught in ninth grade civics class tend to think of these rights as being guaranteed by the freedom of expression and freedom of assembly clauses of our First Amendment, and they are.
But they are also protected by our Ninth Amendment which says that all rights not previously conveyed to the Federal government, or to the States, shall be retained by the people themselves.
That is important. Please remember it.
Your Government Affairs Team is charged with the responsibility of continually monitoring all proposed Federal and State legislation – and all County and local ordinances, rules, and regulations as well – for actions which could, potentially, infringe upon your right to social nudity.
In order to do that, we first need to hear about such threats. And at the Federal and State levels, we’re pretty well covered.
For Federal and State laws, and regulations that have the effect of law, we have tools at our disposal that allow us to search all Bills for key words like “naked,” “nude,” “nudity,” etc., and then track their progress through the legislature. We are further aided by John Hunter, Chairman of our Federal Government Affairs committee, who also brings Bills of concern to our attention in time for us to intervene.
And here in the Florida Region, we are very lucky to have the services of Ramon Maury, our own professional lobbyist in Tallahassee, who also alerts us to proposed State laws and regulations that could adversely impact our chosen way of life.
But it’s for proposed County and local ordinances that we need your assistance.
Ralph Collinson, President of the Florida Region, has talked about the importance of volunteering to help protect your right to social nudism, and here is another way for you to become involved without lifting a finger.
For several years, AANR’s Community Awareness Team program has lain dormant. And now we’re re-activating it in response to increasing challenges from those who would seek to harm our lifestyle.
You can think of the CAT as AANR’s “Early Warning System” to alert us to proposed County and local ordinances that could hurt you and all of us.
By doing nothing more than what you’re already doing – that is, reading your local newspapers, keeping up with the news on your local radio and TV stations, and talking with your family, friends, neighbors, and workmates – you can maintain an awareness of hostile actions being contemplated in your County and municipality and then tell us about them so we can get out in front of the curve instead of behind it.
Won’t you help? You can become a Community Awareness Team member by simply raising your hand.
Contact me, your Regional Government Affairs Team Chairman, at Jonathan.Duffield@AANR-Florida.org, and let me know that you want to be a CAT volunteer. Following a tiny little bit of instruction, you’ll be left alone. You won’t be badgered or harassed or contacted at all unless we need to mount a grassroots campaign to head off some kind of impending legislative disaster.
In the grand scheme of things, that’s really not likely to happen. But we need to have at least one watchdog in every community in every County in the country for this program to work.
You can be a part – an important part – of our efforts to protect and preserve your rights as a nudist. And this is the easiest way possible for you to get involved.
Had it not been for a concerned AANR member, the proposed ordinance to ban nudity in Clay County, Florida, would never have come to our attention in time for us do anything about it. As it was, we were nearly too late. But, because he let us know in time, AANR was able to influence that bad action for the good of our members.
Yes, the world is full of people who would like nothing more than to take away our right to social nudity and curtail the way we like to play. We can’t let that happen. And with your help, it won’t..
Next month, how to start your own nude beach (or park or campground) on public land. It’s easier than you might think!