IRAN – The events in the great nation of Iran since before the contested election – and now escalating at a frightful pace afterward – demands of each of us our complete and undivided attention. Who could not be awed by the size, scope and fervor of the demonstrations taking place in a country that so few of us in the West have ever tried to know? Who does not find a constant lump in their throat at the sight of actual democracy as it is meant to be lived?

In Iran!

There is no way I can add to the ocean of real-time reporting and witnessing that is flooding the world, but I can add my heartfelt support to the heroic people of Iran, who have proven once again that we categorize a citizenry at our own peril, not theirs!

For me, coming off a weekend where I spent a lot of time at Erotical LA, a consumer porn show, and also at the LA Pride Festival, where the Free Speech Coalition, of which I am a board member, had a booth, I was reminded, strangely, of how much we share and how similar our struggles have become, even if we live in seemingly opposite worlds.

While I am riveted to news, video, pictures and commentary that conitnues to come out of Iran as I write – as I would hope everyone everywhere would be – I hold no expectations as to the ultimate outcome of this election or these demonstrations, no matter how it ends. But I do know that what we are witnessing is utterly profound and potentially a global game-changer. Like the recent elections in Palestine, this means something; it is not acted out in a vacuum; we do not dare avert our gaze.

The specter of more violence and continued repression is omnipresent and probably inevitable, but maybe we’ll be surprised this time; no country or religion can withstand forever the tidal wave of its own citizenry.

It’s disappointing, though, if not surprising, that quite a few people are hard-pressed to see anything beyond their own daily lives. In Los Angeles, the adult entertainment industry is currently dealing with a very serious but relatively limited incident of HIV exposure, a case that also has garnered an inrodinate amount national coverage. More problematic, there has been significant misinformation disseminated by the media in this case, which we also have come to expect.

What bothers me, however, is the general lack of awareness or comment by the industry about what is going on in Iran, as if what is happening there is not related to what we do. But it is. Whether we realize it or not, and we obviously don’t, it’s the same battle.

Many – maybe most, maybe all – of the protestors want Iran to become more flexible in its attitude toward women’s rights and more tolerant with people’s individual sexual preferences. They want Iran to be a place where people can express their identity -sexual and otherwise – without the threat of being hanged for it. They want to be free from either government or religious totalitarianism. They want to be free to be human.

What they want, whether they choose to use them or not, are the same freedoms we take for granted; the right, for instance, to engage in behavior that others condemn as perverted. Ultimately, you see, it all comes down to sex. Most wars – as well as crusades – come down to sex. Control sex, and you control the people. Free sex, and the people become free.

It’s simplistic, I know, but I believe it is also true then when you strip away all the pretenses for going to war, that as many times as not, the more mundane issues like territoriality or trade can be worked out over drinks at a summit, while issues of morality come to blows. Call me crazy.

Who are these brave souls from a country George Bush vilified as one of the lynchpins in the axis of evil? They are us, people trying to find their way past one revolution toward a new revolution, this time one that will truly, finally, set them free.