Hi, I\u2019m Karen Ma\u2019am (or MsPierced or just Karen!) and I\u2019ve been part of the leather\/kink\/BDSM community since 1991\u2014ever since I tied up my first boy in a University of Florida dorm room.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
When Florida passed the \u201cDon\u2019t Say Gay\u201d law in 2022, I knew I couldn\u2019t stay on the sidelines. I attended my first Equality Florida meeting and haven\u2019t looked back. I also brought a decade of political organizing experience from my time lobbying with the International Council of Shopping Centers (ICSC)\u2014skills I now bring home to serve my people, my community.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
That\u2019s why I founded Boots on the Ground\u2014a new activist collective built by and for our community. Because while I was doing the work, I wasn\u2019t doing it with us<\/em>. And we can do it so much better, louder, bolder\u2026and with way more leather.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Here\u2019s the truth: no authoritarian regime in world history has withstood organized resistance from just 3.5% of the population. That\u2019s about 11 million Americans\u2014and we\u2019re nearly halfway there. The \u201cHands Off\u201d protests in April 2025 brought out 5 million people nationwide. The June 14th protests were even bigger. We can<\/em> win\u2014but only if we show up.<\/p>\n\n\n\n At Boots on the Ground, we\u2019re not here to endlessly rehash Trump headlines. We\u2019re here to study our history, honor our elders, and build something that lasts. We are students of the movements that came before us\u2014Stonewall, ACT UP, the Black civil rights movement, and the suffragists who fought for decades before they saw change.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Like Senator Cory Booker said at a sit-in on April 27, \u201cDo you think we got the right to vote for women because a bunch of men on the House floor got together and said, \u2018On the count of three, women get the right to vote?\u2019 That\u2019s not how it happened\u2026 change doesn\u2019t come FROM Washington. It comes TO Washington.\u201d We are bringing<\/em> the change. Together.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Some things we talk about might not resonate right away. Hell\u2014if you had told me a year ago to change my spending habits, I would\u2019ve rolled my eyes. But now? Changing how I spend to match my political values brings me joy. I\u2019ll give you the tools and information. You choose what to do with them. This is your journey, too.<\/p>\n\n\n\n And look\u2014Democrats are in the minority in both Florida and in Congress. We’re going to lose battles. But we don’t have to make it easy for them. We will speak up. We will organize. We will resist. Every. Damn. Time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n This isn\u2019t a sprint. This is a movement. And movements take endurance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n If you\u2019ve ever sung in a choir, you know: when one person needs to breathe, the rest hold the note. And that\u2019s how we\u2019ll do it\u2014together. We move forward, always forward.<\/p>\n\n\n\n All of my presentations and resources will be available for free\u2014for personal use or to share with your local communities. Because knowledge is power, and we\u2019re done being quiet.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Because our rights aren\u2019t a fetish\u2014they\u2019re fundamental. Let\u2019s lace up.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Hi, I\u2019m Karen Ma\u2019am (or MsPierced or just Karen!) and I\u2019ve been part of the leather\/kink\/BDSM community since 1991\u2014ever since I tied up my first […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-100","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/botgfl.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/100","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/botgfl.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/botgfl.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/botgfl.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/botgfl.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=100"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/botgfl.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/100\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":101,"href":"https:\/\/botgfl.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/100\/revisions\/101"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/botgfl.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=100"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}