You might think this one would go without saying. You might even think it should go without saying, but it’s too late for that, I already said it. I’m grateful for sex.

That comes out kind of creepy, doesn’t it? Like I’m pathetically grateful for getting a chance to do it. I didn’t mean it like that, honest! Let me give you some back story. As it were. (God, once you start out with a title like “Day 10: Sex” everything sounds like a double-entendre, doesn’t it?)

This past week the Rev. Bryant Wright delivered a devotional address to our Georgia legislators in which he decried the current trend of valuing “erotic liberty” over religious liberty. And by erotic liberty he seems to mean treating homosexuality (and any other form of sex that’s abhorrent to him) as anything but a perversion, and attempting to protect homosexuals (and anyone else whose sexuality is abhorrent to him) from discrimination in public services and accommodations.

So I’m writing today to say that I’m grateful for sex in general, and in all its forms, so long as all participants are capable of giving informed consent and have done so. (Note to students at private liberal arts colleges: in your case this may actually require you to fill out forms in triplicate and have them notarized. Do not despair: with sufficient imagination and a sense of humor, this too can become part of romantic and arousing foreplay.)

Sex is as natural and necessary as eating, and sleeping. (I don’t say as necessary as breathing or drinking, because I’ve gone longer than 3 days without having sex, and you can’t go that long without water, or longer than 2 minutes without breathing, but I digress.) At times it allows us to feel cherished, comforted, and deeply bonded to another; at times it allows us to feel vital and exciting; at times it allows us to feel dirty and primitive and wallow in our animalistic urges without doing anyone any real damage; and if you’re doing it right, all those can happen at the same time.

Why on earth would you tell anyone they can’t have those things unless they can get them from the exact same combination of body parts, words, and acts that you get them from? I’m mystified. So today I’m here to say, I’m totally grateful for sex, and you should be too! Go get some as soon as you can! You can even do it all by yourself, if need be, or if that’s what you like best.