Aria DiMezzo says she doesn’t hate herself enough to read the Facebook comments. Ever since winning the Republican nomination for sheriff in a New Hampshire county, DiMezzo, a self-proclaimed transgender satanist anarchist, has been inundated with taunts and hate messages.
She often turns the insults into signs and slogans.
“I have to own it,” DiMezzo said. “Otherwise, they win. Everything they say or do can and will be used against them.”
On this week’s edition of “The Sports Kiki,” I spoke with DiMezzo about her unusual candidacy for sheriff in Cheshire County, New Hampshire. This article does not serve as an endorsement of DiMezzo or her politics. But it is the story of an LGBTQ person breaking previously impenetrable barriers, and in this case, doing it as loudly as possible.
DiMezzo originally tried to run as a Libertarian — her third-party of choice — but was unable to get on the ballot. So instead, she registered as a Republican for the primary, with the expectation of receiving a few dozen votes at most.
Her total wound up exceeding 4,000, clearing the way for an easy primary victory. Since then, DiMezzo has been fielding messages from outraged Republicans claiming they were duped. That is hardly a worthwhile defense, considering her campaign slogan is literally “F— the police.”
“The assumption, based on what a lot of these Republicans are saying on Facebook, is they didn’t do their research. They didn’t know who they were voting for,” she said. “That’s the general assumption, but it is an assumption.”
Despite the animosity directed towards her, DiMezzo also leaves room for the possibility that some Republican voters agree with her platform, which includes the vision of all county police deputies quitting the moment she’s sworn into office. DiMezzo says she applauds police officers, but they are ordered to “enforce immoral laws they don’t often agree with.” Under DiMezzo’s watch, she says police officers would only “respond to crimes where there are actual victims.”
“There are also Republicans who believe in small government, low taxes and who are pro-gun who will support me knowing about me, because they know that I also support the Second Amendment and low taxes,” she said. “So it could one of those two things: that their consciously willing to look past the anarchism, being trans, and the satanism to vote for someone whose positions actually align with theirs, which would be a wonderful thing, or it says they just didn’t bother to do their research. I think both statements are probably true to an extent.”
With the general election quickly approaching — where DiMezzo is pining to unseat the incumbent, Democrat Eli Rivera — attention on the race should only increase. Unfortunately, that could mean a continued avalanche of transphobic and anti-LGBTQ attacks. Recently, detractors spray-painted a giant phallic hieroglyphic on the side of DiMezzo’s red convertible. She said she can laugh off most of the shenanigans, except when they become financially costly — like when the roof of her convertible was damaged.
“You have to laugh at these things,” she said. “They send me hate mail, I turn it into a funny article. They spray paint my car, and I find a way to make it into a sign.”
And what does DiMezzo credit for her resilience? Psychedelic drugs. Remember, this article is not an endorsement of DiMezzo’s views. We are just reporting the news.
“I’ve done a lot of (mushrooms), and I support people doing ‘shrooms,” DiMezzo said. “I’m not joking. It’s a really good way of growing — ‘spiritually’ is the best word to use, but obviously I’m an atheist so I don’t believe in spirit — but it’s the best way of growing spiritually. To reach a point where someone can vandalize your car and your first thought is, ‘Ah, a gender reveal.’”
Click here to check out this week’s edition of “The Sports Kiki Podcast”. You can also subscribe to the show on Apple’s Podcast page as well as on Google Podcasts, and wherever you’ll find Outsports podcasts.
