For me, I was on the side that disagreed with New York's move. Not necessarily from a legal standpoint, though I disagree with the way it was done, but more from a moral standpoint.
My argument was that if you openly acknowledge specific immorality as "normal", logically, you open up the floodgates to permit all immorality as "normal". That point was fought with various points, but it didn't deter my argument. But why not? If you say homosexuality is normal, why not things like pedophilia, or wining and dining Rover with hopes for some romp at the end of the night?
Ted Turner is famous for stating that all you have to do is push the line, and after awhile it becomes the new normal. You push the line again and THAT becomes the new normal. Remember when the word "damn" was not permitted on television because it was considered vulgar? Heck, I remember when commercials would whisper "toilet paper" . . . Yeah, I'm showing my age . . .
One point that was made to me was that children and Rover are not willing participants and therefore victims. There is not victimization with homosexuality. There are plenty of victims in homosexuality, but this article is not a treatise on that. This article is to state that I was right! Yup. I'm tooting my own horn here folks! My Humble But Accurate Opinion was heavy on the Accurate! And here is my reason why:
http://www.theblaze.com/stories/after-hhs-says-children-are-sexual-beings-psychologists-push-to-decriminalize-pedophilia/
In case the link stops working (which is why I rarely use them in my blog), I am quoting the article in it's entirety:
In a push that seeks to sexualize young children while condoning homosexual “experimentation” among teens, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services is offering up pearls of wisdom to parents on the sexuality of children. But if that were not disturbing enough, this comes at a time when a group of psychologists are allegedly pushing for the decriminalization of pedophilia.This means the floodgates have been opened as predicted. It's open season on morality. If you argue one form of immorality is normal, you CANNOT discriminate against any other form. And this is just one example. I guarantee you there will be more! And if you are in prison for child pornography, don't worry! You will soon have a legal argument for false imprisonment. You can't punish someone for what is "normal".
The HHS information, located on a “Questions and Answers About Sex” link on the “Quick Guide to Healthy Living” section of the government website even describes children and infants as “sexual beings.”
The site also includes information on sexual experimentation, including homosexuality.
Under the section “When Do Kids Start Becoming Curious About Sex?” the answer notes that infants and toddlers are curious about their own bodies. CNSNews adds:
“Children are human beings and therefore sexual beings,” the Q&A Web page says. “It’s hard for parents to acknowledge this, just as it’s hard for kids to think of their parents as sexually active. But even infants have curiosity about their own bodies, which is healthy and normal.”While much of the information provided does raise questions about HHS’ motivation, Peter Sprigg, a senior fellow for policy studies at the conservative Family Research Council, pointed out HHS did clarify that abstinence is the best way to avoid pregnancy and sexually transmitted diseases.
As for masturbation and “what sort of ‘sexual’ behavior do young kids exhibit?” the page says, “Parents should only be concerned about masturbation if a child seems preoccupied with it to the exclusion of other activities. Victims of sexual abuse sometimes become preoccupied with self-stimulation.”
A link at the bottom of the Q&A page, entitled “Sexual Attraction and Orientation,” includes information on sexual experimentation, including homosexuality.
“Thinking sexually about both the same sex and the opposite sex is quite common as teens sort through their emerging sexual feelings,” the page says. “This type of imagining about people of the same or opposite sex doesn’t necessarily mean that a person fits into a particular type of sexual orientation.”
“Some teens may also experiment with sexual experiences, including those with members of the same sex, during the years they are exploring their own sexuality,” the page reads. “These experiences, by themselves, do not necessarily mean that a teen is gay or straight.”
While he considers the promotion of abstinence to be a good thing, Sprigg also believes the federal government has no place weighing in on the sexuality of infants and young children:
“The idea that ‘children are human beings and therefore sexual beings’ is one of the most destructive myths of the sexual revolution,” Sprigg told CNSNews.com. “To a large extent, this myth may be traced to the ‘research’ conducted by Alfred Kinsey, including the infamous ‘Children of Table 34’ experiments, which involved the deliberate sexual abuse of children as young as 6 months old under ‘experimental’ conditions.”Which makes the following Fox News report all the more troubling. According to Shannon Bream, a group of mental health professionals, dubbed “B4U-ACT,” are arguing that pedophiles are simply misunderstood and therefore, should not be criminalized.
“The fact that young children are aware that their bodies include genitalia hardly makes them ‘sexual beings,’ and it is improper (and potentially dangerous) to treat them as such before puberty,” he said.
A partial statement by the group reads:
“Stigmatizing and stereotyping minor-attracted people inflames the fears of minor-attracted people, mental health professionals and the public, without contributing to an understanding of minor-attracted people of the issue of child sexual abuse.”B4U-ACT’s aim is allegedly to create “tolerance” for people who are sexually attracted to children. Are members of the psychiatric community now attempting to treat pedophilia in the same way they would alcoholism or depression? If so, this could likely increase the danger pedophiles present to children across the country.
And before you comment that homosexuality doesn't fit this argument, remember that at one time it was defined as a mental illness by the psychiatric community. The very psychiatric community that wants to now decriminalize pedophilia.
Stick that in your diversity pipe and smoke it!
© Emittravel 2011
