Here’s under-age sexual behavior endorsed by the “abstinence-only-until-married” school: teen marriages. This article in the Chicago Tribune suggests it’s becoming more popular with the rise of abstinence-only education programs. The nut-graf explains:
One of the few studies of teen marriage in the United States, carried out by the Center for Law and Social Policy, a Washington think tank, found that the number of married teenagers in the U.S. surged by almost 50 percent during the 1990s–the most significant jump in early marriage since the 1950s. The report pegs the growing attractiveness of early wedlock in the U.S. to a complex variety of factors: the spread of abstinence-only-until-marriage sex education at American schools, a shift toward cultural conservatism among some teens and a growing fear among youngsters of contracting AIDS through promiscuity.
Question: is it pedophilia for a forty year old man to have sex with a fourteen-year-old girl – or is it marriage? I was struck by these stats:
According to records at the Texas Department of Health, Liset was one of nearly 60 girls in that state who married in 2002 at the tender age of 14–the minimum age in Texas with parental consent. (A handful of other states sanction extremely early marriages with parental consent: In Alabama, South Carolina and Utah, girls can marry at 14; in New Hampshire it’s 13; in Massachusetts and Kansas, 12.)
Twelve? Shouldn’t these laws be repealed?
BETTER LATE THAN NEVER: A major AIDS summit for African-Americans. Here’s a quote that tells you a lot: “I’m a straight guy. I can get their [the churches’] attention.” The scandalous role that black pastors have played in minimizing AIDS, perpetuating homophobia and shunning the truly needy is something that needs real attention. ACT-UP was too p.c. to say anything. Maybe now some black spokesmen will take these charlatans on.
MARTYR WATCH: “You criticize anybody, you challenge anybody, then you are a bigot. And that’s the — that’s why nobody does it. That’s why nobody sticks up for Christmas except me. Did Peter Jennings stick up for Christmas last night? I don’t believe he did. How about Brian Williams, did he? Did Rather stick up for Christmas? How about Jim Lehrer — did he? Did Larry King — hello — I love Christmas — did he? No.” – Bill O’Reilly, bravely taking a stand for Christmas.
The Dish 