Exodus: Live Out Loud

Porn filters expose flaws

PITTSBURGH TRIBUNE-REVIEW - http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/tribune-review/trib/regional/s_243018.html -
PITTSBURGH, PA - When John Mihelcik clicked on GasBuddy.com, a Web site that tracks retail gasoline prices across the country, a message popped up on the Mt. Lebanon Public Library computer: "Access Denied -- the site you have chosen has been categorized as a sex site."

Manila destroys porn CDs

The Philippine Star - http://www.philstar.com/philstar/News200408106303.htm -
MANILA - A dozen boxes of pornographic VCDs and DVDs and bundles of pornographic tabloids and magazines were destroyed yesterday as part of the Manila City government’s campaign against smut.

In Harm's Way: Children still at risk despite laws screening library computers

CITIZEN MAGAZINE - http://www.family.org/cforum/citizenmag/coverstory/a0033017.cfm -
On Feb. 7, an 8-year-old girl at the Independence branch of the Free Library in downtown Philadelphia told her grandmother she had to use the ladies' room. Her grandmother - who was watching the girl's two younger siblings - decided to let her go alone. None of them realized what a devastating decision it would turn out to be.

Commentary: Media Gives Porn Industry Pass -- Again

By James L. Lambert
AGAPE PRESS - In an April 26 article entitled "The Cyperporn Generation," contributing writers from People magazine reported on research indicating "how online porn can color a child’s view of love and sex." The article portrayed the enormous growth of online porn by focusing on a suburban Riverdale (NJ) school class of 13-year-old girls and boys. According to the story, 100 percent of the 42 students in that class have at some time or another viewed online porn.

Pornography: the Degrading Behemoth (Part 2)

http://www.zenit.org/english/visualizza.phtml?sid=57569

Alan Sears on Free Speech, Censorship -- and Fighting Back

SCOTTSDALE, Arizona, JULY 29, 2004 (Zenit.org).- Pornography may be a thriving criminal enterprise, but a legal expert in the field believes the Church and the laity can stunt its growth.

Alan Sears, president and general counsel of the Alliance Defense Fund, served as the executive director of the Attorney General's Commission on Pornography under President Ronald Reagan.

Sears shared with ZENIT why pornography is not free speech, and why clergy and lay people need to break their silence and take action.

Q: Recently, the Supreme Court in the case of ACLU v. Ashcroft struck down the Child Online Protection Act as violating the First Amendment right to free speech. Why is pornography considered free speech?

Sears: First, the opinion was wrong. Advocates of a culture that supports the affirmation of life must reject any notion that most pornography is even "speech."

Of the five forms of pornography I mentioned earlier, at least four lack much, if any, constitutional protection even by the furthest stretch of the high court's imagination.

Obscenity and child pornography have never been within the bounds of "free speech," the First Amendment or equivalent state constitutions, except according to erratic decisions by courts in a few states such as Oregon and Hawaii that would amaze their founders.

Second, the term "pornography" is a generic, not legal, term. It relates to a broad range of sexual materials, some of which are protected by the First Amendment and some of which are not.

As noted by the Supreme Court in Miller v. California, in 1973: "Pornography derives from the Greek ('harlot' and 'graphos,' writing). The word now means 1) a description of prostitutes or prostitution 2) A depiction (as in a writing or painting) of licentiousness or lewdness: a portrayal of erotic behavior designed to cause sexual excitement."

Pornography: the Degrading Behemoth (Part 1)

http://www.zenit.org/english/visualizza.phtml?sid=57511

Date: 2004-07-28

Alan Sears on the Evils of a Booming Enterprise

SCOTTSDALE, Arizona, JULY 28, 2004 (Zenit.org).- A lawyer who has been fighting pornography for more than 20 years says it may be the "true hate literature" of our age.

Alan Sears, president and general counsel of the Alliance Defense Fund, shared with ZENIT how pornography perpetuates hatred and exploitation of the human person and preys upon individuals' weaknesses for profit.

Q: What is your background in fighting pornography?

Sears: I had the privilege of serving as the executive director of the Attorney General's Commission on Pornography [AGCP] during the Reagan administration and as the chief of the criminal section in an office of the United States Attorney. My colleagues and I wrote state and federal anti-obscenity laws, testified in Washington, D.C., and before 22 different state legislatures with 20 states adopting our recommendations.

God provided us the opportunity of speaking before committees of the British Parliament and at the Vatican, as well as training hundreds of law enforcement officials and attorneys -- from Australia to Scotland Yard -- on obscenity and related laws, and in how to successfully prosecute an obscenity case.

Q: How big of an industry is pornography?

Sears: First of all, let's define our terms.

Pornography includes several classes of material: obscenity, material harmful to minors, child pornography, indecency, and lawful but nonetheless pornographic depictions. The AGCP defined pornography as "sexually explicit material designed primarily for arousal." This is not a healthy "product"; therefore, I refuse to call its production an "industry."

Depending on the type of material, its offensiveness ranges from the "merely immoral" -- which depicts women and other persons as a subspecies of humans to be used, to be abused and to amuse -- to what I have always called "crime scene photographs," actual depictions of unlawful sexual behavior for profit or exploitation.

Gay bookstore awarded advanced costs in continuing fight against Canada Customs

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/cpress/20040713/ca_pr_on_en/gay_bookstore_customs_1

Mon Jul 12, 8:46 PM ET

JEREMY HAINSWORTH

VANCOUVER (CP) - A B.C. judge has ruled a Vancouver gay and lesbian bookstore can have advanced costs for its continuing fight against book seizures by Canada Customs.

"Our trial is the actually the only venue for review for Canada Customs," said Little Sister's Book and Art Emporium spokesman Mark Macdonald. "Thousands of books have been stopped going to Canadian importers.

"It affects Charter rights of every citizen in the country," he said. "It affects the rights of artists to spread their word and works of the imagination to their intended audience."

The book battle has gone on for almost 20 years and cost the store more than $750,000, Macdonald said.

Media Group Finds Porn-Sex Crime Link

http://headlines.agapepress.org/archive/7/82004d.asp

By AFA Journal
July 8, 2004

(AgapePress) - Pornography has become nearly ubiquitous in American culture, and yet so many regard it as a harmless pursuit. However, in a recent report, media watchdog Morality in Media (MIM) has established what it calls a "causal connection" between pornography and violent sex crimes.

MIM's report knits together a compelling case using news accounts, the testimony of law enforcement officers, clinical case studies and common sense.

The report said that while pornography cannot be singled out as the sole cause of violent sex crimes, "there is ample evidence to support the conclusion that many violent sex crimes would not have occurred ... if the perpetrator had not been exposed to or become addicted to pornography."

MIM president Robert Peters said, "At a time when some commentators in the media are saying that pornography is widely accepted and harmless, we need to remind ourselves that common sense, anecdotal evidence and social science research all point in the opposite direction."

Peters was motivated to write the report because, in his words, "defenders of pornography are misleading the public" by using one of two deceptive arguments: pornography is harmless, or society lacks the necessary "conclusive scientific data" that pornography causes sex crimes to justify suppressing pornography. The MIM head maintains "conclusive scientific data" is not necessary.

'Sex-Drenched' Bill 'Subsidizes Promiscuity,' Pro-Life Group Says

http://www.cnsnews.com/ViewPolitics.asp?Page=/Politics/archive/200406/POL20040630a.html

By Melanie Hunter
CNSNews.com Deputy Managing Editor
June 30, 2004

(CNSNews.com) - A pro-life group is blasting Democrat John F. Kerry and Sens. Hillary Clinton (D-N.Y.) and Lincoln Chafee (R-R.I.) for co-sponsoring a bill that the group says "subsidizes promiscuity, perpetrates immorality and promotes abortion."

The $1.2 billion measure, called the "Putting Prevention First Act" (S.2336), was introduced in the Senate on Planned Parenthood's 2004 Congressional Day of Action. The Senate version has seven other sponsors. The House companion bill (H.R. 4192) has 112 sponsors.

"This sex-drenched omnibus bill steamrolls several bad ideas from Planned Parenthood and other pro-abortion entities into one big promiscuity-promoting nightmare," said Ed Szymkowiak, national director of American Life League's STOPP International project.

Critics Say High Court Ruling Protects Pornographers, Harms Children

http://headlines.agapepress.org/archive/6/292004a.asp

By Jenni Parker
June 29, 2004

(AgapePress) - The United States Supreme Court ruled Tuesday (June 29) that Congress' latest attempt to protect innocent children from the devastating effects of Internet pornography, the Child Online Protection Act (COPA), is unconstitutional. In a 5-4 decision, the Court sided with the American Civil Liberties Union, ruling that filtering software was a less restrictive alternative to the requirements of COPA.

Attorneys with the American Family Association Center for Law & Policy are outraged by the decision. Senior litigation counsel Mike DePrimo described the justices' apparent "utter lack of concern for the irreparable harm pornography does to our most innocent citizens" as "astounding."

The court's opinion cited concerns about COPA's "potential for extraordinary harm and serious chill upon free speech." However, DePrimo contends the only real harm that pornographers would suffer if the law went into effect would be a loss of money. He says for the high court to find otherwise is "reprehensible."

The Family Research Counsel's senior legal advisor, Pat Trueman, who helped author the FRC's amicus brief in the case, also issued a statement in response to the ruling, calling it "yet another victory at the High Court for pornographers at the expense of America's children." He says companies that peddle porn should not have the luxury of exposing their filth to every child who may stumble onto their website.