GLSEN-gate, take two
Fenway employee distributed sexually explicit materials to young people at school conference
By Ethan Jacobs
Published: Thursday, May 19, 2005
<snip>
On May 16, the Article 8 Alliance, an anti-gay organization working to overturn same-sex marriage, held a press conference alleging that GLSEN had distributed an explicit safer sex manual called "The Little Black Book" at this year's conference, held April 30 at Brookline High School. Initially GLSEN Boston denied that the manuals were distributed, arguing that either Article 8's claims were false or that anti-gay forces had planted the manual on site. Yet on May 18, GLSEN Boston Executive Director Sean Haley said after further investigation GLSEN discovered that "The Little Black Book" had been distributed to attendees, including middle-school and high-school aged youth, by an outreach worker from Fenway Community Health's Peer Listening Line.
<snip>
"Distributing materials with adult prevention messages at events attended by youth is not Fenway policy. The outreach worker staffing Fenway's table that day has been instructed in the correct use of educational materials and all of our outreach workers will receive additional training to ensure that a similar incident does not occur in the future," wrote Boswell.
The manuals, produced by AIDS Action and intended for use in outreach to adult males, contained explicit sexual content, including photographs of someone inserting a condom on an erect penis and an article laying out the relative risks of different sexual acts such as fisting, watersports, rimming, and "fuckin'" and "suckin.'"
<snip>
Validating Lupini's fears, Article 8 Alliance has used the "Little Black Book" controversy in its campaign against same-sex marriage. Article 8 held a press conference announcing its discovery of "The Little Black Book" May 16, the day before the one-year anniversary of same-sex marriage, and in a statement Article 8 Director Brian Camenker argued that the distribution of the booklet at the conference was a symptom of the "dark underbelly of one year of 'gay marriage' in Massachusetts."
More:
http://www.baywindows.com/media/paper328/news/2005/05/19/News/GlsenGate.Take.Two-953041.shtml---
On a side note: Article 8 calls this book "pornography."
While admittedly not appropriate for youth, it is certainly NOT pornography.
Pornography is intended to titillate and to stimulate "prurient interest."
If Michael Carmaker at Article 8 finds this book sexually arousing, then he has issues more serious than I'd thought.
I can't imagine anyone becoming sexually aroused by reading about AIDS and diseases and the
dangers of anal fisting.
If the fundies get woodies reading it, that's THEIR problem.
It may have not been appropriate for younger people. It was distributed to the wrong audience accidentally. It's a medical education book presented in an accessible format for adults. It is NOT porn.
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