A.C.L.U. Will Defend Group Backing Sex Between Men and Boys

September 1, 2000
By  DON TERRY

The American Civil Liberties  Union of Massachusetts has
decided to defend a group that advocates legalization of sex
between  men and boys in a $200 million  federal lawsuit
brought by the family of a murdered boy.

"It's not a real popular case," John Roberts, the executive
director of the Massachusetts A.C.L.U.,  said yesterday.

"But the First Amendment issues are clear."

Last May, the parents of the boy, 10-year-old Jeffrey Curley,
sued the North American Man/Boy Love Association in Federal
District Court, charging that the group's Web site and
literature had incited the killing and attempted sexual assault
of their son three years ago in East Cambridge, Mass.

The child, who was lured into a car by the promise of a new
bicycle, was missing for several days before his body was
found in a tub of concrete in a river. Two neighbors,
Salvatore Sicari and Charles Jaynes, were convicted of
kidnapping and murder and are serving life sentences.

Lawrence Frisoli, the lawyer for  the boy's parents, said Mr.
Jaynes was a member of the group, known as Nambla, and just
before the murder was emboldened by its Web site.

"This lawsuit isn't about money," Mr. Frisoli said yesterday.
"Jeffrey's parents are doing this to ensure that it never
happens to someone else's child."

Mr. Roberts and other A.C.L.U. officials said Nambla did not
advocate the rape and murder of children. It advocates changing
the law to make sex between men and boys legal, and political
advocacy, Mr. Roberts said, is protected speech.

"Regardless of whether people agree with or abhor Nambla's
views," the A.C.L.U. said in a statement yesterday, "holding
the organization responsible for crimes committed by others
who read their material would gravely endanger our important
First Amendment freedoms."

The A.C.L.U. said, "We join with all others in deploring the
heinous crimes committed against Jeffrey Curley," adding,
"those who commit illegal acts can be punished for wrongful
conduct.

"But the expression of even offensive ideas is protected by the
Constitution," the A.C.L.U. said.

Mr. Frisoli said Nambla's activities passed "far beyond free
speech."

"We allege an ongoing criminal conspiracy for the rape of
children in America," he said. "They've been hiding behind
the First Amendment for a long time."

Last week in a Massachusetts state court, in a suit against
the two men who were convicted of killing their son, the
boy's parents were awarded $328 million, one of the largest
wrongful death verdicts in Massachusetts history, Mr. Frisoli
said. Now, the family hopes a federal jury will do the same.
[Note from Mike G:  The murderers have no assets and thus no
money will ever go to the parents, and that was known before
the civil suit even began.]

"I respect the A.C.L.U., and on most occasions I agree with
the positions they take," he said. "But we're not talking
about gay rights.  We're not talking about consensual sex
between adults. We talking about the rape of children."

The A.C.L.U. office in Boston was deluged with phone calls
yesterday, mostly from the news media.

"The threats haven't started yet," said Harvey Silverglate, a
board member. "That usually comes a day later. But the phones
haven't stopped ringing. I find it extraordinary that people
find what we're doing extraordinary. You'd think by now that
people would know that we take the Supreme Court seriously
when it says that the First Amendment is there to protect
unpopular speech."

Also, read from the AP (below are just a few excerpts)
 

A call to NAMBLA in New York was not immediately returned. A
message on the answering machine describes it as an organization
that "speaks out against societal oppression and celebrates the
joys of men and boys in love."

Frisoli claimed that NAMBLA assists its members in raping children
by educating them on how to locate victims, how to gain their trust
and how to avoid law enforcement so they won't get caught.

The AP reports that "the ACLU will also act as a surrogate for NAMBLA
allowing its members to defend themselves in court while remaining
anonymous."

Comment by Mike G:  If you want to stand up for your rights as an American, shouldn't you do you so "in the light?"

==========

Dr. Laura spoke to this topic as well on her national radio show of August 31, 2000.   She may not be a Christian (she's a converted Jew), but if Christians can revere a politician, then holding Dr. Laura in high esteem should be easy.  Don't forget, this one-woman warrior has her TV show starting on September 11, 2000.

Dr. Laura, on her radio show commented that many formal organizations (and even the government) are working toward destroying the institution of "family," as well as placing wedges between parents and children.  For example, the AMA advocating abortion without parental notification, and the American Library Association refusing to recognize age-appropriateness for materials, including Internet access to pornography in the children's sections of the library, and the public schools are advocating the same as well.

Dr. Laura then spoke to an event where a local government authority threatened to remove a nine-year old girl from her mother's home because the child was being home schooled, which resulted in her only FRIENDS BEING THROUGH CHURCH, and the authority said that the child is not being properly socialized because the child should have interaction with children OUTSIDE OF CHURCH.