I have received a couple of response to the question I posed to Joan Opyr about the age of consent. One question was from someone wondering if I have any trouble with our current age of consent laws. And the answer to that one is simple . . . no, I don’t.
Joan Opyr responded to my question as well, and it seemed she had a similar set of assumptions as the first questioner. I have noticed that our adversaries frequently have trouble with the reductio ad absurdum. If you point out that homosexual marriage will necessitate the eventual accommodation of polygamy, the comeback is frequently the charge that you must be advocating polygamy. But that is not the point of this particular form of argument. My reason for raising the question was to illustrate the company that open pedophiles keep. Hint: it is not the Southern Baptist Convention or the Orthodox Presbyterian Church.
But at the same time, Joan’s responses were generally reasonable, and I would answer just about all the questions she posed the same way that she did. “Was that 14-year old psychologically ready to engage in consensual sex with a man ten years her senior? In my opinion, no.” And so Joan and I agree completely. So why did I raise the question in the first place?
Because Joan, when she is not busy saving the Palouse from Christ Church, is also an outspoken advocate of gay rights. And when you see what happens in gay rights parades around the country, one of the floats that is likely to go right by your nose is the one put together by the North American Man/Boy Love Association. Not the kind of thing that is seen in your average homecoming parade.
So the reason I asked the question has to do with this obvious consideration. If pedophilia is evil, as I believe, and is not in keeping with Joan’s personal opinions, as she has written, then why is there such obvious sympathy between those agitating for legal pedophilia and the “mainstream” gay rights movement? Why doesn’t NAMBLA have to fight (with the help of the ACLU) to get into gay rights’ parades? Why don’t they get the same reception that other gay organizations get when they try to get into St. Patrick’s Day parade in NYC?
So Joan, here is my follow up question. Dutch pedophiles have just recently launched a political party. Is this kind of advocacy evil? I will answer first — yes, it is. If we found out that one of our church members belonged to this political party, and he refused to repent of it, he would be excommunicated. If he were in the Greyfriars program, he would be expelled the same day. Would you do something comparable (shoot, anything comparable) if you found someone in your midst (say, the vice-chair of the local gay/lesbian task force) belonged to it? If you would take this stand, then you must be one lonely lesbian activist, and so far as it goes, you have my commendation. If you would not take this stand, then I would prefer not to be lectured on the subject of Sitler and Wight by a hypocrite.