REXBURG, ID — Mayor Shawn Larsen is deeply concerned about the health and safety of the 27,000 plus bodies he has been elected to protect. Chief among his concerns this month is the damage that he is convinced pornography has done to his city and its families. That’s why he has decided to declare May 2009 “White Wristband Against Pornography Month.”As a supporter of the so-called Citizens for Decency morality group, Larsen had already throw tax payer support behind this Sunday’s anti-pornography conference to be held at the Rexburg Tabernacle. On Wednesday he broadened the city’s opposition to legal erotic materials by signing the anti-pornography proclamation, explaining in a press release that “I believe that the fight against pornography is an important issue presented to our community.”
Among the opinions stated as facts within Larsen’s proclamation are insistences that “pornography presents youth with a false and distorted image of human sexuality, devoid of love, commitment, and responsibility,” “pornography leads both children and adults into destructive sexual additions” and “pornography contributes to the breakup of marriages.”
Not content to merely over-simplify a highly complex series of issues, the proclamation further blames pornography for the spread of sexually transmittable infections and an alleged increase in sexual violence. Further following the anti-porn party line, Larsen’s proclamation claims that adult pornography is not only used by pedophiles to entice children into sex acts but inspires children to engage in sexually precocious behavior.
Ultimately, the proclamation makes the commonly made mistake of confusing legal pornography with obscenity.
Speakers including Idaho State Rep. Mack Shirley, Jill Manning, PhD., U.S. Attorney Tom Moss, Jack Sunderlage, Dan Gray, Janalyn Holt and other anti-porn representatives are slated to speak during Sunday’s free anti-porn conference, which is aimed at civic and church officials with a passion for the topic. More information can be gained by visiting www.CitizensForDecency.org.
Attendees are urged to keep children under the age of 17 at home to avoid exposure to PG-level concepts.
