Dispatches from the Culture Wars

He also voted against pornography in the public libraries. And for that, he's being protested against at Ft. Lauderdale City Hall today.

Conjures up visions of little kids sitting at little tables in the library thumbing through old issues of Studpuppy, doesn't it? That's the image they want you to get, but it's a flat out lie. Library Journal exposes that lie:

The Stonewall Library will not be a part of the public library, which occupies nearly a quarter of the 40,000-square foot building. Instead, it will become one of several tenants of ArtServe, a county-run arts agency...

Critical coverage in some conservative news outlets alleged that pornographic materials are part of the library, but Katzen said they're not found in the 18,000-volume lending library, which is visited by most of the library's 9000 annual patrons, all of whom must be 18 or older. "Almost everything that is in our lending library is available at Barnes & Noble or Borders," he said. It is the 40,000-item archive that holds the materials, such as Arab Slave Boys, that Naugle has targeted. "It's not an open archive," Katzen noted. Researchers must make appointments, and an archivist must be present during the research. The library also requires researchers to sign an archives patron agreement that says they are aware the collections are "not censored" and may contain content that is "sexually explicit, racist, sexist, homophobic, or otherwise personally offensive."

So much for that lie. But Folger isn't done. She piles another ridiculous lie on top of it by claiming that they're actually removing books that kids can read in order to put porn into the library:

Well, Johnny, Ft. Lauderdale Commissioners Cindi Hutchinson, Charlotte E. Rodstrom, and Carlton B. Moore voted to take out the books that everybody can read and replace them with homosexual pornography.

That's as bold and ridiculous a lie as you're likely to see today. She even invents a hypothetical conversation demonstrating how a parent should tell these lies to their children. When the child asks why everyone is mad at "that nice mayor", she replies, "Because he wants to protect you from all of it." But since the child couldn't possibly get access to the material in this private archive (most of which is not the least bit pornographic, by the way), this is just another lie to add to the list.

But she's not done lying yet:

Dr. Joseph Nicolosi, president of National Association for Research and Therapy of Homosexuality, reports the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force and the Woodhull Freedom Foundation have joined together to fight what they describe as "archaic" laws prohibiting public sex in restrooms and parks.

Makes you think gays are fighting for the right to have sex in front of your kids in public parks, doesn't it? You probably won't be surprised to find out this is yet another baldfaced lie. Here's the press release for that project, which is in fact a study of sex laws around the country:

The laws which the project will address range from the archaic--like Michigan's law prohibiting unmarried people from having sex and living together--to the grossly unjust--like Kansas' differing age of consent laws based on the gender of the persons involved--to those addressing facially valid public policy concerns--like laws against public lewdness, but which are routinely misused to persecute and prosecute people who participate in non-traditional forms of sexual expression.

"I've seen firsthand how the misuse of these laws has ruined the lives of gay and bisexual men," said Matt Foreman, the Task Force's Executive Director. "Few victims of this abuse ever come forward for fear of further embarrassment and the system counts on this silence. We intend to shine some light on these shameful practices." Foreman served as Executive Director of the New York City Gay & Lesbian Anti-Violence Project, the nation's largest gay victim assistance agency, from 1990-1996, and is a member of the New York City Human Rights Commission.

The project will have two phases. The first, a study of the laws with and case studies of how the laws have been selectively used to target minorities will be released at the Task Force's 17th Annual Creating Change Conference in St. Louis, Missouri, November 11-14. The second phase will include policy analysis, recommendations, and strategies for grassroots activists to use in overturning the laws or changing the way in which they are enforced.

Notice that they explicitly state that laws against public lewdness are valid public policy concerns and that they only seek to change the way in which they are enforced. That's a far cry from wanting to have sex in public parks. But hey, who cares about the truth when you're in the middle of a perfectly good irrational screed? But wait, as they say in late night infomercials, there's more:

The problem is worse than they are willing to admit, and it's not just in Ft. Lauderdale. Dr. E. Fields, in his book "Is Homosexual Activity Normal?", reveals "41 percent of homosexuals say they have had sex with strangers in public restrooms."

Dr. E. Fields? I bet you've never heard of him. Unless of course you're a member of the Aryan Nation, then you're probably familiar with his work. "Dr" Edward Fields is a chiropractor who has spent the last 55 years involved with various neo-Nazi organizations in the United States. The ADL has a few interesting details on "Dr" Edward Fields:

In 1952, still shy of twenty, he met the flamboyant racist J.B. Stoner while the two were attending law school in Atlanta, and joined Stoner's Christian Anti-Jewish Party (formerly the Stoner Anti-Jewish Party), a very small mass-mailing outfit in Atlanta. Stoner said he founded the organization to "out-Hitler Hitler," whom he called a "moderate"; his aim was "to make being Jewish a crime, punishable by death."

Fields eventually dropped out of law school, choosing instead to attend Palmer School of Chiropractic in Davenport, Iowa, in 1953. The following year he and another student allegedly posted signs on storefronts in Davenport and two other towns reading, "This store owned by Jews" and "Anti-Jewish Week, Feb. 21-28" (in fact, the end of February had been designated National Brotherhood Week). No charges were filed, but Fields was placed on probation. He remained undaunted, apparently; his schooldays continued to be marked by anti-Semitic and racist pickets, meetings and mailings. During this time he built networks across the American far-right underground. He attended Palmer until 1956, and thereafter referred to himself as "Dr. Fields" - a title that conferred prestige among hardcore racists.

Good source, Janet. There's much more in that article about Fields, including documentation of his involvement with the KKK and other white supremacy groups. Is this the sort of material that Folger reads and considers credible? Apparently so. Credible enough that she cites it without bothering to tell her readers who the source is. I guess this is how she puts her "Faith2Action."

Update: A commenter left a link to this essay by "Dr. Edward Fields" about the evils of interracial dating and why the Bible condemns it. It really has to be read to be believed.