NAMBLA and the ACLU's Bent Perspective

Topic is related to Charles Jaynes and NAMBLA. The context is that allegedly NAMBLA is paying Jaynes for his recruitment practices in prison.

The Curleys, who filed a $200 million lawsuit against the North American Man/Boy Love Association in 2000, allege that Jaynes is receiving money from NAMBLA while in prison and is actively recruiting inmates for the organization. They are seeking information regarding Jaynes' mail and phone activity, canteen account and employment.

Take a wild guess at who is defending NAMBLA. Yes that bastion of civil rights, no matter how distorted or evilly applied.

NAMBLA, who cites "educating the general public on the benevolent nature of man/boy love" as one of its goals, is being represented by the American Civil Liberties Union.

I'm sure they're doing it because NAMBLA is such and honorable group whose rights in this case are representative of rights we should all expect in our lives.

Then there is this affidavit regarding Jaynes:

One affidavit, signed by an inmate at MCI-Concord, alleges that NAMBLA sends Jaynes' mother money on his behalf, which she deposits into his prison canteen account; that Jaynes passes around Curley's autopsy report to inmates; keeps a journal of rape and sexual assaults; engages in sexual acts with other prisoners; and "use[d] to participate in a fatherhood group so he could listen to fathers talk about their children."

Gem of humanity there. What kind of prisons do they have in the People's Republic? Maybe Jaynes needs to be moved to a prison in the south.

NRO has a piece further discussing the ACLU's actions.

As ACLU of Massachusetts Legal Director John Reinstein sees it: "Regardless of whether people agree with or abhor NAMBLA's views, holding the organization responsible for crimes committed by others who read their materials would gravely endanger important First Amendment freedoms."

However, as Fox News' Bill O'Reilly noted, there is more at play here than pamphleteering. "According to lawyers familiar with [NAMBLA's] website," O'Reilly explained, "it actually posted techniques designed to lure boys into having sex with men and also supplied information on what an adult should do if caught."

NAMBLA is "not just publishing material that says it's OK to have sex with children and advocating changing the law," says Larry Frisoli, a Cambridge attorney who is arguing the Curleys case in federal court. NAMBLA, he says, "is actively training their members how to rape children and get away with it. They distribute child pornography and trade live children among NAMBLA members with the purpose of having sex with them."

Frisoli cites a NAMBLA publication he calls "The Rape and Escape Manual." Its actual title is "The Survival Manual: The Man's Guide to Staying Alive in Man-Boy Sexual Relationships."

I suppose that there needs to be an advocacy group related to rights, but the ACLU isn't it. Try and find any documentation on the ACLU supporting a rights case related to a right-wing group. I've tried, and didn't find any. Their advocacy for groups that are beyond border-line wrong is just a thing of shame. If they were fighting the cause of anti-abortion groups first amendment rights as well as NAMBLA's I'd give them credit for acting purely with respect to rights. But they don't. In fact, they typically stand against any religious or right leaning group.

Since 1915, the Boy Scouts have managed land within San Diego's Balboa Park. It has built a swimming pool, a 600-seat amphitheater, and a camping facility that accommodates 300. Camp Balboa serves some 12,000 Boy Scouts annually through daylong events and weekend sleepovers. The Scouts' tie to this land is a 50-year lease offered by the San Diego City Council and signed in 1957. In exchange for their stewardship — including private investment for maintenance and development — the Scouts hand the city an annual lease payment of $1.00.

This arrangement is too much for the ACLU to swallow. It sued the City of San Diego to expel the Boy Scouts from Balboa Park. The ACLU contends that the Scouts are a religious organization and thus should be dislodged from the facility. Never mind that the Scouts did not bar other groups from using the park. In fact, according to Hans Zeiger, an 18-year-old Eagle Scout who has written about this controversy, Balboa Park hosted last summer's San Diego Gay Pride Festival.

You may not like the Boy Scouts for their religious affiliations, but tell me that this was an action for the overall good and not some political siege on a religious group.