March 06, 2000 01:32pm
HLI Warns America's 'Family' Newspapers: Keep Lesbian Promotion Off
Source: PRNewswire
by: Company Press Release
(FRONT ROYAL, VA) -- ``This unrelenting assault on our families and children has got to stop'', demanded Father Richard Welch, CSSR, JCD, President of Human Life International, the world's largest pro-family, pro-life, pro-faith apostolate. ``Our society has been so inundated with unsavory images, perversion and political correctness that we hardly notice when the outrageous happens, and when it does, we are too scared to speak out against it.''
Father Welch was referring to the many weekly TV program inserts in American newspapers last week that featured a cover story promoting If These Walls Could Talk, II, an HBO feature portraying three lesbian stories.
``This is not about censorship'', stated Father Welch. ``It is about decency and parental rights. HBO can produce and broadcast whatever it wants, and people can choose to pay to watch it. But let's not be afraid of the truth -- lesbianism, and homosexuality, are perversions and are not appropriate, nor beneficial topics for the average American living room. When the cover story on the weekly TV program listing features these topics, it is an attack on the American family. This is a publication that sits in the home for 7 days, and is used by every member of the family who can read. Should our teenagers, pre- teens, even our seven and eight year old children be leafing through publications promoting lesbian features? Out of the scores of networks and hundreds of programs offered this week, isn't there one that the newspapers could have featured that did not subject our young people to inappropriate material?''
Father Welch continued, ``It is difficult enough being a parent, safeguarding your children's upbringing, protecting their faith, innocence and purity. A parent used to be able to rely on our trusted institutions -- the media, the school, and the government -- to show a sense of responsibility in what was made readily available to the young. Now, it appears that everyone, even so-called ''family`` newspapers, are pandering to seduction, sex and sensationalism -- either to satisfy their own frightful agenda, to build sales, or out of fear of television and the internet.''
``That fear may well be justified. If we cannot allow our children to open your newspapers without censoring them first, if their teachers cannot assign newspaper readership in class with confidence, then the parents and families of America must turn to media we can absolutely trust.''
Father Welch invited parents, teachers and journalists to contact Human Life International for details on the disastrous effects pornography, homosexuality and sex education have had on sexually transmitted diseases, teenage birth rates, abortion, divorce, teenage promiscuity and other indicators of the decay in our society. HLI can be contacted at the Human Life International website (www.HLI.org.), by mail to Human Life International, 4 Family Life, Front Royal, VA 22630, or by phone at 540-635-7884.
``As we advertise perversion and licentiousness to our children, we lead them away from an understanding of God and the goodness of all he offers us. I personally challenge the publishers of these papers to say whether they share and advocate the topics on the cover of their own publications with their young children and grandchildren. In their hearts, these must be good men and women. Please, for all of our sakes, show the great heritage of American journalism. Uphold the great tradition of the American family paper. Don't turn our dailies into propaganda tools for perversion, or mercantile panderings to our base nature. Let Ben Franklin be our guide, not Larry Flynt.''
Founded in 1981, Human Life International is the world's largest pro-life and pro-family educational apostolate, with chapters in the United States and a network of international branches and affiliates serving 90 countries.
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