Free Republic

IN AN April 30 essay titled "The Libertarian Question," my fellow National Review Online contributing editor Stanley Kurtz argues that laws against sodomy, adultery and incest should remain on the books largely to protect the institution of heterosexual marriage. By stigmatizing sexual relations outside that institution, Kurtz believes "the taboo on non-marital and non-reproductive sexuality helps to cement marital unions, and helps prevent acts of adultery that would tear those unions apart." Kurtz also states that keeping adult incest illegal will reduce the odds of sex between adults and their minor relatives. Anti-pedophilia laws, virtually everyone agrees, should be energetically...

Pro-family groups and individuals such as the FRC and Paul Weyrich, have fired warning shots, over the decision by RNC chair, Racicot, to cozy up to gay activist groups. While I agree with the religious right on the need to preserve traditional family values, I have a somewhat different take on the whole "gay pride" movement. As a Christian, and as a long time campaigner for racial justice and racial equality, I believe that the gay rights movement would not be as powerful as it is today, if most conservative/traditionalist/Bible-believing Christians had taken a very strong and unambigious stand in...

In September 1998, two men by the names of John Lawrence and Tyron Garner were having sex in their home in Houston, Texas. Without warning, police broke into Lawrence's home and found the two engaged in what Texas law calls sodomy. The police had been summoned by a neighbor who had complained about a man allegedly "going crazy" in Lawrence's house. Lawrence and Garner were arrested, held for 24 hours and subsequently fined $200 after pleading no contest to the charge of sexual deviation. The neighbor was subsequently convicted of filing a false police report. Lawrence and Garner then challenged...

In the Friday edition of the Washington Times, in the Metro section, the following item appeared. Unfortunately, I couldn't find a link to it on the paper's website. GOP activist sentenced on child porn charges A longtime Republican activist in Northern Virginia was sentenced to two years' probation after pleading guilty to a charge of child pornography. Richard Delgaudio was charged with taking sexually explicit photographs of a 16-year-old girl. According to court documents and Baltimore police, he paid the girl by the hour for the photo shoots at a Maryland hotel. As part of a plea agreement, a Baltimore...

The Politics of Deviance Anne Hendershott Encounter Books 2002 194 pages Occasionally a book is published that examines the dogmas of the dominant culture with such clarity that the gatekeepers can only regard it as subversive. Anne Hendershott's "The Politics of Deviance" is such a book. Hendershott, a professor of sociology at the University of San Diego, follows the lead of former Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan who warned in the 1965 speech "Defining Deviancy Down" that "[society] has chosen not to notice behavior that would be otherwise controlled, disapproved, or even punished." Moynihan's warning proved true. Behaviors once considered deviant...