By LeAnn Locher

I'm so tired of that phrase and its complete lack of authenticity. "It's for the children that we don't believe you should be able to marry." "It's for the children: they need a mother and a father to be raised properly." I'll pipe up here and say, "It's for the children that all of you bible waving extremists need to stop harming them and start really protecting them.."

This weekend news emerged that Oregon's state chairman of the Christian Coalition, Louis Beres, is under investigation for molesting three female family members when they were children.

From today's Oregonian:

Law enforcement officials said Saturday they are investigating complaints that Louis Beres, longtime chairman of the Christian Coalition of Oregon, molested three female family members when they were pre-teens.

"There is an investigation of allegations that have been made," Multnomah County District Attorney Michael Schrunk said Saturday.

Beres family members told The Oregonian that they called the child abuse hot line last month after several women in the family said they openly discussed for the first time what happened with Beres.

Another family member said she does not recall being abused by Beres, but said she would often wake at night and see him in bed with another young female family member.

So let's get this right. In 2000, Lou Beres, the executive director of the Oregon chapter of the Christian Coalition, was working hard to advocate for the OCA's ballot initiative that would prohibit any discussion in the state's schools that "encourages, promotes, or sanctions" homosexuality. He said "I'm going to get it over the top... The Christian Coalition is fighting to protect our kids from the homosexual agenda."

Well good for you Beres. Protect them from the homosexual agenda so you can allegedly go after the preteen girls in your own family.

Beres is only one of many that scream of protecting our children yet act hypocritically. When it comes down to it, what does the GLBTQ community want that's such a threat? To have a family and to enjoy committed protected relationships? Many want to be loving parents, and many already are. But there's an unfounded fear that exists that gays are dangerous to children and we must be stopped. Legislation abounds representing this notion.

Take for example this last week when Indiana was home to an appalling proposed legislation regulating assisted pregnancy and requiring determinations about the proposed candidates.

From Nuvo.net

Republican lawmakers are drafting new legislation that will make marriage a requirement for motherhood in the state of Indiana, including specific criminal penalties for unmarried women who do become pregnant "by means other than sexual intercourse."

According to a draft of the recommended change in state law, every woman in Indiana seeking to become a mother through assisted reproduction therapy such as in vitro fertilization, sperm donation and egg donation must first file for a "petition for parentage" in their local county probate court.

Only women who are married will be considered for the "gestational certificate" that must be presented to any doctor who facilitates the pregnancy. Further, the "gestational certificate" will only be given to married couples that successfully complete the same screening process currently required by law of adoptive parents.

As the draft of the new law reads now, an intended parent "who knowingly or willingly participates in an artificial reproduction procedure" without court approval, "commits unauthorized reproduction, a Class B misdemeanor." The criminal charges will be the same for physicians who commit "unauthorized practice of artificial reproduction."

From 365gay

Among the determining factors is a requirement that the women be married to a person of the opposite sex. The assessment would contain a description of the family lifestyle and automatically exclude lesbians. Women would also have to provide proof that they have participated in faith-based or church activities.

The bill was proposed by Senator Patricia Miller. And yes, you read the above right. Patricia wants proof that you go to church if you want to have a baby, and you have to be married to a man.

Later in the week the proposed legislation was removed from consideration, but the fact that it was even put out there and considered by many to be logical is disturbing.

Oregon saw adoption rights for same-sex couples attacked by State Representative John Lim's proposed House Bill 2401. It called for the state to exercise a preference for heterosexual, married parents over unmarried same-sex or opposite-sex parents in placing children in adoptive homes.

So back to the allegations against the head of Oregon's Christian Coalition. Does anyone else see the hypocrisy when those who scream the loudest of "protecting our children" turn out to be a child's worst nightmare themselves??

This entry was posted on Monday, October 10, 2005 at 2:05 AM. Want to discuss? Leave a comment below.