This is a video from June that was just written about at Salon's Broadsheet. This was in Mississippi, paid for with our tax dollars for the abstinence only rally.
I can not believe what the cheerleaders were chanting onstage. I did not catch that in the video, or maybe they did not show it in the clip.
From Salon:
Monday, Aug. 3, 2009 03:19 PDT
"This is my no, no square!"
High school cheerleaders with short-shorts and ribboned hair took the coliseum's stage and chanted, "Stop, don't touch me there, this is my no, no square," while drawing boxes in the air in front of their va (clap) jay (clap) jays. The crowd of thousands of teenagers erupted with giddy applause at the sight of the girls' bouncy tendrils and playful gesticulation. Preachers led the crowd in prayer, speakers reviewed the Bible and the Ten Commandments, performers danced to Christian gospel music and Jesus' name was repeatedly invoked -- all as a means of convincing teens that there is no option but to save sex for marriage. Now try to guess who paid for this purity pep rally.
Taxpayers! Talk about a "no, no square" -- isn't there supposed to be a chastity belt separating the church and state in this country? The American Civil Liberties Union seems to think so and has filed an official complaint with Mississippi's Department of Human Services, which sponsored the event, but hasn't yet gotten a response.
Beyond the Christian maxims, there was plenty of misleading medical information -- for example, minister David Mahan exclaimed, "Our government is telling us that all we have to do is wear a see-through piece of rubber and be safe. That's bull" -- so just wait until your wedding day, because unprotected sex in marriage is totally safe! "This is my no, no square!"That goes beyond ignorant. It is just plain stupid.
Here is more about that event at Huffington Post from June. I surely don't know how I missed this one.
God and AbstinenceBefore the summit began, rap music blasted over the speakers. The 5,000 kids in attendance spent their time inside dancing and singing along to Soulja Boy's hit song "Crank Dat," the chorus of which repeats "Watch me crank that soulja boy, then superman that ho," which most young people know is a disgustingly explicit sexual innuendo. Shortly after the Grenada Middle School cheerleaders performed their catchy cheer "Stop, don't touch me there! You know this is my no-no square," outlining the shape of a box around their short shorts. Talk about mixed messages.
And despite the fact the event was state sponsored and state funded, Reverend Gary Bell led the rowdy group in prayer, closing with "in the name of Jesus Christ." Performers sang about the glory of God and performed interpretative dancing to Christian gospel songs. Judge John Hudson's speech quoted the Bible and reviewed the Ten Commandments. As for how that relates to abstinence? According to Hudson, the commandment "Do not commit adultery" directly translates to "Do not engage in promiscuous sex, or sex before marriage." The constant and overzealous harping on God and Jesus wasn't just wrong because it ostracized anyone who didn't prescribe to a particular brand of Christianity -- it was wrong because it was illegal. Taxpayer and state money funded the event, and last time I checked, it is illegal under the U.S. Constitution to use those funds to promote a specific religious message or agenda.
This part from the minister is just sickening.
He did, however, make misogynistic declarations such as: "There is nothing more beautiful and nasty than childbirth. A pregnant woman will rip the skin off your arm." He later mimicked the teenage girls who call his wife, a pregnancy crisis counselor, in the middle of the night: "At 3:30 or 4 in the morning, I answer the phone... And the girl says 'I'm a little embarrassed to say this, but I think I might be pregnant. I don't know how that happened.'" He imitated the girl using a ditzy, high pitched voice.
No wonder we have teabaggers who don't know what they are protesting. No wonder we have "birthers" and "deathers" in this country now.
This is what caving in to the religious right religious extremists has done to this country. It has to stop.
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