(crossposted at RH Reality Check)
Three weeks ago, we first introduced you to Derek Dye the Abstinence Clown. Dye goes to middle schools in Ohio and juggles in between telling kids that any type of pre-marital sex will destroy your life’s dreams and is just like juggling machetes. And the best part? He is just one beneficiary of the $1.5 billion in federal funding that has gone towards the failure that is abstinence-only until marriage sex education.
Three weeks ago, we first introduced you to Derek Dye the Abstinence Clown. Dye goes to middle schools in Ohio and juggles in between telling kids that any type of pre-marital sex will destroy your life’s dreams and is just like juggling machetes. And the best part? He is just one beneficiary of the $1.5 billion in federal funding that has gone towards the failure that is abstinence-only until marriage sex education.
Within a week, Derek Dye was a blogosphere and YouTube star, getting linked at tons of blogs and getting almost 20,000 views on YouTube. But what happened next takes the cake…
One would think that having such invaluable free advertising would please Mr. Dye (viewing this unedited promo video on YouTube), but it appears that his act was for “friendly eyes” only. Derek petitioned YouTube to take down the video, citing “copyright violations”. Apparently, Derek was spooked that the American public was actually seeing, first hand, the fraud that our tax dollars are going to.
Following the video’s removal from YouTube, I decided to directly embed this video into our site at Amplify, as the American public certainly has the right to see what kind of ridiculous shenanigans our tax dollars fund. The next day, we received an email from Kevin Freckman of the Elizabeth’s New Life Center, the abstinence-only organization that received a $800,000 federal grant in 2007, and employs Derek Dye. Freckman demanded that we take down the video, and not use any images of Derek Dye on our site.
Holy purity ring, Batman!
Looks like somebody’s really ashamed of the work they are doing with our tax dollars, doesn’t it? Why the paranoia?
With a new president who has stated his committed to comprehensive sex education, plus a strong Democratic majority in Congress, groups like Elizabeth’s New Life Center are scared to death that their government funding is going to vanish. And they know that videos like this, when viewed outside of the abstinence-only crowd, will shine a light on all of the crazy stuff that they’ve been doing with our tax dollars. To date, groups like the Elizabeth’s New Life Center have received $1.5 billion in tax dollars, despite study after study showing what an absolute failure they have been.
Right after I wrote the first post about Derek the Abstinence Clown, I decided to attend the National Abstinence Education Association conference, a gathering of all of the different groups that have fleeced the government and endangered the sexual health of countless American youth over the last decade. I figured I might learn about some other things they keep behind closed doors. Maybe Derek would be there juggling! Two weeks after registering and submitting my $150, I received this email from Rachel Turner at the NAEA:
Joe,Thanks for your interest, but I don’t think our organization is a good fit. All members must demonstrate support for abstinence until marriage education and it’s evident that you’d have trouble with our mission.
Below this message was a link to Pam’s House Blend, where she cites my post about Derek the Abstinence Clown.
Oh well. If they don’t want my $150, that’s fine. But considering the fact that they might not have the government teat to feed off of very, very soon, maybe they should take whatever money they can get… they’ll need it.
But here’s the critical part for you, dear reader: we must make sure that abstinence-only until marriage sex education funding is zeroed out in this year’s budget.
Even if Barack Obama’s zeroes out their funding in his budget, there is always the chance that Congress will try to sneak the funding back in through appropriations. Democrats in Congress have caved on this before, even trying to add more abstinence-only funding, so we need to pressure them to make sure they do the right thing:
AND TELL OBAMA TO ZERO OUT FUNDING FOR ABSTINENCE-ONLY.
It’s time to send out the clowns!
UPDATE: At noon today, Derek Dye removed the video FROM HIS OWN SITE. Wow. We had previously agreed to just link to his site where the video was, but we now feel, since our tax dollars go to this and it puts the sexual health of youth in jeopardy, that we must put the video back up here as a public service. So.... enjoy!
It’s time to send out the clowns!
UPDATE: At noon today, Derek Dye removed the video FROM HIS OWN SITE. Wow. We had previously agreed to just link to his site where the video was, but we now feel, since our tax dollars go to this and it puts the sexual health of youth in jeopardy, that we must put the video back up here as a public service. So.... enjoy!
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It seems like their refusal to accept your registration to their conference cleary shows that they're afraid of people discovering how weak their arguments really are. As if taking down those videos wasn't enough...
# Posted By Mahayana
| 2/3/09 12:36 AM
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| Reply
I can't believe they insist to keep us ignorant and dumb!!! Do they think we're stupid? We need to know about our bodies, how they work and how to protect ourselves! It's like when you tell somebody not to push the red button...they will! All they say is don't have sex and cross their fingers it works...IT DOESN'T!!! Proper sex education needs to be taught in our schools and people need to quit being squimish! We ARE the laughing stock of other countries because our country is so BACKWARD thinking regarding sex....I WONDER WHY THE HELL WE HAVE SKYROCKETING LEVELS OF TEEN PREGNANCIES!? UH...NOBODY KNOWS CRAP B/C NOBODY TAUGHT THEM THE FACTS NOT FICTION!!!! I want to see change and have my hopes that this presidential team will get things right...that is all.
# Posted By GiggleGoddess
| 2/6/09 12:59 AM
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I have to admit, I watched the video, and I don't understand why anyone would have a problem with his message. He really didn't say anything that wasn't true, and I kind of liked the guy. He's affable. And he is spending his time working for probably not very much money going to talk to junior high students because he wants to see them succeed. Students out there need that. They need people to pay attention to them and to let them know that they can have goals bigger than saving up to buy an iPod or Xbox. And frankly, those "risky behaviors" really DO get in the way. I know. I've cleaned up after a couple.
# Posted By Anibelle84
| 2/24/09 04:38 PM
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