REPUG CALLS TEEN GIRLS "SLUTS"

http://www.dailycamera.com/news/2008...es-derogatory-
term-describe-teen-parent/

COLORADO SPRINGS — A state lawmaker who used a derogatory term Wednesday
to describe unmarried teen parents as sexually promiscuous today
apologized for using the slur.

“The derogatory term I used was offensive and inappropriate and I would
like to apologize for using it," Colorado Springs Republican Rep. Larry
Liston said in a statement. “Because of my unfortunate choice of
language, the message that I was trying to get across about personal
responsibility, and parental responsibility, has been overshadowed.

"I certainly regret using the term I did.”

Wednesday, Liston, appearing at a GOP legislative caucus in Denver,
said: “In my parents’ day and age, (unmarried teen parents) were sent
away, they were shunned, they were called what they are. There was at
least a sense of shame.

“There’s no sense of shame today," Liston continued, according to the
The Gazette of Colorado Springs. "Society condones it. ... I think it’s
wrong. They’re sluts. And I don’t mean just the women. I mean the men,
too.”

Rep. Stella Garza Hicks, who was at the meeting, said Liston should
apologize.

“I feel that he owes the apology somewhere, whether it’s to the same
group that he spoke to before or someone else,” she told The Gazette.

Garza Hicks, R-Colorado Springs, said she was “disturbed” and “offended”
by the word but didn’t confront Liston at the time because she was so
surprised to hear him use it.

Liston told The Gazette later he could have chosen his words better but
believes many people feel the way he does.

He said he wanted to make the point that teens who can’t afford to take
care of children can have them anyway and expect the government to pay
for it. He said that often traps the parents and their children in a
cycle of poverty without enough education.

Lorez Meinhold of the Colorado Health Foundation said shame has been
shown have little impact on values and behavior. She said state leaders
should focus instead on the scarcity of programs aimed at preventing
teen pregnancy.

Garza Hicks said the state needs more prevention programs through
schools and community groups, but she said the public must decide
whether it wants to fund them.

“Sometimes it takes just a little more information, a little more
education,” Garza Hicks said. “And we must not give up on them either.”

--
Rob Cypher
http://robcypher.livejournal.com
aka "Ben" from A&E's Intervention
RESISTANCE IS FUTILE - YOU WILL BE ASSIMILATED