Sugarcoating poison. (Scan).

Millions of decent Americans are forced today to wage a continual battle to preserve the innocence of their children--particularly in sexual matters--against a rising tide of corrupting influences in the media, public schools, and the culture at large. Some trusting parents assume that no one would promote truly deviant actions. Certain things just seem so unthinkable and unspeakable that people lose vigilance in opposing activists who are quite ready to think, speak, and do precisely the unthinkable.

Hence the perverse service that Joycelyn Elders has performed by contributing a preface to a new book by Judith Levine called Harmful To Minors, which is all about "The Perils of Protecting Children From Sex." This book explicitly advocates the view that sexual activity among young people is a good thing, and that sex between adults and children isn't necessarily bad. Dr. Elders, Bill Clinton's surgeon general, has contributed an aura of "educational" legitimacy to sugarcoat this very real poison.

What is the appropriate response to such arguments? We must unconditionally reject them--with outrage against those who have already been acting on the Levine doctrine. The sexual "liberation" of children represents a failure to teach the hearts, minds, and consciences of children that their sexuality is rooted in the moral possibilities of human life--the relationships, responsibilities, and commitments that are the keys ...