Important note: Information in this article was accurate in 2005. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date.
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Washington Blade - November 11, 2005
Elizabeth Weill-Greenberg
The action was part of four days of action by the group, which also goes by "C2EA," in Washington, D.C., including protests, civil disobedience, rallies, an inter-faith service and lobbying.
In the weeks prior to the event, several caravans of AIDS activists traveled the country to call attention to and criticize the Bush administration's support for abstinence-only education and cuts in public health services. Along the way, volunteers slept on recreation center floors as they traveled from state to state.
At around 8:30 a.m. on Monday, protesters entered the Family Research Council's bookstore. Some dressed as condoms, passing out fliers and condoms. Twelve people chained themselves to each other. After about 90 minutes, police arrested the protesters who were chained to each other. They were released the next day.
"The reason we focused on this," explained Charles King, president of Housing Works and chair of the Campaign, "[is because] right-wing Christian organizations have taken over the policy agenda on HIV and AIDS in the U.S. and around the world."
Campaign members also protested at the conservative organization, Concerned Women for America, and staged a die-in outside the White House.
"The protest was targeted directly at failed abstinence-only programs, attacks on the LGBT community, [groups] that advocate to shift tens of millions of dollars away from effective science public health programs toward religiously derived morality programs," said Michael Kink, legislative counsel for Housing Works.
Shortly after Monday's protest, the Family Research Council issued a statement, attacking the demonstrators.
In a press release called, "No Tolerance from Gay Activists for People of Faith," FRC president Tony Perkins said: "This small group of activists cannot silence those who proclaim the undeniable reality that abstinence before marriage and fidelity within marriage are the only formula for 'safe sex.' They can attempt to stop our work today but they cannot stop the people of faith from involving themselves in the political process."
Campaign activists noted that most of the demonstrators at FRC were heterosexual people of color and some were even singing hymns.
Highlighting what critics say are deadly flaws in the Bush administration's abstinence education program was a top priority for the Campaign.
Bush official also targeted
Earlier in the week, Housing Works activists interrupted an abstinence-only conference in Baltimore. When Claude Allen, a Bush adviser and former HHS official, went to deliver the keynote address, activists rushed the stage, according to officials with Housing Works.
Legislators and public health advocates have joined critics who say the Bush administration is promoting religion and morality, not science and comprehensive sex education.
Congressman Henry Waxman (D-Calif.) published a report last year detailing what he said were inaccuracies in federally-funded abstinence-only education programs.
In February, Sen. Frank Lautenberg (D-N.J.) and Rep. Barbara Lee (D-Calif.) introduced the Responsible Education About Life (REAL) Act, which would give $206 million per year to states for comprehensive sex education programs that teach medically accurate information about contraception and abstinence.
"While $206 million in federal funding currently exists for 'abstinence-only before marriage education,' there is no funding dedicated to comprehensive sex education," according a statement from Lautenberg's office.
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