FC: Dr. Laura on the 1st Amendment and the Internet (she doesn't like them)

[Declan McCullagh <declan () well com>]

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More:
  http://www.stopdrlaura.com/news/fromus/march/000310.htm
  http://www.politechbot.com/p-00403.html

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STATEMENT FROM STOPDRLAURA.COM
March 11, 2000

DR. LAURA SUGGESTED YOUNG GIRL BE SACRIFICED, PUT UP FOR ADOPTION
- Paramount Star Says First Amendment "Does Not Extend to All Speech"
- Who else must she attack before Paramount gets the picture?

StopDrLaura.com has learned that only four months ago Dr. Laura
attacked a 14-year-old girl, by name, on-the-air to 450 radio
stations nationwide, because she disagreed with the child's award-
winning essay defending free speech on the Internet, according to
the November 9, 1999 Hartford Courant.  Defending her actions in
publicly criticizing the youth, Schlessinger wrote: "The First
Amendment is not the Eleventh Commandment.  Its protection
does not extend to ALL speech."

In a sadly ironic twist to Dr. Laura's "free speech" defense of her
on-the-air attacks on gay men and lesbians, the Courant reported
that Dr. Laura "savaged the child" in a "disgusting" broadcast in
which she said the Connecticut eighth-grader's support of the First
Amendment as applied to the Internet was "stupid" and
"dangerous," and that "If she was my daughter, I'd probably put her
up for adoption.''

Schlessinger also went on to suggest that the
child be "sacrificed," in the tradition of the Incas who ritually
murdered their own children, and made references to the girl being
kidnapped.  Schlessinger added: "Poor Sara [the essay winner]
doesn't get it.  When she makes her marriage vows and her
husband has sex with everybody else, let's see if she thinks that this
philosophy works."

StopDrLaura.com has confirmed the veracity of the story with
Hartford Courant report Amy Pagnozzi.

The news of Schlessinger's recent public attack on the middle
school student comes on the heels of a supposed "apology"
Schlessinger issued to gays and lesbians yesterday on her Web site.
Schlessinger's statement came within hours of the announcement
that a coalition of organizations will hold a protest at the gates of
Paramount on March 21 to demand that the studio drop plans to air
the Dr. Laura Show this fall.  For the last several weeks,
Paramount has been under a blitzkrieg of bad publicity
surrounding the talk show deal, fueled by the creation of an anti-
Paramount Web site, StopDrLaura.com, and scores of nationwide
ads sponsored by the Horizons Foundation, the Child Welfare
League of America, and TomPaine.com.

In her statement on the gay controversy, issued March 10, 2000,
Schlessinger still denies that labeling gays as "biological errors,"
sexual deviants, and pedophiles should be perceived as judgmental.
"Words that I have used in a clinical context have been perceived
as judgement. They were not meant to characterize homosexual
individuals or encourage others to disparage homosexuals,"
Schlessinger wrote.

Schlessinger used almost identical language only three months
earlier to defend her actions against the First Amendment's littlest
defender.  In response to a letter of complaint from Connecticut
Attorney General Richard Blumenthal, Schlessinger issued yet
another "apology" on December 2, 1999 in the Charleston Post and
Courier, saying "It was not my intention to insult the contest
winner, but rather to forcefully disparage and counter a point of
view."  Schlessinger went on to yield little ground: "I have read the
full text [of the student's essay], and I continue to find the ideas
expressed in it objectionable."

"Is Paramount really prepared for Dr. Laura to berate little
children, gays and who knows who else on nationwide
television?", said Alan Klein, spokesman for StopDrLaura.com.
"How many so-called 'apologies' does Dr. Laura have to issue
before Paramount gets the picture," Klein added.  "Fool me once,
shame on you, Dr. Laura; fool me twice, shame on me."

StopDrLaura.com and the Horizons Foundation remain committed
to taking their protest to the gates of Paramount on Tuesday,
March 21, from 8:30 a.m. to 10:30 a.m.

Contact: Alan Klein, alanklein () earthlink net, (646)-486-1910

[The young girl's full name is being withheld to shield her from
further trauma.] 

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