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. 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 the
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 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: 

WRITE
YOUR CONGRESSPERSON AND TELL THEM TO END ABSTINENCE ONLY FUNDING. 

It’s time to send out the
clowns!

This piece is also posted at Amplify.