Phil Donahue (TV talk show) was introducing America to NAMBLA spokemen in the second half of the 1980s.
It was a an introduction to mainstreaming them.
“On February 5, 1987, Bernard appeared as a guest on the Phil Donahue show and advocated pedophile activism, accompanied by a 23-year-old male who had allegedly been involved in a sexual relationship with an adult as a child.”
Libertarians are aware of the issue as well.
Time magazine May 21, 2008
“”The fracas started with Mary J. Ruwart, the candidate with perhaps the deepest, purest libertarian roots (her rejection of government is so complete that some party moderates have begun warning of the anarchical dangers of “Ruwarchy”). In April, a rival called her out for her thoughts in a 1999 book called Short Answers to the Tough Questions. “Children who willingly participate in sexual acts have the right to make that decision as well, even if it’s distasteful to us personally,” Ruwart wrote. “When we outlaw child pornography, the prices paid for child performers rise, increasing the incentives for parents to use children against their will.”
Ruwart’s is a classic libertarian take — a defense of free will (even for “child performers”) and an attack on government prohibitions of any kind. It’s also political poison. As libertarian blogger Steve Newton put it, Ruwart and her allies run the risk of turning the party into “the poster child for NAMBLA and the aluminum hat brigade.”
The party’s executive director, Shane Cory, saw the danger as well, and rushed out a press release titled, “Libertarians call for increased communication to combat child pornography.” Cory was attacked by hardliners who saw the release as an endorsement of increased federal prosecuting power. The party refused to vote on a resolution asking states to strongly enforce existing child porn laws. Cory resigned in protest, depriving a party in the midst of what may be its most promising election season of one of its most able organizers and fund raisers. But for many libertarian faithful, adherence to the most rigid of principles always trumps practical considerations about how those principles might be more broadly observed.””
They wanted to push it under the rug like the homo pride movement tried to do. Bad PR. Not that it changed the reality.
little jeremiah, I don’t mean to bother you by pinging you to a thread that you aren’t on, but I think that you asked to see what is in post 20.
The somewhat mixed signals, Radio talk show host, Michael Savage, was also a close friend of Allen Ginsberg, the prominent lefty poet and NAMBLA figure.
Wiki:
“Ginsberg also spoke out in defense of the freedom of expression of the North American Man/Boy Love Association (NAMBLA).[77] In “Thoughts on NAMBLA”, a 1994 essay published in the collection Deliberate Prose, Ginsberg stated, “I joined NAMBLA in defense of free speech.” In the essay, he referred to NAMBLA “as a forum for reform of those laws on youthful sexuality which members deem oppressive, a discussion society not a sex club.” Ginsberg expressed the opinion that the appreciation of youthful bodies and “the human form divine” has been a common theme throughout the history of culture, “from Rome’s Vatican to Florence’s Uffizi galleries to New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art”, and that laws regarding the issue needed to be more openly discussed.”