sexual assault of animals criminalized in Illinois

Traditional Values Coalition ^ | August 6, 2002 | Rev. Louis P. Sheldon

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Traditional Values Coalition
Opinion Editorial

For Publication On Or After
Tuesday, August 6, 2002

Illinois Lawmakers Criminalize 
Sexual Assault Against Animals

By Rev. Louis P. Sheldon
Chairman, Traditional Values Coalition

Washington, DC – Princeton University’s resident “ethicist” Peter Singer must be greatly alarmed by the action recently taken by the Illinois state legislature. Illinois lawmakers just passed a law making it a felony offense for a human to sexually assault an animal. The legislation was signed into law in late July by Governor George Ryan. 

Peter Singer is an animal rights activist and advocate of infanticide for human babies. While he objects to humans eating animals, he doesn’t object to humans having sexual relationships with them. He wrote an essay on this topic last year for a pornographic online newsmagazine called “Nerve.com.” Singer observed that our taboo against bestiality is based upon Judeo-Christian morality and our desire to differentiate ourselves from animals. Singer believes we are just great apes so thinks we should strike down the bestiality taboo. 

For years I’ve been warning about the dangers of normalizing such deviant sexual behaviors as sadomasochism, homosexuality, cross dressing, pedophilia, and incest. Transgenderism (the movement that seeks to blur the distinctions between male and female) is currently pushing the bounds of normalcy in our culture. Once one deviant behavior is normalized, other sexual perverts are waiting in line for the opportunity to have their particular perversion legitimized. Will we see bestiality normalized in our life time? We may, if current trends continue. 

The effort to make the sexual assault of an animal a felony offense in Illinois was pushed by a number of diverse groups including the American Society for the Preservation of Cruelty to Animals (ASPCA), Concerned Women for America, Citizens for Community Values, and law enforcement groups. 

According to Illinois ASPCA leader Ledy VanKavage, the legislation was needed because Illinois veterinarians were starting to develop rape kits for animals that had been sexually assaulted by humans. According to VanKavage, “This is a growing problem and it is more widespread than most people know.” 

The bestiality problem is spreading to minors through the Internet, says VanKavage. “One little girl we heard of did an internet search on ‘turtle love.’ What she found was a whole manual on how to have sex with turtles.” 

While men like Peter Singer may not have a problem with teenagers having sex with turtles, goats, or sheep, parents should be alarmed by the reality of this situation. A simple Google search of the Internet turned up 244,000 sites discussing “Zoophiles.” These are sexual perverts who gain pleasure from sexually assaulting animals. The Internet provides these disturbed individuals with graphic images of bestiality as well as support groups for Zoophiles. 

David Westerfield, the man accused of killing Danielle van Dam, not only had child pornography on his computer. He had also downloaded bestiality photos. Was his next target going to be his neighbor’s dog? Tragically, we’re only seeing the beginning of this new social pathology. The Zoophile perversion may be spread rapidly by the Internet and has the potential of becoming an international problem. A Canadian man in Winnipeg, for example, is currently under surveillance by police. He was convicted of bestiality for having had sex with two dogs—both found dead and each wearing a bra and panties. He was given three years probation and is still considered a high risk offender. 

What does all of this mean? It means that parents would do well to install filtering systems on their home computers to block access to these kinds of web sites. They should also check the content of their computers for suspicious graphics files and links to questionable web sites. Parenting is tough enough without having to deal with a child who has developed a sexual attraction to barnyard animals. It also means that states without laws against bestiality should look to Illinois for guidance in crafting legislation to criminalize this sexual perversion. 

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Traditional Values Coalition is an interdenominational public policy organization representing more than 43,000 churches across the United States. For more information, contact Heather Fitzgerald at 202-547-8570. TVC's Web site is: www.traditionalvalues.org.

[MissMillie]

Animals, like minors, are incapable of consent. That is the only argument that works within the framework of the laws of our free society.

For all other activities considered "deviant" people should remember that we are a free country and therefore allowed to be as deviant as we so choose.

Quite frankly, having the government in your bedroom is about as "deviant" as it gets, so I say "no thanks!"

[PetiteMericco]

I would agree except that those who pay the bills make the rules. If someone wants to be a sexual deviant, I say more power to them as soon as all public funding is cut off from sexually transmitted disease research and relief.