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from Parenting & Family
'Los Angeles Times' Examines Life In
San Francisco's Castro District For Children
May 1, 2006 -
The Los Angeles Times (April 21) published "A Haven's Sex and Sensibility" about
children who are being exposed to sexually explicit gay materials in stores in
the Castro District of San Francisco. Heterosexual parents as well as some
homosexually-oriented parents are expressing concern over the impact that
explicit depictions of gay sex will have on children.
The article, by John M. Glionna, traces the path of Brody Paul and his brother
Zander who live in Castro and are regularly exposed to gay sex images in store
windows. Glionna notes: "A video store where they regularly rent Disney films
stocks triple-X gay porn flicks in plain view. Across the street, next to their
favorite pizza joint, the front window of a gay sex shop called Rock Hard
displays a large Day-Glo purple sex toy, leather trusses and graphic manuals."
Mark Welsh, manager of Rock Hard has toned down his displays but is angered by
attempts to cater to parents of children. "I have always pushed the envelope to
show what I can because if there's one place on the planet to flaunt sex, it's
here. There's a place for these ads. Sex is why Castro was founded."
Angeline Acain, the editor of a gay newspaper catering to homosexual parents
says they should adjust to the neighborhood, not the other way around. "That
culture existed long before they arrived. If you see a window display you find
offensive, don't take your kid down that block."
According to Glionna, the Gay Lesbian and Transgender Community Center now
forbids nudity in the hallways because children accompany their parents there.
In addition, the bondage classes are now behind closed doors.
Zander Paul says he has no problem living in the Castro District. He told
Glionna: "For me, the word 'gay' has two meanings: One is you're happy. The
other is you like boys."
Dr. Sander Breiner, a NARTH Scientific Advisory Committee member, is author of
the paper, "Adolescent Homosexuality" posted on the NARTH web site. Speaking as
a medical professional, not as a NARTH spokesman, Dr. Breiner recently commented
on the Los Angeles Times article:
The issue is not pornography. The issue is not freedom of speech. The primary issue is always, "what is in the best interest of our children"; with the basic principle "Above All Do No Harm."
All hostility, whether actual or fantasy, comes from children; or the child within the adult. All sexual activity and games prior to marriage are part of a maturational process. All educational and developmental experiences for the child are based on their level of neurological, intellectual, and social maturational development. For example, exposing a two-year-old child to the inadequacies of their parents, though realistic, is threatening and disturbing and affecting their neurological and psychological development. It is, therefore, to be avoided. The same child at 18 years of age, should not only know that truth, but be able to integrate it into their own development and kind understanding of their parents.
Another important piece to an understanding about children in their complex neurological development is that it is significantly affected by social and physiologic stimuli (both reasonable and noxious). For example: what is reasonable at 18 can be noxious at 12. Remember, the brain quadruples in size in the first two years of life; and is still significantly developing until 22 years of age. This is both grossly anatomically, microscopically, and neurochemically. For example, between 12 to 22 years of age 50% of the gray matter of the brain is reduced and the white matter is markedly increased.
There is a difference between advertising to inform a potential purchasing public, and being seductive and manipulative to a non-adult audience. Presenting pornography in any of its forms in an adult-appearing venue is teaching a child that this immature-based material is really 'adult.' The best that can happen is that it has no deleterious effect on the child but encourages him to explore with his parents and teachers the meaning of this material. A much more likely result, however, is that the child who is more vulnerable can experience some minor to major deleterious effects — depending upon the degree of vulnerability of that particular child.
Information should be available on every subject to any adult. There should be no restriction on any of this information to that population. However, foisting it on a less mature population is an act of infantile hostility that hides behind the mask of "ordinary business activity" and "freedom of speech."
— Sander J. Breiner, MD
Updated: 8 February 2008
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