Lighted Candle Society - June 2008 Newsletter

the LIGHTED CANDLE A new resource of ugly numbers: J U N E 2 0 0 8 COURTING THE BEST IN EACH OF US TO HELP BRING EVIL TO COURT Newsletter www.LightedCandle.org z Celebration, Victory and Action! z BY JOHN L. HARMER, CHAIRMAN How do you show the real world impact of pornography... in the numbers of course. Did you know that the porn industry brings in more money annually than all of the sports franchises combined? Visit: http://lightedcandle.org/pornstats/ The Our annual compliment of Guardian of good and the Lights decent people Dinner Awards donating time, took place on energy, and May 6th with their means is flurry of award both an honor recipients and and a burden. well-deserved An honor praise on local because our authorities. 6th Annual Awards Dinner efforts would Overlooking the falter without their support. A Salt Lake valley at the top of burden because we must the Wells Fargo building, the constantly push forward and 350 people gathered to continue to demonstrate serious celebrate the successes of the results in our fight against past year and boost our efforts pornography. well into 2009. Trustee Spotlight: Mary Beard Mary Beard is one of the foremost obstetricians and gynecologists in the United States. The list of various professional boards and honor societies of which she is a member is far too numerous to recite here. An outstanding advocate for moral values and an untiring opponent of obscenity and pornography, Mary brings a wealth of professional experience and wisdom as a member of the board of trustees of The Lighted Candle Society. There were numerous special presentations at the event including a 15-minute video detailing the successes for the Lighted Candle Society. Below are some of the highlights from the dinner: • This year’s local award recipients included Mrs. Shelley DeVries, Mrs. Janalyn Holt, and Mrs. Cindy Moreno for their tireless efforts defending family values in Utah and beyond. • Our keynote speaker and national award recipient was Dr. Michael Ballum, renowned performer and musician who spoke on the power of virtue overcoming evil. • County Attorney Troy Rawlings provided us an update on obscenity issues in Davis County. Mr. Rawlings highlighted the support of the Lighted Candle Society in providing help to fight a local store that sold sexually explicit materials. • A surprise appearance by Winnie McCombs, a mother of two from Tennessee, who successfully sued a California motel for exposing her daughters to pornography and thanked the Lighted Candle Society for their financial support in her legal efforts. • Various trustees of the Lighted Candle Society who provided their insight and enthusiasm for the victories of the past year. • John Harmer, Chairman of the Lighted Candle Society ,who spoke on the fight before us and how we are making a difference. The video produced for the event highlighted many of the successes of the Lighted Candle Society over the past year. These include: An unforgettable evening, a momentous year! 2 • Successfully influencing an important case before the Supreme Court in the case of US. vs Williams which upheld existing laws against child pornography. In their opinion, the court adopted language that we provided in our amicus brief. • An incredible petition push opposing an episode of the Oprah Winfrey show where “sexperts” promoted open marriages, pornography, and casual sex with friends. 40,000 people signed the petition giving us a significant boost to our email outreach and sending a serious message to Oprah and her advertisers. • Participating in the investigation and subsequent raid of Spencers Gifts, a novelty store that sells sexually explicit materials. The stores, 600 of them scattered throughout the United States, have minors selling these materials to other minors, a federal crime. The Lighted Candle Society provided support to the local county attorney and helped identify a path for future litigation should it be necessary. • Tremendous progress on the fMRI protocol driving the scientific evidence behind pornography addiction. Our team of experts met on numerous occasions to review and edit the study details. Using cutting edge scientific techniques we can trace the process the brain goes through when dealing with serious addiction to sexually explicit materials. • Launching three websites in six months including the support website HerStoryLives.com where women can share t h e i r t r a g e d i e s a n d s u c c e s s e s a ro u n d pornography addiction. 3 • Our efforts to drive recruiters of pornographic films out of the Salt Lake City area. After catching wind of a surreptitious audition, the Lighted Candle Society moved into action soliciting the support of local authorities and scaring away the pornographers. • Production of the free pamphlet, “A Parents’ Guide to Facebook” highlighting the challenges that families face in the new world of social networking. • The founding of our first local Lighted Candle Society chapter in St. George, Utah. • Numerous speaking engagements across the country in Virginia, Utah, and Georgia among other places. • A special breakfast hosted by Senator Robert Bennett and Lighted Candle Society co-founder Ed Meese. “This was the most successful dinners I’ve ever attended,” noted one prominent table sponsor that night. “The results seem tangible, things are really moving forward!” said another. We have no doubt that the year ahead will lead to serious results and successes as well! Thank you for all of your help. the event. Before he got to the pulpit he checked the Supreme Court wire and gleefully told the gathered leaders that the Court had ruled 7-2 sustaining current federal anti-child pornography laws and holding that that these laws do not impinge on the first amendment rights. This is a powerful decision and affirms, once more, that obscene materials are not covered under the Constitution. We argued three points in our amicus brief: • The Eleventh Circuit court misunderstood the market for child pornography. Pandering material that is not child pornography as if it is - is a key form of currency in the barter-based child pornography marketplace. Prohibiting pandering is an important part of fighting child pornography. • Pandering is not a form a non-commercial speech and not entitled to full First Amendment protection. • Lastly, we argued that scientific evidence indicates that viewing child pornography is not a form of speech any more than is the use of drugs or the services of a prostitute. This last point is important and marked the first time in which scientific evidence was submitted to the US Supreme Court to demonstrate the harm of pornography upon the human brain. We are thrilled to have played even a minor role in this victory! Supreme Victory On the morning of May 19th, the Lighted Candle Society was participating in a conference to discuss obscenity laws in the United States. Every major pro-family / anti-pornography group was present at the event. Justin Hart, Vice President of Communications for The Lighted Candle Society, was asked to speak at Dr. Broun Goes to Washington Dr. Paul Broun, a physician by trade, cut his teeth on Capitol Hill walking the halls in support of hunters’ rights in the 1990s. Seeing an opportunity after the untimely death of Representative Charlie Norwood, from Georgia’s 10th district, Dr. Broun threw his hat in the ring to replace him. Broun upset his runoff opponent by fewer than 400 votes and was sworn into congress on July 25, 2007. Broun took up the reins immediately with an unprecedented fervor for a freshman congressman. This last month, Representative Broun submitted HR 5821 which would make it illegal to sell sexually explicit material on military bases. With scientific research demonstrating the serious social and psychological harm that pornography causes, Dr. Broun could not stand still while American tax dollars were subsidizing pornographic material. On the last week of June, John Harmer, the Chairman of the Lighted Candle Society, met in Washington with Congressman Broun and with Utah Congressman Chris Cannon, promising support for HR 5821 to help prohibit military PX/BX stores from selling pornographic films and magazines. The families of our military, the honor of our servicemen and the dignity of their service to our country deserve more than this. Currently, PX stores (military base convenient stores) sell explicit materials such as Penthouse and Playboy. Representative Broun's bill (the Military Honor and Decency Act) would remove this material from the shelves. Please contact your representative and ask them to cosponsor HR 5821. Visit our website for more information: www.lightedcandle.org John Harmer (Chairman, Lighted Candle Society), Rep. Paul Broun, and Rep. Chris Cannon with HR 5821 CONTACT US Mailing Address: 36 North State Street Salt Lake City, UT 84103 (801) 363-2483 Email: info@lightedcandle.org Websites: www.LightedCandle.org www.FamilyFragments.com www.HerStoryLives.com 4 If you would like to receive our newsletter by email please send us your name and email address to: info@lightedcandle.org JOHN HARMER - CHAIRMAN, LIGHTED CANDLE SOCIETY