A Washington Post article argues that young children should be exposed to kink and fetishism. It ll do them good, says the writer. We ll discuss that madness today, and our 5 headlines: Bill Cosby is freed from prison. Gwen Berry finally comes up with a reason for turning her back on the flag during the anthem. And the founder of BET, who is a billionaire, by the way, says he wants his reparations check, and he wants it now.
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00:01:56.920If you've been living a life of oblivious serenity, perhaps out in the wilderness somewhere or in a cave in the desert, maybe in a bubble under the sea,
00:02:05.880you may be surprised that a headline like this was published anywhere.
00:02:10.000The headline, yes, kink belongs at Pride, and I want my kids to see it.
00:02:16.280And even when you find out that this was published, you may assume that it was featured on some sort of far-left blog
00:02:22.400and written by a fringe, militant, crazy LGBT activist.
00:02:26.900You'd be right about the second part of that, and even the first, except in this case, the far-left blog goes by the name The Washington Post.
00:02:33.700Yes, this open and explicit advocacy for exposing children to sexual fetishism and kink did grace the pages of what was once,
00:02:43.480at some point in the past, I'm told, considered a reputable and mainstream newspaper.
00:02:47.900At no point in my life, but I'm told that at some point that was the case.
00:02:51.020The article, written by Lauren Roello, we'll have more on her in a minute,
00:02:54.620encourages parents to do as she does with her own young children,
00:02:59.300bring them out to Pride events in order to encounter half-naked men acting out their depraved sexual fantasies in public.
00:03:06.980She writes, speaking of her experience at a Pride march in Philadelphia five years ago, she writes,
00:03:11.400When our children grew tired of marching, we plopped onto a nearby curb.
00:03:17.120Just as we got settled, our elementary schooler pointed in the direction of oncoming floats,
00:03:21.960raising an eyebrow at a bare-chested man in dark sunglasses whose black suspenders clipped into a leather thong.
00:03:28.860The man paused to be spanked playfully by a partner with a flog.
00:03:33.440What are they doing? my curious kid asked as our toddler cheered them on.
00:03:37.180The pair was the first of a few dozen kinksters who danced down the street,
00:03:42.640laughing together as they twirled their whips and batons, some leading companions by leashes.
00:03:49.040At the time, my children were too young to understand the nuance of the situation.
00:03:58.240That these folks were members of our community celebrating who they are and what they like to do.
00:04:02.880Now, she goes on to argue that the kink community, quote-unquote,
00:04:07.880has always been a part of pride and that it's good that they be allowed to be authentically themselves in public.
00:04:15.700That's certainly one way to describe people who like to act out their sexual fantasies in front of children.
00:04:22.180I mean, is that what she'd say about a man masturbating on a park bench near a playground?
00:04:26.980Hey, he's just being authentically himself in public.
00:04:29.720As it turns out, not everything that's a part of your authentic self is meant to be done or displayed in public.
00:04:38.860Defecation is an aspect of everyone's authentic self, and yet we do that right with the door closed in the bathroom.
00:04:46.340Unless we live in San Francisco, which maybe this lady does.
00:04:49.700The author, again, her name is Lauren Ruello, and you should remember her name in case she ever tries to come within 50 yards of your children,
00:04:58.140continues from many paragraphs describing the wondrous benefits of allowing elementary-aged children to watch gay men in leather thongs flog each other in the street.
00:05:07.300Skimming through some of this, she says, quote,
00:05:08.780I agree that Pride should be a welcoming space for children and teens, but policing how others show up doesn't protect or uplift young people.
00:05:18.000Instead, homogenizing self-expression at Pride will do more harm to our children than good.
00:05:23.220When my own children caught glimpses of kink culture, they got to see that the queer community encompasses so many non-traditional ways of being, living, and loving.
00:05:31.560If we want our children to learn and grow from their experiences at Pride, we should hope that they'll encounter kink when they attend.
00:05:39.360How else can they learn about the scope and vitality of queer life?
00:05:43.360Children who witness kink culture are reassured that alternative experiences of sexuality and expression are valid,
00:05:49.780no matter who they become as they mature, helping them recognize that their personal experiences aren't bad or wrong,
00:05:55.340and that they aren't alone in their experiences.
00:05:56.920I can't think of a more relevant or important reminder for youth who often struggle with feelings of isolation and confusion
00:06:03.720as they discover more about themselves and wrestle with concerns about whether they're normal enough.
00:06:10.440She can't think of anything more relevant or important to tell kids.
00:06:15.720There is nothing more important than instilling in our children a healthy appreciation for sadomasochism, she thinks.
00:06:24.000Lauren Ruelo does acknowledge the critics of her position, but she labels all of us anti-kink advocates.
00:06:54.240Now, I have no real problem with that label personally, except that I'd prefer maybe anti-degeneracy advocate or anti-child grooming advocate
00:07:04.820or anti-leather-clad weirdos spanking each other in view of third graders advocates.
00:07:11.420Any of those labels will do, though really I prefer to be defined in the positive.
00:07:17.880I am anti all of those things, but I'm also a pro-sanity, pro-basic human decency advocate, most of all.
00:07:29.920Lauren Ruelo is very much on the other side of the sanity and moral decency issue.
00:07:35.240She's just opposed to it, totally, as has already been made clear.
00:07:40.680But a deeper dive into her biography and life story gets expectedly dark and weird and disturbing very quickly.
00:07:48.220Ruelo is a former prostitute, which I just remind you again, this is a person who was published in the Washington Post.
00:07:58.760Okay, she's a, let me tell you about her for a minute here.
00:08:00.900She's a former prostitute who now identifies as, quote, gender vague.
00:08:07.740She's married to a man who now identifies as her wife and is transitioning into a woman.
00:08:14.820And her young son, as she recently announced proudly on Twitter, has just started experimenting with makeup
00:08:20.180and has declared his intention to appear on RuPaul's Drag Race one day.