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Loading ...Corvino: Palin, pregnancy and principles
I admit it: I was fascinated by the announcement that Sarah Palin’s 17-year-old daughter is pregnant.
It’s no surprise that teenagers have sex—even evangelical Christian teenagers, and especially very good looking ones, in Alaska, where there’s not much to do but hunting and fishing and…well, you know.And it’s certainly no surprise that sex makes babies.
But when a conservative politician who advocates abstinence education has a very public failure of abstinence in her own family, revealed just a few days after she’s announced as the Republican vice-presidential nominee, it’s bound to get people talking.
If nothing else, the social and political contours are interesting. Right-wingers admire Palin’s principles, but some wish she would put aside her political ambitions to tend to her family. Left-wingers reject this idea as anti-feminist, but they also reject Palin’s politics.
Let me make two things very clear.
First, Bristol Palin is not running for office; Sarah Palin is. Bristol Palin, like all expectant mothers, should be wished well—especially since she finds herself pregnant during the frenzy and scrutiny of her mother’s vice-presidential campaign. She deserves our compassion, as does her new fiancé.
Second, Sarah Palin is no hypocrite—as some uncharitable commentators have suggested—for embracing her yet-unwed pregnant daughter.
There’s no inconsistency in believing both that we should teach abstinence until marriage and that we should support those children who become pregnant anyway. There’s no hypocrisy in striving for an ideal that you and your loved ones occasionally fall short of. You don’t stop endorsing speed limits just because you (or your kids) sometimes lose track of the speedometer.
The fact is, Sarah Palin’s rejection of comprehensive sex education deserves criticism on its own merits. Her family’s behavior has nothing to do with it, aside from adding anecdotes to the statistics suggesting that “abstinence only” doesn’t achieve what its proponents hope and claim.
For example, abstinence advocates are fond of citing studies by Yale’s Hannah Brückner and Columbia’s Peter Bearman, who show that adolescents who take abstinence pledges generally delay sex about eighteen months longer than those who don’t. What the advocates don’t mention is the researchers’ finding that only 12% of these adolescents keep their pledges, and that when they do have sex, they are far less likely to use protection.
In other words, the failure rate of condoms pales by comparison to the failure rate of abstinence pledges—88%, if you believe Brückner and Bearman.
But it’s not Sarah Palin’s rejection of comprehensive sex education that’s bugging me here. What’s bugging me is the right-wing reaction, which for the most part boils down to “Nobody’s perfect, life happens, but you love and support your children and grandchildren.”
That, of course, is the proper reaction.
But it stands in sharp contrast to their usual reaction to gay kids, their rhetoric about “Love in Action” and “Love Win[ning] Out” notwithstanding.
For example, contrast the right-wing reaction to Palin’s grandchild with their reaction to Dick Cheney’s grandchild Samuel—son of his lesbian daughter Mary. At the time, Janice Crouse of Concerned Women for America announced that Mary’s pregnancy “repudiates traditional values and sets an appalling example for young people at a time when father absence is the most pressing social problem facing the nation.” She was hardly alone in such denunciations.
Now here’s the same Crouse on Palin: “We are confident that she and her family will handle this unexpected situation with grace and love. We appreciate the fact that the Palins…are providing loving support to the teenager and her boyfriend.”
There are differences in the two cases to be sure. Bristol plans to marry the father, and thus will provide the baby with a “traditional” family (in one sense); Mary won’t. Bristol’s pregnancy was probably accidental, whereas Mary’s was certainly deliberate.
On the other hand, Mary’s child arrives in the home of a mature and stable couple; Bristol’s in the home of a young and hastily formed one.
But the sharpest difference in the cases is the contrast in right-wingers’ compassion. It’s the difference in empathy, a trait that’s at the core of the Golden Rule.
They tell heterosexuals: abstinence until marriage—and if you fail, we forgive you. For gays, it’s abstinence forever—and if you fail, we denounce you.
For heterosexuals, “Nobody’s perfect, life happens, but you love and support your children and grandchildren.”
For gays, not so much.
John Corvino, Ph.D. is an author, speaker, and philosophy professor at Wayne State University in Detroit.
For over fifteen years he has traveled the country speaking on homosexuality and ethics. His writing has been featured in regional and national periodicals, at the online Independent Gay Forum , and in numerous scholarly anthologies. His column “The Gay Moralist” appears Fridays on 365gay.com.
For more about John Corvino, or to see clips from his “What’s Morally Wrong with Homosexuality?” DVD, visit www.johncorvino.com.
“The fact is, Sarah Palin’s rejection of comprehensive sex education deserves criticism on its own merits. Her family’s behavior has nothing to do with it, aside from adding anecdotes to the statistics suggesting that ‘abstinence only’ doesn’t achieve what its proponents hope and claim.”
Oh really? I think it shows something else: an unwillingness to reconsider her views in light of evidence, even when it’s before her eyes. Anecdotal it may be, but it’s the anecdotes that flesh out the dry bones of statistics.
Well said Jonathan. Bill, Hillary, and Chelsea Clinton would have been vilified by the same conservative Christians that are now praising and gloating on Palin. It is this hipocracy which is most disturbing.
I’m in no way saying this young woman should be vilified.
I am saing if the situation were reversed and it was Obama’s child, Obama and the teen would be demonized and it would be used as an excuse to continue the myth that educating young people about sex is the problem.
I said nothing about abortion. I would prefer that no woman be in a position to have to consider abortion. I would prefer every child concieved was wanted and the parents had the abiltity to care for that child. I would also leave that choise as her own.
I wonder how many people post here with no other purpose but to get a rise out of the people here.
OK Jonathan since you opened the door to hypothetical questions; What if one of Obama’s daughters gets pregnant? Will you ridicule Sen. Obama too? Will you clam it is not hypocrisy because Sen. Obama WANTS his daughters to have sex as teenagers and WANTS them to get pregnant. No, of course he does not; as Gov. Palin didn’t either. The fact that Gov. Sarah Palin still loves and supports her daughter after she defied her wishes does not make Gov. Sarah Palin a bad person.
Look Gov. Sarah Palin is anti-gay. Just hate her for that reason. Some nuanced argument that because she is pro abstinence and her daughter failed to live up to that by getting pregnant and then NOT having a secret abortion, she is somehow a failure is ridiculous. And when you liberals’ pregnant daughters DON’T have an abortion, I won’t consider you a failure either.
I rarely speak in absolute but in this case I must. There is no nuance. Palin and the rest of the bible bashing, family values crowd are hypocrites.
They want to have it both ways. They want to criticize “non-traditional” families. They want to take responsible sex eduacation out of schools. They want to make it so this isn’t a big deal.
Do as I say not as I do doesn’t work.
What if President Obama had a child in this position?
What if it was Chelsea Clinton?
They’d have a field day.
Please forgive this long diatribe about CHOICE and FREEDOM, but it is important and precise.
It has taken several decades for me to come to the conclusion that a deity that is invisible, absent and silent is not a deity at all. However, even if he/she/it exists, everyone who is religious forgets one thing once they claim to be “born-again”, and that is they MADE A CHOICE.
Once they make this choice, they seem to forget THEY made a choice and further believe that all of a sudden, they have some type of superior claim to morality and were appointed a Supreme Court Judge about all aspects of life and other people, if not the Chief Justice himself/herself/itself. But for some reason, they seem to forget that they begin to force their beliefs on others who may not have any reason or desire to believe the same way. They expect everyone else to become their sheep. More importantly, they need to STOP their proselytizing in public and especially in politics.
While I believe that I have always been gay, and had no choice in the matter, AND even if it is a choice, it is, of course, still MY choice, and it is just as valid as their choice to follow some type of mythology. It is just as natural for me as being a breeder is for them.
Yes, I quite believe modern day religion is a MYTHOLOGY. The names have changed over time, but these religious nut cases believe in multiple deities just as did the Egyptians, Greek, Romans, Norse and Aztecs.
And YES! I said MULTIPLE gods. There is the supreme god (God, Allah, Yahweh, Zeus, Jupiter) and the underworld deity (Satan, Devil, Dejal, Hades, Pluto). We have subordinate gods that do various activities like messenger or herald (Ezekiel, Jesus, Mercury, Angel Gabriel, Apollo, and of course Mars, who is the God of Warring: [Thank you W.] ) and a whole host of others. And like all the religions, they have built a multitude of sacred temples to these gods and attributed many a man’s words to these deities. By the way, who really can be the ultimate authority to claim any group of man-written words is a “word of God”? I know of no one any where and any time who is so fit to make such a claim.
In fact, one can find the Holy Hit Parade at godchecker.com/gotw/index.php
What bothers me most is that in their peeked little group of cells they call a brain, that one of these “gods “ tells them how to live and what to do, and how to enslave all of their enemies. And when they have a Freudian slip or just decide to do as they please, they can call it an “Act of God” who told them to do it. I don’t see this too differently from the crazy people who are behind locked doors, and who have a god-complex (please see en.wikipedia.org/wiki/God_complex ). And thusly, these religious bigots-on-the-loose become hypocrites of the highest order, which is about as good as they can ever become. I listened to some of Sarah Palin’s rants on youtube.com, and she fits this description perfectly.
Thank you for your indulgence.
As a right-wing gay, I always appreciate Corvino’s perspecttive. His column is the reason I tune in. —- Didn’t Palin veto anti-gay legislation, which allowed for some partner rights in Alaska?
Boogie, it seem that the child will be well cared for. The father will be and apparently has been primarily a stay at home dad while caring for the child. The family is in a good position to be able to do that. There are many families that both parents have to work. Also, there is the support of the child’s siblings. Seems that there will be no issue with the child’s care, though.
I have someone with Downs in my family. How could a mother chose being a VP and spend 4 months away from home, when she has a 4 month old down syndrome child at home. With Downs they have the biggest hearts, but everyday can bring a new and serious health problem. I can’t vote for anyone who’s own child is not a priorty, I don’t even want to know their politics.
Michael – Setting double standards IS a form of hypocrisy. She denies GLBT rites that she herself enjoys. She implies that her family should be “off limits” but then uses that same family to promote herself. So, she is in effect saying that her family should only be open to praise and not criticism. Additionally, she also distorts the truth so completely that she in effect lies. So you can add liar to the list. Moreover, and this is just a personal gut instinct, I think the woman is seriously unstable. She has bounced around from religion to religion as often as she bounced around from college to college. She clearly has no problem with abusing her authority. Yet, she props herself up as some model of a self-made person. Yes, I guess by the basic definition of the expression – she is. But that doesn’t mean that all people who are self-made are GOOD people. Sometimes they are, sometime they aren’t. Her sarcastic, condescending speech really gave me the creeps and its scary to see people who are so desparate to believe ANYTHING buy into her divisive rhetoric. Many of her statements are in fact hypocritical if not outright lies. As far as I’m concerned, the woman is toxic and should NEVER and I mean EVER be anywhere near the POTENTIAL to be President of this country. McCain proved by this ONE decision that his desire to win this elction for himself, he was willing to jeopardize the security of this country by electing such a completely unqualified person as his running mate – seemingly as an impulse decision as well. His judgment is just as scary as she is. I’m not going to hold back my opinions of her or her family, when she has the potential to affect my ability to have a family, a job or a home. She can’t have it both ways – but like a good Republican, she’ll definitely try to.
The fact that most conservatives believe that sex should be delayed until after marriage does not mean they abandon their principals when a member of their family fails to live up to those principals. I am sure Gov. Sarah Palin wished Bistol had abstained from sex. Does any parent want their teenagers to engage in intercourse?
I think is interesting that womens groups are all too eager to support a women until that women does not fit the liberal feminist narrative. Let’s be honest, NOW should be renamed (NOLW) Nation Organization for LIBERAL Women, because it not about women, it is about liberalism.
Gov. Sarah Palin rose to the highest office in her state, not because she acted and dressed like a man; not because she was married to a successful politician, but on her own merits. Agree with her politics or not, Gov. Palen is the true feminist. Achievement not because of her race, greed, sex, but despite it. And BTW, Sen. Obama deserves the same recognition for similar reasons.
So how about attacking her platform straight on and not that fact her life does not match up to feminist narrative.
She’s pro-life and proved it. If you are pro-abortion that argue the merits of abortion, but you can’t call her a hypocrite.
If you are for a bigger more socialized government then make the case, but analyzing the sex lives or our politician’s children is petty.
Challenge her experience if you feel it is lacking, but recognize she rose to prominence on the strength of her character, not from entitlement.
ANY PERSON who makes statements, indeed LAWS – that effect my ability to actually HAVE A FAMILY AT ALL in addition too effecting my ability to get and keep my home and my job (among other very PERSONAL things!), is, as far as I’m concerned COMPLETELY OPEN to anything I have to say in return and that very much includes HER FAMILY. IF she wanst her family shielded from public scrutiny, she should not have persued a career wherein she effects other people’s families.
You’re wrong to say that her pregnant daughter has nothing to do with her competency as vice-president. This woman has stridently promoted abstinence-only sex education despite the mountain of evidence that it doesn’t work. Now she has evidence that it doesn’t work IN HER OWN FAMILY and she still promotes it. This establishes her as a person who favors ideology over common sense. And that’s a kind of person we don’t want anywhere near the oval office.
My guess….the Palin unborn baby-prop will be raised by a single mother (which in my view is much better than a potentially rushed loveless arranged marriage). Levi, the use the analogy being used in Dr. Corvino’s article, thought he was going out for a short drive in the car, only to learn that he was on an around-the-world trip. Shame is that there are other options for these young people to do the right thing other than rush into a marriage. My suspicion is that Levi heard about the engagement in a press release!
There really isn’t anything new or surprising here. Sum total of column: Republicans are hypocrites. This is well known and established.