[Congressional Record Volume 140, Number 108 (Monday, August 8, 1994)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[Congressional Record: August 8, 1994]
From the Congressional Record Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]
THE CONDOM QUEEN MUST BE DEPOSED
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speech of
HON. ROBERT K. DORNAN
of california
in the house of representatives
Thursday, August 4, 1994
Mr. DORNAN. Mr. Speaker, my subject today is the Surgeon General of
the United States of America.
I had considered articles of impeachment, which is a privileged
resolution, against Joycelyn Elders.
Then I looked at all the constitutional aspects of what she has done
to hurt young people and the health of our country with this strange,
fake, naval admiral's uniform and all of these rows of ribbons. There
was rumor she was wearing a Purple Heart. I found out that is not true,
however.
What are these two or three rows of ribbons she wears? She has never
seen combat except in Arkansas. I am not going to throw stones at
Arkansas, because big parts of California are combat zones now with
crime.
But I looked at the articles of impeachment and everybody in this
House would have to go on record as for or against Joycelyn Elders.
Then I looked at the Constitution, which I respect so greatly, as we
all do here, Mr. Speaker, and I said, ``No. I will just do an hour
special order.''
So, Mr. Speaker, all of your friends and cousins, all of the great
Americans visiting us in the gallery tonight, about 200 of them,
1,300,000 watching C-SPAN because we adjourned a little early tonight,
everybody is going to have to be satisfied with the quotes and facts
about Joycelyn Elders that I will insert for the Record.
Her quotes are so offensive and were coming out so regularly like
clockwork until her son was busted for drugs, but even then she had the
nerve to suggest we legalize drugs as a means to reduce crime. I had
better repeat that, Mr. Speaker: Joycelyn Elders, knowing her son was
busted for cocaine but before the public knew it, started upping the
heat on legalizing drugs. Then when it came out her son was busted for
cocaine and was going through a trial, she lowered her voice a little.
So here comes all of these quotes. My favorite is the one that she
said when somebody held up a `'Condom Queen'' sign. She said:
If Condom Queen means what I want to do to help young
people, then, yes, I accept that title. I am the Condom
Queen.
Well, I think the Condom Queen should be deposed. We do not have to
banish her. Let her go back to Arkansas and live with all of those
social problems that are going off the charts that started when she was
the Director of the health department in the State of Arkansas.
So I am going to put in the Record an article I wrote on the
importance of two-parent families that was published in the Christian
Science Monitor. I will also put in all of Joycelyn Elders quotes on
religious bigotry, on abortion, on glorifying homosexuality, on teenage
sexuality; I have got numerous quotes here, Mr. Speaker, that are just
sizzling. I mean, if anybody had said any one of these things 5 years
ago, 10 years ago, 20 years ago, they would have been out of office.
Remember Earl Butz, Secretary of Agriculture, privately told a joke to
a person on an airplane that was distasteful. I think it was demeaning
to one ethnic group of Americans. He was forced to resign because a
newsman overheard the joke.
I mean, any one of these statements of hers would have caused
somebody to be fired.
Let me close on this: Kristine Gebbie, the former czarina who said
that when we teach kids about abstinence, and I am looking at some
young faces in the gallery, we must also tell them how pleasurable it
is that they are abstaining from. What a blithering idiot. She has been
let go by the Clinton administration. Why? Because the activist
homosexual community said to Clinton, ``Dump the AIDS czarina,'' for
all the wrong reasons, for all the wrong reasons, of course. She is
gone, never the less.
Homosexuals are 1 percent of the Nation. Practicing Christians and
Orthodox Jews who go to church or temple regularly still constitute an
overwhelming majority of this country, more than any nation on the
planet, more than any nation in history.
Christians say to the President, ``Please, get rid of Joycelyn
Elders,'' and he defies us. He says, ``I like what you are doing,
Joycelyn. Keep it up. I am proud of you. I stand behind you.''
Homosexuals ask for the end of the czarina, Gebbie is gone. Where are
the President's priorities? It is outrageous. Joycelyn Elders has got
to go.
Mr. Speaker, at this point in the Record I would like to insert 30 of
Joycelyn Elders more infamous statements.
Surgeon General Joycelyn Elders
1. The overall mission of the Office of the United States
Surgeon General is the protection, improvement, and
advancement of the health of all of the American people. The
primary responsibility of the Surgeon General is to advise
the Nation on public health matters.
2. As the nation's top spokesperson on issues of public
health, the American people look to the person who serves as
Surgeon General for guidance and leadership on such matters.
3. Clearly, our current Surgeon General, Joycelyn Elders,
has failed in these regards.
4. Joycelyn Elders has demonstrated hostility towards
mainstream American values and demonized American citizens
who want public policy to reflect their moral and religious
beliefs.
5. She has abused and violated the public trust and
compromised her ability to unify the American people under
the common goal of sound public health policies. Moreover,
her policies and pronouncements are dangerous to the health
and well-being of families in America.
teenage sexuality
6. Joycelyn Elders continues to taunt and ridicule
Americans who advocate the principles of sexual restraint and
responsibility as a means of preventing unwanted pregnancies
and sexually-transmitted diseases.
7. She refuses to acknowledge that abstinence is the only
proven method of preventing unplanned pregnancies and
sexually-transmitted diseases.
8. In fact, Joycelyn Elders' prescription for dealing with
the problem of teenage pregnancy includes unrestricted and
tax-funded abortion, free condoms in schools, and explicit
and graphic sex education beginning as early as kindergarten.
9. She even went so far as to say, ``We have driver's ed
for our kids. We've taught them what to do in the front seat
of the car, but not what to do in the back seat.'' (Evening
Times, 3/4/92).
10. Yet during the Surgeon General's previous tenure as
Arkansas health director, the incidence of teenage pregnancy
and sexually transmitted diseases actually rose steadily--
even after posting steady declines in the years before her
appointment (Alan Guttmacher Institute and Arkansas
Department of Health).
Homosexuality
11. The Surgeon General continues to advocate a re-
definition of the traditional family structure by supporting
the adoption of children by homosexuals (USA Weekend
Interview, 6/2-5/94).
12. She has said, ``Yes [Boy Scouts should admit
homosexuals]. I also think girls who are lesbians should be
allowed to join the Girl Scouts.'' (USA Weekend Interview, 6/
3-5/94).
13. Regardless of documented evidence that shows homosexual
behavior to be associated with such deadly communicable
diseases as AIDS and hepatitis, the Surgeon General has
endorsed homosexual sex as ``wonderful,'' ``normal'' and
``healthy'' (The Advocate, 3/94). This has given a false
sense of security to all those who engage in high-risk sexual
behavior.
abortion
14. Joycelyn Elders is a tireless advocate for abortion on
demand. She has even said that, ``Abortion has reduced the
number of children with severe birth defects * * *. The
number of Down's Syndrome infants in Washington State in 1976
was 64 percent lower than it would have been without legal
abortion * * *. Abortion was the single most important factor
in the significant decrease in neonatal mortality between
1964 and 1977.'' (Testimony before Senate Labor Committee
Committee on FOCA, 5/23/90).
15. The Surgeon General continues to insult and demean
Americans who believe pre-born children are human beings
worthy of constitutional protections as well.
16. to group of pro-abortion supporters, she snapped, ``We
would like for the right to life and antichoice groups to
really get over their love affair with the fetus and start
supporting children.'' (Arkansas Democrat-Gazette 1/19/92).
17. The Surgeon General has also characterized people who
oppose abortion as ``non-Christians with slave-master
mentalities'' who want ``to keep people poor, ignorant, and
enslaved.'' (American Medical News, 1/11/93).
18. For those who are morally opposed to taxpayer financed
abortion, the Surgeon General claimed, ``If Medicaid does not
pay for abortions, does not pay for family planning, but pays
for prenatal care and delivery, that's saying: I'll pay for
you to have another good, healthy slave.'' (Arkansas
Democrat-Gazette 1/19/92).
religious bigotry
19. The Surgeon General has publicly demonized and
marginalized Americans whose values are rooted in religious
tenets and who advocate public policies that reflect their
values.
20. She has characterized those who hold moral and
religious values as harmful to our nation's children and has
said, ``We've got to be strong to take on those people who
are selling our children out in the name of religion.'' (June
22, 1994, Lesbian and Gay Health Conference).
21. The Surgeon General has also criticized how religious
leaders view human sexuality and has called those who oppose
sex education the ``un-Christian religious right'' (June 22,
1994 Lesbian and Gay Health Conference).
22. When asked why there was such a sharp rise in teen
pregnancy in Arkansas during her tenure as Arkansas Health
Director to ``poverty and ignorance and the Bible-Belt
mentality.'' (National Review, ``Life and Death in
Arkansas,'' 4/26/93).
22. Furthermore, she continues to wage a non-stop, public
attack on Roman Catholics by saying, prior to her
appointment, ``Look who's fighting the pro-choice movement: a
celibate, male-dominated Church.'' (Address to Arkansas
Coalition for Choice, 1/18/92).
judgment calls
24. The Surgeon General has demonstrated reckless judgment
on serious societal problems with statements such as, ``I
would hope that we would provide them [drug-abusing
prostitutes] Norplant, so they could still use sex if they
must to buy their drugs.'' (CNBC ``Talk Live'', 6/19/93); and
25. In addition, despite strong evidence that illegal drug
use is on the rise, the Surgeon General has said that ``We
would markedly reduce our crime rate if drugs were
legalized'' (National Press Club Luncheon) and recommended
that ``we have doctors or clinics set up where addicts can
get their drugs free or pay $1.'' (USA Weekend, 6/3-5/94).
26. She has even justified higher federal spending on AIDS
research rather than on cancer and heart disease because,
``most of the people that die with heart disease and cancer
are our elderly population, you know, and we all will
probably die with something sooner or later'' and that ``we
are losing the people that's going to be paying my Social
Security, and that bothers me.'' (Senate committee hearing,
5/11/94).
27. And while claiming to care about the health of our
children, Joycelyn Elders recklessly refused to notify the
public about defective condoms dispensed by the state of
Arkansas to school-based clinics.
in conclusion
28. The Surgeon General continues to exploit her privileged
position and compromise her ability to unite the American
people under the common goal of improving the health of the
general public.
29. More importantly, she is failing to carry out the
overall mission of the Office of the United States Surgeon
General and is therefore failing to protect, improve, and
advance the health of all Americans.
30. She is not deserving of our nation's top public health
post and the President should ask for her resignation
immediately.
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