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American Virgins

In: Film and Music

Submitted By nataliaoren
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Pages 35
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This World: American Virgins

Tx Date: 25th January 2004

This script was made from audio tape – any inaccuracies are due to voices being unclear or inaudible

10.00.00

This World Theme Music

10.00.09
Denny Pattyn
The Silver Ring Thing programme is a high tech, high energy programme.

10.00.10
Title Page
American
Virgins

10.00.13
Denny Pattyn
It is the most effective abstinence programme out there right now and it’s deployable. Sixteen thousand kids have put on the ring. What they get is this ring, they put it on their finger and on their wedding day they take it off and they give it to their husband or wife and say I have waited for you.

10.00.28
Girl
We both come from Christian families and so we decided we’re not going to have sex and we’re going to have good morals together. There’s people wearing the ring and they have made the promise as well and also just wearing it every day I see it and it serves as a constant reminder that I’m not going to have sex until I’m married.

10.00.47
Michael Lumsden
It’s November 2003.

10.00.48

Music

10.00.51
Michael Lumsden
Denny Pattyn has brought together a group of
Christian youth leaders to tell them about his Silver
Ring Thing organisation which campaigns for a sex free teenage world.

10.01.00

Music

10.01.01
Michael Lumsden
With him is a paediatrician and author of a book called ‘Epidemic; how teen sex is killing our kids’,
Doctor Meg Meeker.

10.01.10
Dr Meg Meeker
So when I grew up in the nineteen seventies, as part of the, with my colleagues starting the sexual revolution we didn’t think about sexual health. We, our generation, were focused on making sure that sexual freedom could be had by all. Nineteen sixty we had two sexually transmitted diseases, syphilis and gonorrhoea. Now, at the turn of the century, there were thirty and counting.
But here’s the biggest problem; they are concentrated on our youth. Eight thousand kids every day in the United
States get a new sexually transmitted disease.

10.01.54
Voice on radio
But do you know what’s scary? This is an example of what would happen if terrorists tried to spread a really virulent and deadly disease.

10.02.06
Michael Lumsden
Denny Pattyn is an ordained minister. His Silver Ring
Thing is one of hundreds of abstinence programmes across America. A faith based organisation; its headquarters are at a large church in an affluent suburb of Pittsburgh.

10.02.23
Michael Lumsden
The staff of volunteers and paid officers are preparing for a national summit and fund raising event. A new range of publications and videos will tell America about the teenage sexual disease epidemic. 10.02.36
Jonathan
True story. A twelve year old girl at a party is pressured into giving oral sex to seven guys in the same night. An unnoticed fever blister on her lip. Oh crap! An unnoticed fever blister on her lip gives herpes to all seven guys.
These guys will not only give their names to their wives but their diseases too. Are we going to do something?

10.02.59
Producer
Are we going to fight back?

10.03.00
Jonathan
Yeah. Are we going to fight back?

10.03.01
Producer
That’s pretty good.

10.03.02
Rachel
True story. A seventeen year old girl is admitted into the hospital with a hundred and two fever and abdominal pain. Doctors find out she slept with six guys and had an abortion at the age of sixteen.

10.03.12

Car horn

10.03.14
Producer
Maybe we could use it.

10.03.21
Michael Lumsden
At the heart of the Silver Ring Thing is the crew, hardcore young virgins who have pledged their lives not just to abstinence but to spreading the word.

10.03.29
Producer
Go for it!

10.03.30
Nicky
Hi, my name is Nicky. Everyday in America eight thousand teens will contract a sexually transmitted disease. And nearly three thousand will become pregnant. 10.03.42
Nicky
I came to a Silver Ring Thing show and I just fell in love with the programme. It really was heartfelt to hear that people actually cared and people actually believed in abstinence and these people that I met were so, so like on fire for God and so just amazing like good people, it just made me really want to just be just like them.

10.04.06
Nicky
And like at that time in my life I was really not confident at all, I had a very low self esteem, I didn’t have any friends,
I was just looking for something.

10.04.15
Nicky
MTV, BET and others have glamorised the lifestyle that should be saved for marriage and pressured kids younger and younger into making a decision they’re not yet old enough to make.

10.04.30
Nicky
A lot of people they fool around, they have sex, they do whatever. I don’t agree with that and I say something about it because for me personally my faith is it’s biblically wrong, you shouldn’t be doing that, you know, if you really want to think about it, think about your future husband or future wife and if they’re, you know, you don’t want to be cheating on your future husband or wife, you know. And I just, I don’t know, that’s…

10.04.55
Nicky
Most of us sit back and watch as today’s culture slowly destroys our youth. Sure, the government started teaching about safe sex. But safe sex, what is that. And safer than what.

10.05.09
Michael Lumsden
Most weekends the Silver Ring Things crew take their show on the road. Most are in their home state of
Pennsylvania but next weekend’s will involve a thirteen hour drive to Colombia in South Carolina.

10.05.21
Girl in black dress
Itinerary, we’re driving down all day Thursday. Yeah but if you can make an extra effort all of you really, to just talk to people that you don’t know. Play games in the car, I mean we’re going to bring stuff for you guys to do but it’s going to be more responsibility than normal.

10.05.34
Denny Pattyn
This came off an e-mail appeal. See what I’m saying.
You could fix it up and make it look a little better if you wouldn’t mind taking about five or twenty minutes. And on those e-mails, when you re-type it, if you can type at the top ‘e-mails from students’.

10.05.50
Denny Pattyn
We send out e-mails to the kids…then they write us back a lot of times and tell us these unbelievable stories. I’ve got, if I show you, I’ve got a thousand e-mails here, if you start reading these you’d go, holy mackerel when you see what’s going on, it’s really stuff, they tell you the real stuff.

10.06.04
Denny Pattyn reading e-mail
And here’s one. My name is Emily. Sunday was my first time at the Silver Ring Thing but I really enjoyed being there. It really made me see how special it is to give your virginity to your husband. But I do have a question. I know at SRT they said that oral sex is still sex and I’m not involved in that but I was just wondering now that I have the Silver Ring would that be wrong to do. It’s not that I’m planning on having oral sex any time soon I was just curious. 10.06.32
Interviewer
What was the answer?

10.06.33
Denny Pattyn
Told her that I didn’t believe oral sex was right, that it’s sex. Because if you can get a sexually transmitted disease from oral sex, which of course you can, then oral sex has got to be, in essence, sex.

10.06.45
Interviewer
What is permissible sexually?

10.06.48
Denny Pattyn
What is? Well we believe, you know, anything that has, anything that you cover up is covered up for a reason and that should not be, you know, used by a member of the opposite sex. That’s the best way to describe it.

10.10.22
Girl
Also in these little packets there’s a prayer partner for you all and there’s a little note that I wrote on how that works.

10.10.30
Jared
It’s going to be, it’s going to be an awesome weekend, you know, we’re going to have a great time, I think we have a chance to do something like nine hundred students signed up for Saturday night pre-registered.

10.10.38
Voice 1
How awesome is that?

10.10.40
Voice 2
Yeah!

10.10.41
Jared
So we’re looking at well over a thousand kids who are going to be there and four hundred Friday night so it’s going to be a great time.

10.10.47
Girl
Let’s load ‘em up. Pee, if you’ve not peed, pee now!

10.10.50

Music

10.11.17
Girl with frizzy hair
Ok you guys, let’s pray. I just got off the phone with
Jared and they’re about two hours back, they’ve just got their tyre fixed. And only three out of their four brake pads are working so they’re going to be really, be going really slow behind us. So why don’t we just pray for them that they’ll get there safely and one of the brake pads is actually leaking oil. So.

10.11.40
Girl with frizzy hair
Dear God I thank you for what’s going to take place this weekend, Lord, that something awesome is going to happen, Lord God, that there would be so many setbacks. So we just ask that you would send your band of angels to just surround the tech truck. Lord God, that you would be with Jared, Lord God, help him to make wise decisions as he drives down to South Carolina. Lord
God, as they go to brake, Lord God, that you would be with their brake pads. Lord God, that you would stop them in enough time. Lord God, that they would go the pace that you need them to go to get down there and that they would arrive safely, Lord God and not be harmed.
Lord God, we pray that you would give them supernatural strength, Lord God, as they travel and give them patience and wisdom in Jesus’ name. Amen.

10.12.31
Aston
Shandon Baptist Church

10.12.38
Michael Lumsden
The damaged truck has arrived safely. Bringing with it the eighty thousand dollars worth of sound and lighting equipment needed for the show.

10.12.51
Michael Lumsden
President Bush is a personal advocate of no sex before marriage teaching. Last year his administration awarded a hundred and twenty million dollars of federal money to organisations promoting abstinence. 10.13.05
Michael Lumsden
The Silver Ring Thing has been exceptionally blessed with a grant of seven hundred thousand dollars.

10.13.12
Denny Pattyn
Our total budget will probably be for two thousand and four, three times what we are going to receive from the federal government so probably two thirds of our faith based raised funds and one third will be federal funds.

10.13.29
Denny Pattyn
Anybody who received federal funding basically are not permitted to proselytise their faith issues with those dollars. So, all the shows we started since we received the government funding will include an alternate seminar which is designed for kids who would want to hear and have an opportunity to hear about abstinence without any faith mentioned whatsoever.

10.13.52
Denny Pattyn
But this show here in Colombia is a little bit different because we started working with the folks from South
Carolina three years ago and so this show really doesn’t involve government funds.

10.14.10
Denny Pattyn
That looks good!

10.14.16
Rachel
Well, the kids come in and they basically need to find a ring size that fits. Most people don’t know their ring size especially guys. You take one of these cards and you fill out your name and your e-mail and you better write your e-mail like nicely because me and Nicky have to enter it into the computer and if we can’t read that then it really makes us upset.

10.14.38
Interviewer
What does it say there?

10.14.39
Rachel
It’s first Theseleans four, three, three, four. It’s a bible verse. It basically just says like you should keep your body… 10.14.46
Nicky
Holy.

10.14.47
Rachel
…holy and sanctified till marriage or something.

10.14.51
Rachel
You guys, if you think about it, there’s all different versions of the bible so every single one is different. So there’s no sense in memorising because…

10.15.03
Girl at door
And this’ll get you in. Hello, that’ll be twelve dollars.

10.15.13

Music/Silver Ring Thing show

10.15.32
Girl on microphone
All the parents to go over and go upstairs on the other side for the parent’s meeting, at six o’clock, right now.

10.15.38

Silver Ring Show

10.16.10
Denny Pattyn
Well basically tonight, what we’re going to do is try to get you out of here as fast as we can because we think the best parent’s seminar we have going here tonight is downstairs. Ok. Because what I want you to become convinced of tonight is that there is a major problem in our society today, it’s called a sexually transmitted disease epidemic as well as a teen pregnancy epidemic in our country.

10.16.33
Jared
Sex is great! Oh and it is great, in the right context, you see, hey listen to this. Listen. That’s why we have hormones, ok, that’s why out in the lobby, ssh, ok, calm down or I’ll get the hose. That’s why outside in the lobby, you girls, you’re like look at him, he’s so…

10.16.53
Rachel
It’s only six fifty-eight pm, as in almost seven o’clock, it’s going to be a long night Richard. A long night. I’m happy to be here but it’s, I’m so tired.

10.17.08
Jared
Now, now you may be saying, Jared, how do you know that sex is so good. Can you zoom in on this, do you know what this is?

10.17.17

Music

10.17.28
Jared
Yes. I’m a married guy. I’ve been married about three and a half years and sex is pretty cool!

10.17.37
Denny Pattyn
Our business plan, our role out plan, is to be in seventy- five US cities in the next seven years and to put two million rings on kid’s fingers to create a reverse peer pressure effect in the communities where they live and maybe, God willing, create a movement.

10.17.53

Music

10.17.56
Nicky
Hey guys, how’s everyone doing tonight?

10.17.58

Cheering

10.18.01
Nicky
My name is Nicky; I’m sixteen years old and I’m a junior at Lentil High School up in Pittsburgh, somewhere and just to let all of you know, I am single. Who else is single out there?

10.18.12

Cheering

10.18.20
Nicky
Now I’ve been talking about purity and what purity is in my life. Being pure means not being messed with or even touched. Now there’s a lot of things that I do in my life to try to keep myself pure so, so here’s some tips for...
Girls; wear clothes. Don’t wear dental floss and band aids just to impress some guy.

10.18.46
Rachel
I don’t really like our merchandise to be honest with you.
I just wouldn’t wear any of it. In fact half of us hate it. I like hoodies, our hoodies are sweet. But, honest, if you asked me to pick out something to wear from up there, I’d wear the pants and I’d probably wear those jackets on the ends but, nothing else.

10.19.07
Nicky
I hear all the time why so and so messed around with their girlfriend or their boyfriend, it just kind of happened.
Let me tell you, nothing just kind of happens, I mean do your clothes vanish in thin air or something.

10.19.22
Rachel
I think that sex is like one of the best things you can give whoever you’re going to marry and like I can’t wait to get married because I think that would be great to spend the rest of your life with somebody and I’m sure that when I really, really love somebody I’m want to, I’m going to want to be able to give them like, ‘all of me’, so, absolutely I mean, in a nutshell like, plus, that’s what you’re called to do as a Christian, you know.

10.21.35
Denny Pattyn
Maybe tonight you just need to make your peace with
God. Maybe tonight’s the night that you need to settle it.
Why not let tonight be the night that when you put on the ring it’s the same night you said, Lord, forgive me. Just forgive me for what I’ve been up to. I want to start over.
See because here’s the deal. Tonight we want you to put this ring on, like this.

10.22.07
Denny Pattyn
But on your wedding night we want you to take it off. On your wedding day and look at your husband or wife and say to them with the most passion you’ve ever said; I have waited for you since the day I put this ring on.
Whether you waited from the beginning or you started over. I have waited for you since I put this ring on. Then you might say; now, let’s get it on!.

10.22.31

Cheering

10.22.36
Denny Pattyn
You might just want to say that. Ok.

10.22.39

Silver Ring Show

10.23.12
Jared
Hold on, hold on, before we do that. Before we do this picture. All right before we do this last one, we need everybody to be dead quiet. Dead quiet. Sshh. I’m going to go one, two, three…

10.23.26

Music

10.23.52
Michael Lumsden
In downtown Pittsburgh another non-profit organisation has been providing family planning and health care services since nineteen sixteen.

10.23.59
Voice
Welcome to Planned Parenthood at Western
Pennsylvania’s…

10.24.02
Michael Lumsden
The women who work for Planned Parenthood provide comprehensive sex education. They argue that it is the only way to help young people to make informed choices about sex.

10.24.13
Planned Parenthood worker 1
I have three penises.

10.24.17
Planned Parenthood worker 2
Ok, I have two.

10.24.19
Planned Parenthood worker 1
We teach birth control in the high school every year. So, but even after, you know, sometimes two or three years, sometimes they still don’t get the information that they need to know and they’re still misinformed about things.
They know more than maybe some of the other students because we teach it but, you know, they still sometimes forget. 10.24.35
Planned Parenthood worker 2
Or they get confused.

10.24.36
Planned Parenthood worker 1
They get confused about it.

10.24.37
Planned Parenthood worker 2
They mix things up. A perfect, well, also like Mountain
Dew is a big drink and it’s a soft drink and a lot of kids have been told that if you drink Mountain Dew it will reduce your sperm count and they use that, they think they can use that as birth control, it’s a very common myth that goes all around the middle and high schools and so, you know, we’re there to say, you know what, if you drink Mountain Dew you’re just not going to be thirsty any more but you’re still going to have, you know…

10.25.01
Planned Parenthood worker 1
Don’t know about your stomach.

10.25.01
Planned Parenthood worker 2
Right. It won’t do anything to your sperm count and so, you know, things like that, things like douching. A lot of them… 10.25.07
Planned Parenthood worker 1
And other methods. That if you shake up a coke bottle after you have sex and douche with it and put it there, and open it and put it there then it will wash away the semen, it won’t, won’t make you pregnant.

10.25.18
Aston
Wilkinsburg High School

10.25.18
Michael Lumsden
With no centralised policy on sex education individual school boards in Pittsburgh decide what to teach their students about sex. Planned Parenthood and other agencies are only invited into some of the
City’s schools.

10.25.33
Planned Parenthood worker 2
We’re going to talk about all the different methods of birth control but the first thing we’re going to talk about is; what is the most effective way to keep yourself from getting pregnant and to keep yourself from getting a disease?

10.25.44
Class
Abstinence.

10.25.45
Planned Parenthood worker 2
Ok, not having sex, sex or being abstinent, right. And if you’re abstinent, if you’re not having sex, you’re not putting yourself at risk for pregnancy, right. You’re not putting yourself at risk for disease. And that’s a good thing, would we all agree?

10.25.58
Class
Yeah.

10.25.59
Planned Parenthood worker 2
Yeah. Ok. And actually, I would say a very good option at this point in your life.

10.26.09
Planned Parenthood worker 1
First things first, we’re going to talk about what condoms are. What are they? Rubber.

10.26.15
Class member
Rubber.

10.26.16
Planned Parenthood worker 1
Right, they’re made of rubber. And what do they do?

10.26.18
Class member
Aids protection.

10.26.20
Planned Parenthood worker 1
They’re STD protection, right. They can stop pregnancy.
They can help to stop pregnancy and they can help to stop STDs.

10.27.14
Michael Lumsden
It’s only with the older high school students, amongst whom teenage pregnancy is a nationally acknowledged problem, that Planned Parenthood can be so explicit in their teaching. With younger children the restrictions are far greater.

10.27.28
Planned Parenthood worker 2
We have girls in our middle school who are twelve year old mothers.

10.27.31
Planned Parenthood worker 1
And there’s girls, you know girls and guys that tell me that they’re having sex and are sexually active, in middle school. They’re thirteen, twelve, thirteen or they’re thinking about having sex.

10.27.41
Planned Parenthood worker 2
And we’re not allowed to talk about to them about birth control and in some instances we can talk about reproductive anatomy and some we can’t.

10.27.51
Interviewer
Why aren’t you allowed to teach them birth control?

10.27.54
Planned Parenthood worker 2
Because like, in most of our schools, well in all of our schools they just don’t think it’s appropriate. They don’t think it’s something to talk about with younger students, they don’t think, I think that the parents would be receptive, that the community would be receptive. They don’t want to get in trouble.

10.28.29

Music

10.28.55

Denny and daughter watching football

10.29.07
Denny Pattyn’s wife
That picture was taken at a, at a wedding reception. That was actually before we were dating.

10.29.14
Interviewer
Is that Denny?

10.29.15
Denny Pattyn’s wife
Yeah. Yeah, looking...ok, no comment.

10.29.24
Interviewer
How old were you then?

10.29.28
Denny Pattyn’s wife
I’m nineteen or twenty in that photo.

10.29.30
Denny Pattyn’s daughter
That’s my ring. It means to stay abstinent until you’re married and to keep a promise until kind of whenever you look at it, it reminds you. This is the narrow one. There’s so many diseases out there today that I wouldn’t want to be getting and I think if people put these rings on we can stop from getting even more diseases in the world so we don’t have, our kids don’t have to come in a generation to even worse things.

10.30.09
Denny Pattyn’s wife
I think that’s like the perfect age to start because you’re capturing a pure mind and you are rallying friends around them, that is the time to capture a mind and a heart because it’s not already experienced sexual activity, it’s not going down the road, it’s not facing the same kind of peer pressure you are at a high school level.

10.30.34
Denny Pattyn’s daughter
I’m only eleven years old and I have to wait all these years and it’s more like sometimes pressure because you think like oh, you’re the founder of the Silver Ring Thing you can’t mess up, you know. So it’s a little hard but it’s fun at the same time.

10.30.50
Denny Pattyn’s wife
This ring is talking about, the verse on here is awesome, it talks about being sanctified, we’re talking about these kids being set apart, being different, you know, being holy, being pure, it’s not just about completely abstaining from sex, it’s about how you carry yourself, it’s about how you dress, how you feel about yourself, how you value your body that God created.

10.31.15
Denny Pattyn
We’re very concerned about the world in general, I’m concerned about terrorism and how there is no real easy way to fight that. And that all plays into my faith because
I believe that the end of the world is approaching very quickly and I believe Christ will come back.

10.31.33
Denny Pattyn
I think about that, I think about the fact that I might be living in the last days, I’m not freaked out, I’m not, you know, shutting down things to about that but I actually believe that we are approaching the return of Christ which is a, a huge event.

10.31.51
Interviewer
If the end of the world is so close, is abstinence where you should be putting your energy?

10.31.57
Denny Pattyn
We’re not really putting our energy into abstinence as much as we’re putting it into faith. Abstinence is the tool that we’re using to reach children.

10.32.08
Deny Pattyn
My children; I’m not sure they’re going to get a chance to do some of the things in their future but I also intend to be prepared spiritually should they die tonight, would they be heading to heaven, would they know what it takes to face
God one day and he asks them why should I let you into my kingdom, they have to have the right answer to that.

10.32.28

Music

10.33.26
Michael Lumsden
There’s only a week to go now before the national summit and fundraiser and preparations are well under way.

10.33.36
Michael Lumsden
The University of Pittsburgh has contacted the Silver
Ring Thing asking them to take part in a public debate on abstinence, with the local branch of
Planned Parenthood.

10.33.46
Michael Lumsden
Denny wants Dr Meeker to speak on behalf of the
Silver Ring Thing.

10.33.52
Dr Meg Meeker
I’m having difficulty with my schedule, I’ll be honest because I was anticipating coming in Thursday night because I, see I have my office patients on Wednesdays.

10.34.02
Denny Pattyn
Oh do you. Ok, so I will, if I got a private plane somehow, would that help you?

10.34.10
Dr Meg Meeker
A private plane! You don’t need to get a private plane.

10.34.14
Denny Pattyn
Well to get you down here.

10.34.16
Dr Meg Meeker
Huh? No, no, no, we don’t want to be doing that kind of stuff. 10.34.19
Denny Pattyn
Well.

10.34.19
Dr Meg Meeker
Oh, I think, the thing is, let me look into, let me look into…

10.34.25
Denny Pattyn
I may be able to get a private plane.

10.34.27
Dr Meg Meeker
Huh?

10.34.37
Denny Pattyn
I may be able to get a private plane.

10.34.48
Denny Pattyn
Meg, don’t let me get off the phone; let’s pray real quick.
We pray for this event that’s coming up in November that once we get here, however we get here, you would just be glorified...and I know Lord you’ll work out the details, you promised to do so. Bless our lives right now, Lord
Jesus, we pray in your name. Amen.

10.35.08
Denny Pattyn
You’ve got to remember prayer Meg. You know, got to remember because that settles us down.

10.35.10
Dr Meg Meeker
Oh, I know.

10.35.15
Denny Pattyn
It settles us down, you know, that’s where, that’s the peace you know.

10.35.18
Dr Meg Meeker
Right.

10.35.19
Denny Pattyn
It brings the peace.

10.35.23

Music

10.35.26
Michael Lumsden
Denny is off to lobby key government supporters in
Washington where Congress is due to vote on a new round of health spending.

10.35.32

Music

10.35.35
Michael Lumsden
But the Silver Ring Thing’s ambitions aren’t limited to saving teenage America. More than one and a half billion dollars has been pledged by President Bush for abstinence programmes to fight Aids in Africa.

10.35.47

Music

10.35.48
Michael Lumsden
The Silver Ring Thing wants to be part of it.

10.34.51

Music

10.34.52
Denny Pattyn
See if you can turn around and get going that way.

10.34.56
Denny Pattyn
We’ve asked for two million dollars for our work here in the United States…get off here, just circle round…and we’ve asked for one and a half million dollars for our work in Uganda where we want to build a ring making factory in
Uganda so that the students themselves can make rings and then we’ll just get them out in the schools after the programme. So, that’s what we’re hoping to do anyway.
Guess you go right underneath this Jas, come up on the other side, where’s the north, ok. We want to get
Jonathan to just kind of talk about how the programme has affected your life Jonathan and just what a difference it’s made and there’s nothing like personal testimony where you talk about what it’s like to wear the ring, day in and day out. So, don’t screw up.

10.37.16
Michael Lumsden
In order to ensure that their programme receives federal dollars and is known to some of the most important members of the Bush administration, the
Silver Ring Thing employs Paul Marconi, a lobbyist.

10.37.29
Paul Marconi
Hello. Hi, I’m Paul.

10.37.32
Denny Pattyn
Paul, this is Jonathan.

10.37.33
Paul Marconi
Hi Jonathan, good to meet you. Paul Marconi.

10.37.37
Denny Pattyn
Ok so we’ve got, we don’t have any more appointments than what you gave me earlier right.

10.37.42
Paul Marconi
That’s right. Bill Rush cannot do it. ...office historically has never been responsive to meetings unless you’re from his district.

10.37.49
Denny Pattyn
Ok. Does Spectre actually give us the grant or is it
Santorum?

10.37.54
Paul Marconi
I think it’s a combination of, let’s say you get seven hundred thousand again, maybe Spectre puts, gives you four hundred thousand of his allocation and Santorum gives you three.

10.38.03
Denny Pattyn
Oh really, so it will really come out of his…

10.38.07
Paul Marconi
…directly out of his allocation.

10.38.08
Denny Pattyn
It didn’t happen that way last year though did it?

10.38.11
Paul Marconi
I think it did, I think last year it was a combination.

10.38.14
Denny Pattyn
Really.

10.38.14
Paul Marconi
But mostly Santorum.

10.38.18
Denny Pattyn
Ok.

10.38.19
Paul Marconi
And this year…

10.38.20
Denny Pattyn
Is that because Spectre wants to get credit for some of that? 10.38.25
Paul Marconi
He wants, politically he needs to bolster his conservative credentials, abstinence is a good way for him to do it because he’s not going, you know he’s not going to change his stance on abortion, he’s going to be pro- choice… 10.38.39
Denny Pattyn
Right.

10.38.40
Paul Marconi
..but so he needs to pick an issue where he can curry favour with the conservatives that’s not going to, not turn into a freebie but you know, he’ll say I really support abstinence only. It’s a good issue for him because it doesn’t upset liberals as much as, the liberals would care more about abortion than they would abstinence.

10.38.59
Denny Pattyn
Right. Check that out.

10.39.31
Denny Pattyn
He’s a good guy; he’s a believer…

10.39.36
Denny Pattyn
Look at this. It’s important to know that, when the representative is a believer because then you can be a little bit more talk about your faith. You know, so you can if we, if you talk to him say the most important part for me is my personal faith, which really gives me that conviction inside and hold to it. Be cool huh.

10.40.30
Robert Aderholt Remind me again what the request for this year is.

10.40.38
Paul Marconi
It’s two million dollars on …HHS. Last year we got seven hundred thousand and it was the first year that they actually earmarked for abstinence programmes and we worked closely with Melissa Hart…

10.40.50
Senator
Right.

10.40.50
Paul Marconi
…and with Santorum and Spectre on the senate were very helpful. We’re hearing from Santorum’s office that we’ll probably get a similar earmark again this year.

10.41.01
Denny Pattyn
We’re also trying to do something in the beginning of next year. We want to host a legislative…what would it be…

10.41.07
Paul Marconi
We’re trying to think of either a lunch briefing or, or breakfast briefing to counteract the arguments that a lot of liberals are making that you need to teach kids about condoms and abstinence doesn’t work, that it’s not effective. We want to have a two pronged message.
Number one abstinence does work, it is effective and talk about that but also bring Doctor Meeker in to talk about the dramatic spread of STDs among young people.

10.41.33
Denny Pattyn
Doctor Meeker yesterday said, you know, if I were to get, she used to teach the safe sex thing, oral contraceptives, condoms, she said if I now know what I know and I were to teach that, I would be liable for malpractice. I would be saying this will keep you safe. You would do it; you would get a disease, not a problem, a disease. And we’ve been using federal dollars to go into the schools to teach safe sex. 10.41.56
Senator
Sure well we’d want to be a help at that briefing to, we could help set that up, if you let us know, we all staying in contact with Megan I know and she’s worked on this and we would, anything we can do to facilitate that briefing we’d love to help you.

10.42.09
Denny Pattyn
That would be great. Thank you very much.

10.42.11
Senator
Where are you from Jonathan?

10.42.12
Jonathan
I’m from Webster in Pittsburgh and I’ve been wearing the ring for about three years now and everywhere you go pretty much you run into people, I have a ring on actually right now, they’d have a ring and it’s very common and
I’m in a dating relationship right now and I went to homecoming and we saw a lot of sexual dancing and that kind of stuff but since I have the ring it’s a constant reminder of my abstinence.

10.42.38
Senator
Well thanks for the work that you do, I mean it’s calling attention to not only the American public but especially to the students that it’s going to benefit so we want to work with you and I’m glad that we’ve been able to work with you in the past on this appropriation issue and look forward to working with you in the future on it. Okay.
Thank you.

10.42.57
Denny Pattyn
Ok.

10.42.59

Thanks you’s and goodbyes

10.43.02

Music

10.43.12
Denny Pattyn
It looked like you were sort of like saying your lines…

10.43.15
Jonathan
Yeah that’s what I thought. At the beginning I wasn’t really… 10.43.18
Denny Pattyn
Well just start saying it from the heart.

10.43.20

Music

10.43.29
Interviewer
How important is Santorum for you?

10.43.34
Denny Pattyn
He’s number one. He’s the top of the ladder, he the guy that really made this happen and he’s a, he’s a good friend and his Chief of Staff’s a good friend of mine. He’s not a, he’s not really a political kind of person, he’s a real honest, down to earth senator and he really believes in this. He’s Catholic, he’s got six children, he believes in, you know all the conservative view points and very big supporter of abstinence. He’d love to see the country turn around.

10.44.04
Interviewer
Where does he kind of sit within the Republican party?

10.44.06
Denny Pattyn
Very high up, he’s number three and he’s a possible, you know, candidate for President.

10.44.11
Rick Santorum
So how’s it going?

10.44.13
Denny Pattyn
Phenomenal, absolutely phenomenal, we’re getting tremendous coverage on what we’re doing. We’re doing a big event in Pittsburgh in two weeks with Miss America and Doctor Meg Meeker. We just got, we just brought this down to show you, we got a, an e-mail or fax from the
University of Pittsburgh who want us to do a debate against Planned Parenthood right on the University. And so I asked…

10.44.39
Rick Santorum
And, and Planned Parenthood’s approach is, have as much sex as you want and just be, you know, just protect yourself, is that it?

10.44.46
Denny Pattyn
Well the debate up here is; should we teach abstinence only as the curricula for primary and secondary schools.
So we’re the affirmative in the debate and Planned
Parenthood would be the opposition.

10.45.00
Rick Santorum
I, I suspect you have statistics that shows the introduction of sexual education in the classroom and the level of activity among those who, among those kids who have been exposed to that sexual education.

10.45.15
Denny Pattyn
Yeah, there was just an article that went out on that, they’re talking about the morning after pill’s been introduced in England for quite a few years now. They’re giving it to thirteen and fourteen year old girls, in the schools, and it’s gotten much worse. So, we’re getting all this interest…

10.45.29
Rick Santorum
The message is pretty clear to me. You know, if I’m a thirteen or fourteen year old, say, you know we have morning after pills, now do whatever you think is right but here are these pills and what the expectation is, is really obvious. 10.45.40
Denny Pattyn
Exactly.

10.45.41
Paul Marconi
It’s as if you have anti-drug programmes saying don’t do drugs but if you do here’s a manual on how to safely shoot yourself up with heroin or how to safely cut up cocaine, I mean it’s the same, no one who went to any drug programme would do that. It’s a, it’s a horrible message. 10.45.55
Rick Santorum
Thanks guys, appreciate that.

10.45.57
Denny Pattyn
Thank you senator.

10.45.58

Thank you’s and goodbyes

10.46.09
Denny Pattyn
I hit this about a hundred and twenty-five so we’ll see.
This goes a hundred and twenty-five that will be about right. 10.46.21
Denny Pattyn
Whoops; pulled that one.

10.46.33
Denny Pattyn
Sounded like a gun shot. Ok, one more for fun. One more. That was perfect distance. If I can just get one.
They think they’re safe back there.

10.46.54
Denny Pattyn
Ooh. I hit that one. He went under water.

10.47.05
Denny Pattyn
The geese aren’t biting today. Oh well.

10.47.17
Denny Pattyn
How are you? Good. I’m at my office. Phenomenal, just tremendous. Yeah. Well I met with several senators and congressmen. Just got off the phone with the debate team down at the University of Pittsburgh. They’re going to be sending you an e-mail, I have not told them you’ve written the book or at least I have tried not to because I don’t want them to go out and get it and read it.

10.47.42
Dr Brenda Green
The debate is a debate, the question is, sexual, sexuality education in primary and secondary schools should be limited to abstinence only. And the affirmative side is going to be represented by Meg Meeker who is a physician, she’s a board member of the American
Academy of Paediatrics and she’s, she’s a favourite of the far right, she’s the new darling on Fox News.

10.48.07
Denny Pattyn
The Education Director for Planned Parenthood locally here in Pittsburgh. Her name is, I don’t know if you want to look into that, her name is Doctor Brenda Green.

10.48.19
Dr Brenda Green
Initially I was supposed to be dating the exec, dating, oh my God is that a Freudian slip. Oh my God Freud is just smiling in his grave somewhere.

10.48.31
Dr Brenda Green
But, I was supposed to be debating the Executive
Director of the Silver Ring Thing and they’re using part of their huge federal government budget to fly her in. So they made the change after the arrangements were already made. They’re also flying in Miss America because they have hundreds and hundreds of thousands of dollars to work with of your federal tax money whereas my programme gets not one cent of federal money.

10.48.55
Woman
Right. Well, I wish you good luck Brenda because you’re basically up against, you know, a doctor and a woman wearing a crown. So; oh my God!

10.49.08
Dr Brenda Green
Oh well.

10.49.13
Denny Pattyn
She’s here. Which one?

10.49.15
Man
In the black.

10.49.17
Denny Pattyn
I think you’re right, that is her isn’t it.

10.49.19
Michael Lumsden
Miss America has flown into town.

10.49.22
Denny Pattyn
Erica?

10.49.24
Michael Lumsden
Since winning her crown last year she has been touring the country speaking in favour of abstinence as part of her manifesto; ‘Respect Yourself, Protect
Yourself’.

10.49.35
Denny Pattyn
We’re also picking up Meg Meeker here in about twenty minutes; she’ll be flying in from Detroit, so.

10.49.43
Michael Lumsden
Denny has enlisted Miss America for the debate and the national summit and fundraiser. She will also speak at a number of local school assemblies.

10.49.51

Music

10.49.56
Dr Meg Meeker
Listen to me; can you have great sex for the next fifty or sixty years, if you got penile herpes? No.

10.50.09
Miss America
And that’s why for me, I said; I respect myself enough that I’m not going to sleep with any man who doesn’t respect me enough to give me a lifetime commitment and a wedding ring on my wedding night.

10.50.18
Dr Meg Meeker
Ladies; can you, can you have great sex if you’ve had half of your cervix burned off because you had cervical cancer when you were sixteen? No.

10.50.27

Music

10.50.34
Gordon Mitchell
Greetings. My name is Gordon Mitchell; I’m the token guy up on the stage.

10.50.36
Aston
University of Pittsburgh

10.50.41
Gordon Mitchell
They asked me to come up here to try and prevent the male side of the species from being completely eclipsed by this excellent line up of eloquent and dynamic female speakers that we’ve assembled for today’s public debate.

10.50.59
Dr Brenda Green
When educating young people our goal is to help them grow into sexually healthy adults. This cannot be accomplished through fear based abstinence only until marriage curricula which rely on fear and shame, include misinformation about sexually transmitted infection and
Aids, present condoms and contraceptions only in terms of failure rates, idealise only one family structure, portraying families living with outside this structure as troubled or even abnormal.

10.51.30
Dr Brenda Green
Most of these fear based curricula violate the doctrine of separation of church and state that we hold so dear in the first amendment. They attempt to camouflage this by relying on terms such as morality and ethics to mask obviously sectarian doctrines. When school curricula is used to stigmatise and shame children we have a far greater problem in this country than adolescent pregnancy or disease.

10.51.53
Miss World
You’ve said that abstinence education does not work and… 10.51.57
Dr Brenda Green
No, I said fear based abstinence education doesn’t work.

10.52.00
Miss World
Well I don’t think anyone supports fear based abstinence education. 10.52.03
Dr Brenda Green
Well the federal government’s funding twelve curriculums that endorse it.

10.52.08
Miss World
Then, you, you’ve found a statement that said fear based.

10.52.09

Applause

10.52.13
Miss World
Can you give me, can you give me that specific governmental citation where it says we would like to use federal dollars to support fear based sex education, or would that be your own bias.

10.52.21
Dr Brenda Green
I’d say that when one of the government requirements of these programmes is that they talk about marriage and relationships only being between a man and a woman when you know that you have gay and lesbian and bi- sexual and transgender kids in your classroom, that’s hate. 10.52.36
Miss World
So you’re afraid of marriage?

10.52.37

Applause

10.52.38
Miss World
Ok, you’ve claimed that abstinence doesn’t work. Can you name one specific case in all of mankind and human history where abstinence has not worked?

10.52.48
Dr Brenda Green
Yeah, where someone said they were going to be abstinent… 10.52.50
Miss World
No, no, no, where abstinence did not work.

10.52.54
Dr Brenda Green
Well if people don’t follow through, yes, it does not work.

10.52.55
Miss World
If abstinence did not work. If abstinence did not work.

10.53.58

Applause

10.53.03
Dr Brenda Green
Actually people can take a vow of abstinence…

10.53.05
Miss World
If abstinence did not work.

10.53.08
Dr Brenda Green
If you don’t follow through it does not work and the perfect example of this is when we tell children to sign…

10.53.13
Miss World
The answer to the question is, please answer the question as stated.

10.53.16
Dr Brenda Green
Allow me to answer the question please. You ask it, I’ll answer it. More vows of chastity have been broken than condoms will ever break.

10.53.24
Dr Meg Meeker
Condoms reduce the risk of HIV and gonorrhoea in men but for all of the other sexually transmitted diseases there is insufficient evidence that condoms reduce the risk at all. Sex is very dangerous, it’s very much like taking drugs, actually it’s more dangerous to be sexually active when you’re a teenager than to be smoking cigarettes because you can smoke cigarettes for years, stop smoking and your lungs can heal. If you have sexual activity for a year you can walk away with herpes or HIV or anything else.

10.53.55
Girl
Empirically teenagers do have sex. I grew up in a very conservative state in the mid-west that taught abstinence only education and I was an honour roll scholarship recipient student that came from a together home and gosh, darn it, I had sex and I loved it. When you say that we’re talking about children do you realise that we’re grouping eighteen year old voters within that group. Even if they are children, do you deny that they’re faced with adult choices and feelings every day? Eighteen year olds hold jobs, pay rent, have relationships, take care of themselves and vote. How can you deny giving them full education and full information.

10.54.30
Dr Meg Meeker
I’d never deny that, that’s why I wrote the book.

10.53.23
Nicky
We know the truth, teens are hurting, teens are dying, we need your help. It’s time to fight back.

10.56.51
Girl 1
I need you.

10.56.52
Girl 2
I need you.

10.56.53
Girl 3
I need you.

10.56.54
Jonathan
I need you.

10.56.55
Crowd
We need you.

10.56.57
Aston
REID CARPENTER
Silver Ring Thing Consultant
Without Jesus, this is a, this thing is a failure. We’ve got to keep on attacking it, we’ve got to go into schools and we’ve got to be cool and we’ve got to be careful but at the end of the day the Christian church has got to get radical about the fact that Jesus Christ can make it in the world of herpes.

10.57.19
Reid Carpenter
You can do something tonight but I can tell you we need prayer and we need volunteerism. We need money.
Windows like this don’t come along every day and I’m not here to advocate, well I better not say that. But I think we’ve got people in government right now who get it and understand it and believe in the transforming power of
Christ and are now willing to put money where their mouth is and we’re getting some of it. Ok everybody, thank you very much for coming tonight.

10.57.51

Applause

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