Sexual Activity

The following are excerpts from an opinion by Supreme Court Justice Anthony M. Kennedy ruling Tuesday in Ashcroft vs. Free Speech Coalition, which overturned provisions of the Child Pornography Prevention Act of 1996: We consider in this case whether the Child Pornography Prevention Act of 1996 (CPPA) abridges the freedom of speech. The CPPA extends the federal prohibition against child pornography to sexually explicit images that appear to depict minors but were produced without using any real children.

WASHINGTON -- Few things seem more clearly wrong than pedophilia. Few things seem more clearly incompatible with the teachings of the Catholic Church, which is seen in our culture as the guardian of sexual morality. So how and why did the American Catholic Church get itself into the worst mess in its history? The how depends on priests, victims, lawyers, bishops and the media. And it nicely illustrates the Watergate truth that a poorly conceived and executed cover-up is the surest way to turn serious mistakes into major disasters.

WASHINGTON - The Supreme Court, affirming that free-speech principles apply with full force in the computer age, struck down provisions of a federal law yesterday that made it a crime to create, distribute or possess "virtual" child pornography using computer images of young adults rather than actual children. The law, the Child Pornography Prevention Act of 1996, "prohibits speech that records no crime and creates no victims by its production," Justice Anthony M. Kennedy wrote for the majority in the court's latest decision upholding First Amendment protections in cyberspace.

Catholic church deems all non-marital sex acts immoral I want to correct a misstatement attributed to me by Michael Ollove in "Voices of people scorned" (Nov. 16). In it, he recounts testimony presented at a public hearing in Salisbury convened by the governor's Special Commission to Study Sexual Orientation Discrimination. Mr. Ollove wrote that I "reminded the commission that some regard homosexuality as a religious transgression." On the contrary, my testimony made a specific distinction between homosexual orientation and homosexual sexual activity.

A Westminster dump truck driver was arrested late Wednesday on child pornography charges after he was accused of offering to pay two teen-age boys for sexually explicit pictures he planned to use to start a porn Web site, authorities said.William R. Williams, 45, of the first block of George St. was taken into custody when he returned to his home while officers were carrying out a court-ordered search.Williams was charged on two counts each of soliciting minors for pornographic purposes, permitting minors to engage in pornographic activity and filming minors in sexual activity.

Jamie Roberts knows the price her mother and older sister paid for getting pregnant as teen-agers. And at age 16, she doesn't intend to follow in their footsteps. "I told myself I would never have to worry about that," said Roberts, who will be a junior at Kenwood High School in Essex and is president of an unusual club at the school that focuses on teen-age sexual abstinence. This spring, Roberts teamed with Michele Hax Fite, a social worker with the Baltimore County Department of Social Services.

Teens must learn more than just "abstinence only"In her April 16 letter, Christine Walsh said that an abstinence-only message works for her ("Teen says education about abstinence is best." But the majority of her high school peers are deciding to be sexually active.Studies have shown that 66 percent of high schoolers have intercourse before they graduate. Given this rate of sexual activity, teens need more complete information about sexuality -- including information about contraception -- than abstinence-only programs provide.

Howard County police began investigating yesterday a Saturday night break-in at Oakland Mills High School where they believe several students held a party that included under-age drinking and sexual activity.Police first learned of the incident after the school's principal, Marshall Peterson, reported it yesterday afternoon, saying he heard about the event from students, said Sgt. Morris Carroll, the police spokesman."There were rumors going around the school about this party," Carroll said.

WASHINGTON -- Contemporary politics has three peculiarities. The strongest passions -- Republican hatred of President Clinton; Democratic loyalty to him -- are incongruous, given the nature of Mr. Clinton. Second, political ferocity increases as the stakes of politics shrink. And as saturation journalism drenches the public with news from Washington, the nation participates less and less in the passions swirling around the national government.Disgust with Mr. Clinton is by now nearly coextensive with the truly adult population, and is intense in the Democrats' congressional cloakrooms, where members of the world's oldest political party resent the degradation of it, and them.