February 23

Events

1938 - Lights! Cameras! Boys! - Paul Morrissey, independent film maker and protege of Andy Warhol's, was born on this date. In 1968, he directed Flesh, the story of a teenaged male prostitute working the streets of New York. In 1982, he directed Forty Deuce, a film whose central story is about a street hustler who tries to sell a 12 year old boy to a middle-aged pedo. Kevin Bacon won an OBIE award (for off-broadway plays) for his portrayal of the hustler, and reprised that role for the film. In 1985, Morrissey directed Le Neveu de Beethoven, a film about the famous composer's desire for his young nephew, of whom he gained custody. I could be wrong, but I smell a theme to his body of work.

1976 - Stamp out pedophiles!!! - On this date the famous British painter Laurence Stephen Lowry died. He was renowned for his portraits of people in the streets of Manchester, his home town. In 1957, a 13 year old school girl named Carol Lowry wrote to him because they happened to share the same surname and because she wanted advice on how to become an artist. Lowry replied by visiting her and soon they struck up a friendship. When he died, he left his estate to her. In 1967 Lowry was honored when a stamp was produced based on one of his paintings. The painting they chose? One called "Coming out of School." I wonder how long he had to lurk in the bushes beside the school playground to finish that one....

1999 - Now on BBC1, how to groom a boy. On BBC2 me telling you this. - The television series Queer As Folk premiered on television in Britain on this date. The opening episode featured the first meeting between two of the show's main characters - 29 year old Stuart and 15 year old Nathan (played by then 18 year old Charlie Hunnam). Stuart picks up Nathan, takes him home, and has sex with him. The scene was about as graphic a sex scene as one could imagine on television without actually showing the naughty bits. Anti-pedo activists were outraged at the show for its "immoral" content. Prissy fags were outraged at the show because they felt it revived old stereotypes that fags are into casual sex and go after boys. Pedos were pissed off that the show didn't have a young enough actor in the role of Nathan. Despite all that, the show was a hit.

2000 - Children are victims of the legal establishment, too - The University of Michigan published a press release on this date to report recent studies into the effects of criminal prosecutions for pedo crimes on the child victims. They described the process that the police and courts put children through as one that causes "trauma." The researchers reported that 64% of people accused of pedo crimes confess and 70% agree to plea bargains. They advocated that law enforcement should work harder to increase those numbers to spare children the further negative effects that the court system places on them.