More Helms-isms

More statements by Jesse Helms from the floor of the U.S. Senate:

♦ "We spend a great deal of time focusing on the needs of drug addicts and homosexual men. The AZT Program has money which could be better spent on others. Even the most innocent of AIDS patients, children infected by their parents, reap no benefit from this program. If the American people have to fund an AIDS treatment program, at least let the money go to those who have contracted this disease through no fault of their own." (04 Apr 1989)

♦ The gay rights movement is "a radical and repugnant political movement". (07 May 1990)

♦ "I despise the abuse of the once beautiful word 'gay.' They are not gay; they are repulsive." (20 Feb 1992)

♦ "...I should point out that the homosexual groups are going beyond the public schools in their efforts to get at the Nation's school children. In San Francisco, again, they are trying to force the United Way — which is a private agency — to stop funding the local Boy Scout Council — another private organization — because the Scouts refuse to allow homosexuals to become Scoutmasters. And hooray for the Boy Scouts. I am even prouder of them than I have ever been before." (20 Feb 1992)

♦ "...it should be clear by now that the homosexual lobby in this country is no longer content with forcing the schools and other institutions to teach children that homosexuality is a normal and an acceptable lifestyle. They are now demanding the right to go into schools and private institutions — preferrably at Federal expense — to proselytize for homosexuality and to recruit sexual partners." (20 Feb 1992)

♦ "Mr. President, New York City alone has diverted almost a half million dollars in Federal money intended for drug-abuse prevention to a homosexual group which, among its many disgusting activities, sponsors after-school parties for high school students at the local homosexual community center. A staff member of the group says the parties are meant to — I quote — 'enable older gay activists [to meet] teenagers recruited from the New York City public schools.'" (17 Sep 1992)

♦ "The leadership of the Boy Scouts of America have taken the legitimate and understandable position that the homosexual lifestyle is inconsistent with the standards of the Boy Scouts of America and with the purposes of the Boy Scouts of America. And good for them because they are absolutely correct." (22 Sep 1992)

♦ "Mr. President, the so-called homosexual lifestyle is so focused on instant sexual gratification that the average homosexual male has between 20 and 106 different sex partners in a given year." (22 Sep 1992)

♦ "A study by two homosexuals titled 'The Gay Report,' found that 73 percent of homosexuals had at some time in their lives had sex with boys 16 to 19 years old or younger." (22 Sep 1992)

♦ "Mr. President, our efforts to treat AIDS as a public health concern have been thwarted by a vocal, militant minority which has used the AIDS issue to promote a political agenda it has failed to achieve in its own right. Of course, I am referring to the homosexual lobby. Members of this militant movement have masterfully manipulated the American public. By feeding on America's compassion, they have turned the AIDS epidemic to their political advantage by using it to promote something they have never achieved before — homosexual rights." (21 Jan 1993)

♦ "Who would have thought, even 5 years ago, that the President of the United States would nominate a homosexual person for a high-ranking Federal job, a person who helped orchestrate an action against the Boy Scouts because the Scouts refused to lower their moral and spiritual standards." (20 May 1993)

♦ "Mr. President, two articles about the Achtenberg nomination in the Washington Times this morning discuss the pornographic and blasphemous activities during last year's San Francisco Gay Pride parade led by Roberta Achtenberg and her partner — and their son." (24 May 1993)