The logic of Lawrence and Goodridge inevitably leads to the decriminalization and eventual legitimization of every consensual sexual practice, including polygamy, bestiality, incest and pedophilia.

I’ve argued this point extensively here on Gabriel Rosenberg’s blog. (If that doesn’t work, search for Galois and “Changing the Laws of Marriage.”) It’s long and turns bitter towards the end, but it has some detailed discussion and gives a good example of how SSM supporters react to the charge that their victory will pave the way for more sexual liberation. Here are some distilled points from that thread:

1. The pedophiles definitely agree that their plight is just like that of the homosexuals. Most of the arguments are the same, e.g. genetic predisposition, other cultures have done it, they just want to be left alone to love in their own special way, and it won’t hurt you personally.

2. The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual (DSM) is a publication of the American Psychological Association. It’s the definition of mental disorders. Under the current DSM, version four, pedophilia is not a mental disorder per se. It’s only a disorder if the pedophile feels anxious about it, or if it interferes with his work or social life.

3. In 1998, three American psychology professors published a meta-analytical study (the Rind study) concluding that traditional beliefs about child sexual abuse (CSA) greatly overestimate its harm. The study concluded that “CSA does not cause intense harm on a pervasive basis.”

4. Dr. Laura Schlesinger and House Republicans in Washington jumped all over the Rind study and called the APA on the carpet for publishing the journal that included the study. As a result, the APA has promised to prepare an amicus brief to challenge any effort to use psychological studies “to condone or ‘normalize’ sexual interactions of any type between children and adults.” That’s right: The APA has already written its amicus brief for the pedophilia version of Lawrence.

5. This political pressure in America has had no effect in Europe, of course. The December 2002 issue of the Archives of Sexual Behavior, an academic journal, had a special section on pedophilia. The special section’s focus was on two articles. One repeated some standard NAMBLA rhetoric and concluded that pedophilia should not appear in the DSM at all. The other reflected on the sadness inherent in a pedophile’s life: “In view of the pedophile's burden, the necessity of denying himself the experience of love and sexuality, he deserves respect, rather than contempt.”

6. And don’t forget the very popular play The Vagina Monologues, which includes a scene about a 24-year-old woman raping a 13-year-old girl. The victim explains that, “if it was rape, it was a good rape.”

And these points are just on pedophilia. The volume of information becomes overwhelming if you expand the search to include polygamy, transsexualism, beastiality, the indoctrination of children, and further demands for gay privileges. Somebody ought to make a database.

After researching all that, very little would surprise me about the movement to legalize and legitimize pedophilia. The footnote in the ACLU’s brief in Limon was politically unwise, but at least they’re being intellectually consistent.