[Congressional Record Volume 140, Number 108 (Monday, August 8, 1994)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]


[Congressional Record: August 8, 1994]
From the Congressional Record Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]

 
                    THE CONDOM QUEEN MUST BE DEPOSED

                                 ______


                               speech of

                         HON. ROBERT K. DORNAN

                             of california

                    in the house of representatives

                        Thursday, August 4, 1994

  Mr. DORNAN. Mr. Speaker, my subject today is the Surgeon General of 
the United States of America.
  I had considered articles of impeachment, which is a privileged 
resolution, against Joycelyn Elders.
  Then I looked at all the constitutional aspects of what she has done 
to hurt young people and the health of our country with this strange, 
fake, naval admiral's uniform and all of these rows of ribbons. There 
was rumor she was wearing a Purple Heart. I found out that is not true, 
however.
  What are these two or three rows of ribbons she wears? She has never 
seen combat except in Arkansas. I am not going to throw stones at 
Arkansas, because big parts of California are combat zones now with 
crime.
  But I looked at the articles of impeachment and everybody in this 
House would have to go on record as for or against Joycelyn Elders. 
Then I looked at the Constitution, which I respect so greatly, as we 
all do here, Mr. Speaker, and I said, ``No. I will just do an hour 
special order.''
  So, Mr. Speaker, all of your friends and cousins, all of the great 
Americans visiting us in the gallery tonight, about 200 of them, 
1,300,000 watching C-SPAN because we adjourned a little early tonight, 
everybody is going to have to be satisfied with the quotes and facts 
about Joycelyn Elders that I will insert for the Record.
  Her quotes are so offensive and were coming out so regularly like 
clockwork until her son was busted for drugs, but even then she had the 
nerve to suggest we legalize drugs as a means to reduce crime. I had 
better repeat that, Mr. Speaker: Joycelyn Elders, knowing her son was 
busted for cocaine but before the public knew it, started upping the 
heat on legalizing drugs. Then when it came out her son was busted for 
cocaine and was going through a trial, she lowered her voice a little.
  So here comes all of these quotes. My favorite is the one that she 
said when somebody held up a `'Condom Queen'' sign. She said:

       If Condom Queen means what I want to do to help young 
     people, then, yes, I accept that title. I am the Condom 
     Queen.

  Well, I think the Condom Queen should be deposed. We do not have to 
banish her. Let her go back to Arkansas and live with all of those 
social problems that are going off the charts that started when she was 
the Director of the health department in the State of Arkansas.
  So I am going to put in the Record an article I wrote on the 
importance of two-parent families that was published in the Christian 
Science Monitor. I will also put in all of Joycelyn Elders quotes on 
religious bigotry, on abortion, on glorifying homosexuality, on teenage 
sexuality; I have got numerous quotes here, Mr. Speaker, that are just 
sizzling. I mean, if anybody had said any one of these things 5 years 
ago, 10 years ago, 20 years ago, they would have been out of office. 
Remember Earl Butz, Secretary of Agriculture, privately told a joke to 
a person on an airplane that was distasteful. I think it was demeaning 
to one ethnic group of Americans. He was forced to resign because a 
newsman overheard the joke.
  I mean, any one of these statements of hers would have caused 
somebody to be fired.
  Let me close on this: Kristine Gebbie, the former czarina who said 
that when we teach kids about abstinence, and I am looking at some 
young faces in the gallery, we must also tell them how pleasurable it 
is that they are abstaining from. What a blithering idiot. She has been 
let go by the Clinton administration. Why? Because the activist 
homosexual community said to Clinton, ``Dump the AIDS czarina,'' for 
all the wrong reasons, for all the wrong reasons, of course. She is 
gone, never the less.
  Homosexuals are 1 percent of the Nation. Practicing Christians and 
Orthodox Jews who go to church or temple regularly still constitute an 
overwhelming majority of this country, more than any nation on the 
planet, more than any nation in history.
  Christians say to the President, ``Please, get rid of Joycelyn 
Elders,'' and he defies us. He says, ``I like what you are doing, 
Joycelyn. Keep it up. I am proud of you. I stand behind you.'' 
Homosexuals ask for the end of the czarina, Gebbie is gone. Where are 
the President's priorities? It is outrageous. Joycelyn Elders has got 
to go.
  Mr. Speaker, at this point in the Record I would like to insert 30 of 
Joycelyn Elders more infamous statements.

                    Surgeon General Joycelyn Elders

       1. The overall mission of the Office of the United States 
     Surgeon General is the protection, improvement, and 
     advancement of the health of all of the American people. The 
     primary responsibility of the Surgeon General is to advise 
     the Nation on public health matters.
       2. As the nation's top spokesperson on issues of public 
     health, the American people look to the person who serves as 
     Surgeon General for guidance and leadership on such matters.
       3. Clearly, our current Surgeon General, Joycelyn Elders, 
     has failed in these regards.
       4. Joycelyn Elders has demonstrated hostility towards 
     mainstream American values and demonized American citizens 
     who want public policy to reflect their moral and religious 
     beliefs.
       5. She has abused and violated the public trust and 
     compromised her ability to unify the American people under 
     the common goal of sound public health policies. Moreover, 
     her policies and pronouncements are dangerous to the health 
     and well-being of families in America.


                           teenage sexuality

       6. Joycelyn Elders continues to taunt and ridicule 
     Americans who advocate the principles of sexual restraint and 
     responsibility as a means of preventing unwanted pregnancies 
     and sexually-transmitted diseases.
       7. She refuses to acknowledge that abstinence is the only 
     proven method of preventing unplanned pregnancies and 
     sexually-transmitted diseases.
       8. In fact, Joycelyn Elders' prescription for dealing with 
     the problem of teenage pregnancy includes unrestricted and 
     tax-funded abortion, free condoms in schools, and explicit 
     and graphic sex education beginning as early as kindergarten.
       9. She even went so far as to say, ``We have driver's ed 
     for our kids. We've taught them what to do in the front seat 
     of the car, but not what to do in the back seat.'' (Evening 
     Times, 3/4/92).
       10. Yet during the Surgeon General's previous tenure as 
     Arkansas health director, the incidence of teenage pregnancy 
     and sexually transmitted diseases actually rose steadily--
     even after posting steady declines in the years before her 
     appointment (Alan Guttmacher Institute and Arkansas 
     Department of Health).


                             Homosexuality

       11. The Surgeon General continues to advocate a re-
     definition of the traditional family structure by supporting 
     the adoption of children by homosexuals (USA Weekend 
     Interview, 6/2-5/94).
       12. She has said, ``Yes [Boy Scouts should admit 
     homosexuals]. I also think girls who are lesbians should be 
     allowed to join the Girl Scouts.'' (USA Weekend Interview, 6/
     3-5/94).
       13. Regardless of documented evidence that shows homosexual 
     behavior to be associated with such deadly communicable 
     diseases as AIDS and hepatitis, the Surgeon General has 
     endorsed homosexual sex as ``wonderful,'' ``normal'' and 
     ``healthy'' (The Advocate, 3/94). This has given a false 
     sense of security to all those who engage in high-risk sexual 
     behavior.


                                abortion

       14. Joycelyn Elders is a tireless advocate for abortion on 
     demand. She has even said that, ``Abortion has reduced the 
     number of children with severe birth defects * * *. The 
     number of Down's Syndrome infants in Washington State in 1976 
     was 64 percent lower than it would have been without legal 
     abortion * * *. Abortion was the single most important factor 
     in the significant decrease in neonatal mortality between 
     1964 and 1977.'' (Testimony before Senate Labor Committee 
     Committee on FOCA, 5/23/90).
       15. The Surgeon General continues to insult and demean 
     Americans who believe pre-born children are human beings 
     worthy of constitutional protections as well.
       16. to group of pro-abortion supporters, she snapped, ``We 
     would like for the right to life and antichoice groups to 
     really get over their love affair with the fetus and start 
     supporting children.'' (Arkansas Democrat-Gazette 1/19/92).
       17. The Surgeon General has also characterized people who 
     oppose abortion as ``non-Christians with slave-master 
     mentalities'' who want ``to keep people poor, ignorant, and 
     enslaved.'' (American Medical News, 1/11/93).
       18. For those who are morally opposed to taxpayer financed 
     abortion, the Surgeon General claimed, ``If Medicaid does not 
     pay for abortions, does not pay for family planning, but pays 
     for prenatal care and delivery, that's saying: I'll pay for 
     you to have another good, healthy slave.'' (Arkansas 
     Democrat-Gazette 1/19/92).


                           religious bigotry

       19. The Surgeon General has publicly demonized and 
     marginalized Americans whose values are rooted in religious 
     tenets and who advocate public policies that reflect their 
     values.
       20. She has characterized those who hold moral and 
     religious values as harmful to our nation's children and has 
     said, ``We've got to be strong to take on those people who 
     are selling our children out in the name of religion.'' (June 
     22, 1994, Lesbian and Gay Health Conference).
       21. The Surgeon General has also criticized how religious 
     leaders view human sexuality and has called those who oppose 
     sex education the ``un-Christian religious right'' (June 22, 
     1994 Lesbian and Gay Health Conference).
       22. When asked why there was such a sharp rise in teen 
     pregnancy in Arkansas during her tenure as Arkansas Health 
     Director to ``poverty and ignorance and the Bible-Belt 
     mentality.'' (National Review, ``Life and Death in 
     Arkansas,'' 4/26/93).
       22. Furthermore, she continues to wage a non-stop, public 
     attack on Roman Catholics by saying, prior to her 
     appointment, ``Look who's fighting the pro-choice movement: a 
     celibate, male-dominated Church.'' (Address to Arkansas 
     Coalition for Choice, 1/18/92).


                             judgment calls

       24. The Surgeon General has demonstrated reckless judgment 
     on serious societal problems with statements such as, ``I 
     would hope that we would provide them [drug-abusing 
     prostitutes] Norplant, so they could still use sex if they 
     must to buy their drugs.'' (CNBC ``Talk Live'', 6/19/93); and
       25. In addition, despite strong evidence that illegal drug 
     use is on the rise, the Surgeon General has said that ``We 
     would markedly reduce our crime rate if drugs were 
     legalized'' (National Press Club Luncheon) and recommended 
     that ``we have doctors or clinics set up where addicts can 
     get their drugs free or pay $1.'' (USA Weekend, 6/3-5/94).
       26. She has even justified higher federal spending on AIDS 
     research rather than on cancer and heart disease because, 
     ``most of the people that die with heart disease and cancer 
     are our elderly population, you know, and we all will 
     probably die with something sooner or later'' and that ``we 
     are losing the people that's going to be paying my Social 
     Security, and that bothers me.'' (Senate committee hearing, 
     5/11/94).
       27. And while claiming to care about the health of our 
     children, Joycelyn Elders recklessly refused to notify the 
     public about defective condoms dispensed by the state of 
     Arkansas to school-based clinics.


                             in conclusion

       28. The Surgeon General continues to exploit her privileged 
     position and compromise her ability to unite the American 
     people under the common goal of improving the health of the 
     general public.
       29. More importantly, she is failing to carry out the 
     overall mission of the Office of the United States Surgeon 
     General and is therefore failing to protect, improve, and 
     advance the health of all Americans.
       30. She is not deserving of our nation's top public health 
     post and the President should ask for her resignation 
     immediately.

                          ____________________