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From: wdoherty@bbncca.ARPA (Will Doherty)
Newsgroups: net.motss
Subject: NAMBLA RESOLUTION
Message-ID: <485@bbncca.ARPA>
Date: Sun, 15-Jan-84 20:23:00 EST
Article-I.D.: bbncca.485
Posted: Sun Jan 15 20:23:00 1984
Date-Received: Mon, 16-Jan-84 01:48:53 EST
Organization: Bolt, Beranek and Newman, Cambridge, Ma.
Lines: 105

This may be of interest:
	RESOLUTION ON THE LIBERATION OF CHILDREN AND YOUTH


		Adopted at the Seventh Conference of the

		North American Man/Boy Love Association

			Boston, December 4, 1983



Young people in our society are denied nearly all the human rights
adults possess, and are presumed to be irrational and incapable.  The
policy of protection toward children growing out of this philosophy
assumes that parents or their state-appointed substitutes can only
relate to children from the standpoint of benevolent domination.
Children are subject to abuse as a result of this hierarchical
relationship.  Their humanity is demeaned and their growth stunted.
Since children possess rights because they are human beings, and since
these rights are being denied largely for the convenience and economic
advantage of adults, NAMBLA subscribes to the following resolution to
empower young people:


			I. Self-Determination

Children should have the right to conclusively decide all matters that
affect them.


			II. Equal Civil Rights

Civil rights are inalienable.  Young people are necessary participants
in democracy, entitled to the full benefits of self-governance and to
full protection from both the government's and parents' abuse of power.

Children must have equal Constitutional rights with adults, including,
but not limited to, complete freedom of speech, press, assembly,
religion, and privacy; equal protection against discrimination; freedom
from involuntary servitude (such as forfeiting wages to parents, forced
attendance at school, and military registration and conscription); the
right to due process; protection from illegal search and seizure; the
right of equal participation in the political process; and the right to
serve on juries.


			III. Alternate Home Environments

Children should be able to choose from a variety of arrangements, e.g.:
residences operated by children, child-exchange programs, twenty-four
hour child care centers, and other schools and employment opportunities.


			IV. Self-Education

Children should be free to design their own education, choosing from
among many options the learning experiences they want, including the
option not to attend school.  Compulsory education and tracking must
end.  Schools must be run democratically, with curricula, personnel, and
disciplinary procedures decided collectively.


		V. Freedom from Corporal Punishment

Children have the right to be free from corporal punishment.


			VI. Economic Power

Children should have the right to work, to acquire and manage money, to
receive equal pay for equal work, to gain promotion to leadership
positions, to own property, to obtain guaranteed support apart from the
family, and to achieve economic independence.


			VII. Responsive Design

Society must accommodate itself to children's size and to their need for
safe space.


		VIII. The Right to Information

A child must have the right to all information ordinarily available to
adults.


		IX. An End to Racism and Sexism


		X. Sexual Self-Determination

Children should have the right to conduct their sexual lives with no
more restriction than adults.  At a minimum, they must have the
unhindered right to have sex with members of any age of the same or
opposite sex, and to identify themselves as homosexual, heterosexual,
bisexual, transexual, or any other sexual preference or orientation.


			     --END--


				Will Doherty
				decvax!bbncca!wdoherty