FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
May 20,
2014
CONTACT
Christopher Doyle
571-379-4546
VoV Launches Petition Demanding Release of Public Documents to Protect Md Children Petition Calls for End of 'Stonewalling' from Md. Delegate, Asks What is Jon Cardin Hiding?
Bristow, VA -- Today, Voice of the Voiceless (VoV), the only
anti-defamation league for former homosexuals, individuals with unwanted
same-sex attractions (SSA), and their families, called for the release of public documents from Maryland Delegate Jon Cardin for the sake of Maryland's children.
In an effort to conceal potentially-incriminating documents, Maryland lawmaker and Democratic candidate for Attorney General Jon Cardin recently refused to release public records after a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request was submitted by the International Healing Foundation (IHF), a non-profit therapeutic organization located in Bowie, MD, who in late March accused the official of defamation and discriminatory conduct while the House of Delegates was considering legislation to ban Sexual Orientation Change Effort (SOCE) therapy for minors.
In an open letter on March 27 in response to IHF’s allegations, Cardin stated: “I welcome any investigations you or your lawyers wish to pursue.” However, after IHF submitted a FOIA request that would reveal potentially illegal or improper conduct, the Attorney General candidate refused to release them, citing Maryland “legislative privilege.”
The letter from Cardin to IHF, refusing to hand over the public documents, can be found here.
To make his case, Cardin cited a pedophile murder case as justification. In 1980, the Maryland Attorney General refused to hand over documents in Hamilton vs. Verdow, a gruesome case where a pedophile molested and murdered two young boys, asserting that the documents were “privileged” by law. The court agreed with Maryland and went so far as to cite the United States vs. Nixon case in favor of privilege.
The doctrine is also referred to as a “privilege for governmental secrets.”
Research published in the scientific peer-reviewed literature demonstrates a link between childhood homosexual molestation and later development of same-sex attraction for some individuals. For example, a 2001 study in the prestigious Archives of Sexual Behavior found that among 942 participants, forty-six percent of the homosexual men in contrast to 7% of the heterosexual men reported homosexual molestation, while twenty-two percent of lesbian women in contrast to 1% of heterosexual women reported homosexual molestation.
Cardin says he won’t release the documents, even through he previously said he “welcomed any investigations,” because “records made or kept in the contemplation of, strategy of, or act of introducing legislation before the Maryland General Assembly” are by law, privileged.
Just What is Delegate Cardin Hiding?
And what about the legality of Cardin’s actions, who introduced, then withdrew HB 91, a bill that sought to take away the rights of minor clients to seek counseling for unwanted same-sex attractions (SSA), while making outrageous accusations towards IHF and demeaning individuals with unwanted SSA, some of whom are children that have been victimized by sexual predators?
There should be no governmental secrets about our children! Sign the petition and demand that Delegate Cardin release the public documents for the sake of Maryland’s children!
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Voice of the Voiceless is the only anti-defamation league for
former homosexuals, individuals with unwanted same-sex attractions, and their
families. For more information, visit: www.VoiceoftheVoiceless.info
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