ACLU defends

child-molester group
Asks judge to throw out lawsuit against
NAMBLA for 10-year-old's murder
By Julie Foster
2000 WorldNetDaily.com

The American Civil Liberties Union has asked a judge to dismiss what it calls an
"unconstitutional" lawsuit against a national pedophile organization being sued
in a wrongful death case after two of the group's members brutally raped and
murdered a 10-year-old boy.
The $200 million civil lawsuit, which charges the North American Man-Boy Love
Association with wrongful death, was originally filed in Massachusetts Federal
District Court on May 16.
As reported in WorldNetDaily, Salvatore Sicari and Charles Jaynes picked up
fifth-grader Jeffrey Curley and took the boy to the Boston Public Library where
Jaynes accessed NAMBLA's website. Later, the men attempted to sexually assault
Curley, but the boy fought back. Attempting to restrain him, Jaynes gagged the
10-year-old with a gasoline-soaked rag, eventually killing him. The men put
Jeffrey's body in a tub with concrete and threw it in a river.
According to Curley family attorney Larry Frisoli, Jaynes kept a diary in which
he wrote that he turned to NAMBLA's website in order to gain psychological
comfort for what he was about to do. The killer had been stalking Curley prior to
the boy's murder and possessed various materials from the clandestine group.
The ACLU argues that the newsletters and other NAMBLA materials in Jaynes'
possession, which contain ''photographs of boys of various ages and nude
drawings of boys,'' are protected speech under the Constitution. The material
does not ''urge, promote, advocate or even condone torture, mutilation or
murder,'' ACLU attorneys wrote. ''Examination of the materials that have been
identified by the plaintiffs will show that they simply do not advocate violation
of the law,'' the dismissal motion states. ''But even if that were the case, speech is

not deprived of the protection of the First Amendment simply because it

advocates an unlawful act."
Both killers are now serving life sentences. The family filed the lawsuit against
NAMBLA and the Internet service provider that hosted its site, arguing their son
might still be alive were it not for the group and its website.
But the ACLU believes NAMBLA is being unconstitutionally ''sued for their
ideas.'' According to court documents from the ACLU, the case raises
''profoundly important questions under the First Amendment,'' because
NAMBLA is not being sued for making any particular statements, but simply for
creating an ''environment'' that encourages sexual abuse.
''What they don't like is what NAMBLA stands for,'' said John Reinstein, legal
director of the Massachusetts chapter of the ACLU. ''They don't like their ideas or
the notion that someone else would have accepted them,'' he told the Boston
Globe.
The Curleys won a $328 million wrongful death case against their son's killers
earlier this year, but since both men are penniless, Frisoli called it largely a moral
victory. WND reported in July that Frisoli was preparing a class-action lawsuit
against NAMBLA. If NAMBLA loses the class-action suit, individuals and
parents of children who were involved in sexual relationships with members will
be able to collect damages.
According to Frisoli, NAMBLA has anywhere from 300 to 1,300 members,
depending on which time period is selected for the lawsuit, translating to
thousands of children that would constitute the class in the suit.