More than 200 youth from throughout Utah celebrated President's Day Monday Feb. 17 by participating in a rally and a march to the Capitol building organized by Stand For Decency, a youth organization dedicated to fighting pornography.

The marchers chanted and carried signs that included sayings such as "Porn supports rape," "Scorn Porn," and "Pornography causes child abuse."

Two women whose families were profoundly affected by pornography, JoAnn Autry and Emmajean Hansen, joined hands and led the march with a great deal of emotion.

A man addicted to pornography killed Autry's daughter, Trisha.

Hansen and her eight children were devastated when her husband killed himself in December 2001 after fighting an addiction to pornography that began when he was inadvertently exposed to it as a child.

"The things they are teaching about pornography being addicting is true," Hansen told the youth on the steps of the capitol. "My husband was a family man. He spent hours teaching and loving his children. He thought that he could white knuckle pornography, that if he just had enough strong will he could break it."

Speakers at the rally emphasized the significance of the holiday and challenged the youth and their parents to make their leaders aware that they felt targeted and threatened by the spread of pornography.

"We must protect our children from what the big money people are trying to do to them," Hansen said.

Dorothy Sullivan, a mother of ten from Kamas, Utah, said the message of the rally was an important one to people who are concerned for their children.

"I got conned into being a chaperone on the bus," Sullivan said. "I didn't realize how well organized it was and what a powerful message they have. I ended up signing up to be a district leader for Stand For Decency."

Anti-pornography author Mark Kastleman was also at the rally and told attendees, "You youth here today are fighting for freedom because pornography takes away freedom."

Kastleman spoke of pornography as a destructive addiction that destroys families as well as the addicted individual.

Proponents of pornography argue that the spread and use of it are within their First Amendment rights and that groups like SFD and religions like The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints want to take away their freedom of expression, said Kastleman, who has done extensive research on pornography.

The rally took place in an LDS ward building, although SFD is not affiliated with the church.

"This is not just an LDS issue; in fact, this is my first time in an LDS chapel," said Frank Mylar, a Utah attorney who is an active opponent of pornography. "It's an important issue where people from many religions come together to say Pornography is wrong. It's never too late, and it is always appropriate to raise the standard," Mylar said.

SFD President Adam Ellison, a senior at Mountain Crest High School in Hyrum, encouraged his peers to be courageous and stand for decency.

"I use to think this was just a religious or moral issue," Ellison said. "Now I can see it is a societal issue, people are being harmed by it. Families are being split up and it is causing sexual crimes to skyrocket."

Ellison presented his argument against pornography to millions of listeners last week as an invited guest on Dr. Laura Schlessinger's national radio program.

Ellison was only one of many young people expressing their views at the march.

"Pornography is all over the world and its such a bad thing," said Jamie Fielding, 11. "It's affecting me and everybody and I'm sick of it."

Copyright Brigham Young University 17 Feb 2003