The STOPLight

Cover our butt or lead? It's our choice

I am a member of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. We in the ELCA have a problem.

One of our national directors came to Minneapolis in 1994 and got two massages from women who worked for the Black Tie Escort Service. Its owner has recently been convicted for soliciting prostitution - Black Tie was a front for prostitution. In the 1994 phone book, Black Tie was listed under Escort Services - not Massage. After a local TV reporter investigating this "business" discovered two $260 charges by a staff member of the ELCA, he called the national church office. Although the director denied any sexual misconduct, he resigned.

Now what? How we as a church handle this situation will tell the country who we are - pure and simple. The natural response is to cover our butt, deny there is a problem, get defensive, do damage control - put self-preservation ahead of everything else. I think the people of this country are fed up with this kind of behavior.

This is a real opportunity for us in the ELCA to wake up. This problem is not about a single person; about finding out if he is guilty of sexual misconduct. The problem is the whole realm of "escort services" and what they really are - fronts for prostitution. Many girls who are escorts have been coerced and literally beaten into working. Many are under 18. The money that changes hands goes to the owner who will give the girl just enough "goodies" (clothes, drugs, etc.) to keep her working. What is going on here?

When a man calls an escort service and wants a "massage," what he leaves unspoken is the loudest message he sends - "T want a (preferably beautiful) girl to serve me and be willing to do anything I want her to do." He doesn't want to know anything else - not her age, not how the escort service owner recruited her, or what means he uses to keep her compliant. The escort service is happy to provide the girl. And since the owner has all the "overhead" costs of doing the dirty work of recruiting and retaining girls for sexual hire, his services aren't cheap.

Those ignorant about prostitution and those who choose to believe the lies and myths of the sex industry say these transactions by the ELCA director were simply minor episodes of naughtiness. They won't notice an opportunity to offer leadership.

What is leadership? When Mahatma Gandhi was leader of India, Moslems attacked and killed Hindus. The Hindus wanted him to grant them revenge. Instead Gandhi himself went and stayed with Moslems in their towns. Gandhi was like a breath of fresh air. He treated them as humans and their hostilities dissipated. The militant Moslems fled. That is leadership.

Leadership will shift the focus of the ELCA away from the question of guilt by one man to the question of how we can make a difference so vulnerable kids are not at the mercy of adult money and power. Leadership will not just make one person a scapegoat. Leadership will find or create a positive opening for action which illuminates the darkness and exposes this issue to the light.

We call on our national church, the ELCA, to step forward as leaders and make two things happen:

1. Decide to address the ongoing recruitment and exploitation of youth by the sex industry and the devastating aftermath suffered by workers and customers. Define an initiative and set up a task force to discover steps that can be taken.
2. Decide to make a positive difference in Minneapolis where the incidents occurred. Help two women become rehabilitated out of prostitution. Make it are responsible for and bear the cost.

America is crying out for bold leadership. In 1940, Prime Minister Chamberlain of England hoped Hitler would live up to his conciliatory promises. Hitler didn't. Hoping some good will happen is timid and powerless. When Churchill became Prime Minister, he said "I have nothing to offer but blood, toil, tears, and sweat." This is leadership.

Here in the U.S. our youth are being abused, molested, exploited, and devastated. Are we the problem or the solution? Now is the time for laying aside fear; to stop avoiding problems; for refusing to follow cowardly inclinations. It's time for straight talk and bold action. As adults, it is up to us to face this is problem squarely.

Most people, and maybe the ELCA, hope others will handle the tough problems. I promise you, they won't. Jesus valued the oppressed. Now it is our turn. This is a call for leadership and action. We are called to be the Gandhis and Churchills of today.

by Al Erickson,founder and director of A-STOP

In 2002 our organization changed its name to Adults Saving Kids. Prior to that we were called A-STOP (Alliance for Speaking Truths On Prostitution), STOP (Speaking Truths On Prostitution), or Grassroots Ministry Alliance.