Bush: Chastity Is Cool
Hundreds of youth who have pledged to abstain from sex until marriage got some moral support Saturday from Gov. George W. Bush, who said their decisions will help curb out-of-wedlock births and sexually transmitted diseases.
"In this day and age that's a bold act," Bush said. "You see, it's not cool in some people's minds to say 'I want to wait until I find the person I want to marry for life.' I know that. ... But I think it's cool. And I appreciate your leadership."
Bush spoke at a rally for "True Love Waits," a program founded by the Sunday School Board of the Southern Baptist Convention in 1993 that he has praised.
The youths, who spread picnic blankets across the south lawn of the Capitol, have signed cards promising God they'll abstain from sex until they enter a biblical marriage relationship, according to the Baptist General Convention of Texas.
The rally is meant to "celebrate the commitments made by hundreds of thousands of students concerning sexual purity and to show Texans that 'not everyone is doing it,'" said event coordinator Jane Wilson.
While few of her friends have made a similar commitment, they respect her decision, said Anlyn Evans, 14, of Buda, a town of 1,800 outside Austin.
"I believe that sex before marriage is wrong," she said. "God gave it to us as a gift."
Kristyn Downey of Austin, also 14, said most of her friends haven't signed the card.
"It's a part of my morals," she said. "I just don't think it's right to have sex before marriage."
Bush didn't say whether he had abstained from sex before marriage. He told the crowd: "I think the thing that baby boomers have got to say is not that we made mistakes but that we learned from our mistakes and are willing to share the wisdom."
Asked whether his mistakes had hurt him, Bush said, "I don't say they've hurt me. I've just learned from them. I will say what's hurt is the babies born out of wedlock and the amount of sexual transmitted diseases in society today it's a serious problem."
"Abstinence is 100 percent certain to not only make sure that children avoid pregnancy, but it's 100 percent certain to make sure that children avoid disease," he said.
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