A Ringing Victory: A Pornography Battle Won

Last year, AT&T cable services in Des Moines, Iowa announced that they would add pornography to their pay-per-view channel. That decision disappointed and angered many good people in the local region.

Last year, AT&T cable services in Des Moines, Iowa announced that they would add pornography to their pay-per-view channel. That decision disappointed and angered many good people in the local region. One of them was Rick Lehman, a Catholic businessman and CUF member who advertises his refrigerator repair service on local cable TV. One evening, as Rick and his wife were praying the Rosary, he said an idea "just popped into my head."

"I thought, 'Why not contact all the religious leaders in the area and ask them if they would join forces against putting pornography on cable?'"

Rick attributes his idea and the grace he needed to act on it to the Blessed Mother.

"I did not direct this. Our Blessed Mother directed this. I was just a tool that she used.

"I got back to my office the next day and began making phone calls. I started with our own bishop. I called all the religious leaders: Lutheran, Jewish, Baptist, Southern Baptist, Methodist, Episcopal, Presbyterian, and Fundamentalist — only one member of the Des Moines Area Religious Council turned me down," Rick said.

Chuck Hurley, director of the Iowa Family Policy Center (IFPC), got involved and lent his political acumen and experience to Rick's project. The IFPC led a successful campaign in 1999 to persuade several Convenience stores in the Midwest to stop carrying pornography on their newsstands. Chuck had been trying for years to gather the area's religious leaders together to support a number of family-friendly projects, but it was difficult to find an issue that could overcome their theological differences.

Chuck said that "the religious leaders' coming together is directly because of Rick's persistence. He just kept calling them. He got commitments from virtually all of them to stand together against pornography and for principles of biblical sexuality."

"When I called them," Rick recalled, "they all wanted the same thing — unity. There was nothing they could come together on. They couldn't com e together on abortion, contraception, homosexuality, woman priests or ministers — nothing. Pornography was the only subject they could come together on. For once, they would set aside their theological differences and attack an issue that is separating our families.

"I asked these priests and ministers for something simple: to ask the members of their congregations to call AT&T and let them know they didn't approve. I gave them their direct telephone number. I told them I didn't want any money. All they had to do was to take three minutes a day, every day, and make a phone call to AT&T."

Of the over 600,000 people in the greater Des Moines area, Rick estimated that close to half attend church periodically. If only 10% of them participated in Rick's project, AT&T would receive approximately 30,000 phone calls a day. Political organization doesn't get any more grass roots than that.

Just to make sure he was covering all the bases, Rick bought an ad on local Christian radio asking listeners to call AT&T to express their negative opinions about the pay-per-view pornography channel. At the same time, he pursued another avenue to dissuade the cable TV decision makers. The results surpassed his wildest dreams.

"This is so amazing," Rick recalled with excitement. "This is how the Blessed Mother works. I made four phone calls — four — to other area business people who advertised on AT&T cable."

Three of them called their advertising representative at AT&T, voiced their disapproval of the proposed addition of pornography, and threatened to discontinue their advertising contracts.

"AT&T folded in four weeks," Rick stated.

"AT&T announced in the newspaper that they decided not to put pornography on at this time, but they told Chuck Hurley they might revisit the issue if we didn't go after the other cable networks for doing the same thing," Rick added.

The IFPC has made good on its side of the deal with AT&T. IFPC began efforts to persuade the cable television broadcaster in Cedar Rapids, Iowa to remove pornography from its channels, with the hope that others will follow. With the help of Rick and others, the IFPC has been negotiating with Des Moines-area video stores to remove their inventory of adult movies.

Perhaps the best news for anti-pornography forces in Iowa came late last year from the state's attorney general, Tom Miller. According to Chuck, "[Tom Miller] told me that he would vigorously prosecute offenders of the Iowa obscenity law."

Chuck, a lawyer, lobbyist, and former state senator, explained that with proper preparation, prosecutors can win the vast majority of obscenity cases. In addition, because law enforcement in many states can legally confiscate the assets of businesses convicted of breaking obscenity laws, obscenity prosecutions often have a net financial gain. That lessens the financial burden to the taxpayers and encourages enforcement of the laws.

According to Rick, pornography's profitability makes it very difficult to combat. Even if adult materials make up only a small fraction of a business' inventory, the profit margin is so high that management frequently rationalizes keeping it around to help meet payroll and stay afloat when times are lean.

"Most executives who work for big corporations are against pornography, but they don't know how to maintain both their personal integrity and their business integrity. Businesses don't care about morals; they care about money. You have to hurt them in the pocketbook," Rick advised.

Rick admitted that he was almost disappointed that AT&T cooperated so readily, because he was looking forward to the next step in his plan.

"The Des Moines religious leaders made the decision that they were willing to stand up in front of the media on one stage together against pornography. Chuck Hurley was going to be the spokesman for all of them. That would have been fantastic."

Rick is very humble about his role in these events. He said repeatedly, "I didn't do much. I just made some phone calls. Like I said, I didn't direct this, the Blessed Mother did."

How ironic that the telephone, the centerpiece of AT&T's communications empire, was the instrument used to change corporate policy. Rick said that because the simple act of making a phone call can be such a powerful weapon in the fight against pornography, he hopes that others will take up the cause.

"If one person from each community across the this country just picked up the phone, think what could happen."

If you are interested in combating pornography and would like to consult with Rick, call (515) 243-1974; or email him at rrrlehman@aol.com.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

Molly McQueen. "A Ringing Victory A Pornography Battle Won." Lay Witness (February, 2001).

Reprinted with permission of Lay Witness magazine.

Lay Witness is a publication of Catholic United for the Faith, Inc., an international lay apostolate founded in 1968 to support, defend, and advance the efforts of the teaching Church.

Copyright © 2001 LayWitness