Colorado & Denver News

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (AP) ― A state lawmaker who used a derogatory term to describe unmarried teen parents as sexually promiscuous and complained that society condones premarital sex apologized Thursday.

"The derogatory term I used was offensive and inappropriate and I would like to apologize for using it. Because of my unfortunate choice of language, the message that I was trying to get across about personal responsibility, and parental responsibility, has been overshadowed. I certainly regret using the term I did," Republican Rep. Larry Liston said in a statement.

"In my parents' day and age, (unmarried teen parents) were sent away, they were shunned, they were called what they are," Liston said during a GOP legislative caucus meeting in Denver that was reported in The Gazette. "There was at least a sense of shame."

Liston then used the derogatory term "slut" and added, "I don't mean just the women. I mean the men, too."

Liston said he wanted to make the point that teens who can't afford to take care of children can have them anyway and expect the government to pay for it. He said that often traps the parents and their children in a cycle of poverty without enough education.

Liston said he earlier apologized to Rep. Stella Garza-Hicks, who was at the meeting and said she was "disturbed" and "offended" by the word. She said she didn't confront him because she was so surprised to hear him use it.

Liston said that while he could have chosen his words better, he believes many people feel the way he does.

Garza-Hicks joined several other female Republican representatives, Durango Rep. Ellen Roberts, Calhan Rep. Marsha Looper and Colorado Springs Rep. Amy Stephens in a statement Thursday chastising their colleague.

"Words have a meaning and we all have an obligation as public officials to be respectful of others. We appreciate the fact that Rep. Liston has accepted responsibility for his inappropriate and unacceptable comments. His unfortunate use of language distracted from an important caucus discussion of meaningful health care reform.

"Just as we each hold ourselves to a high standard, we also hold our colleagues to a high standard. This incident was unacceptable and it is our hope that we can focus on the work that we have been sent here to do and to avoid such occurrences in the future," the women said.

Liston said the remark also sparked a reaction from his wife, who said he probably could have come up with a better set of words.

Viewer comment

Danielle Shoots of Englewood writes:

I never thought that in present day America I would ever see a politician be able to use his public voice to openly and grossly discriminate against a group of individuals. I am hurt for every teenage parent who has been publicly insulted, embarrassed, and discouraged by the comments of Representative Larry Liston. I believe that any term or definition that can even come close to the word "slut" is a blatant form of prejudice assigned to a group of human beings undeserving of such a terrible and false statement. I know that scientifically, having a child is only proves that someone has been sexually active; not that they are promiscuous. For a politician to get away with using such a derogatory, hurtful, and regressive form of discrimination is appalling to me. I say this as a tax paying, college educated, hard working, inner city youth advocate. Most importantly, I say this as a women who became a mother at age sixteen. I would hope that in this beautiful state, we would not be represented by such ugliness. I ask myself, would an apology have been enough if Larry Liston was speaking about people belonging to a particular race, or religious background? No matter the group, it must be understood that a politician used his public voice to insult and emberassed thousands of daughters, sisters, brothers and sons. Even more devastating is the fact that he assigned a terrible stereotype to thousands of mothers and fathers. A child depends on a parent no matter their age or situation. I can only hope that his comments do not discourage teen parents from believing in themselves and believing in the possibilities for success. I hope that stories like my own can be told to contrast the negative connotations prescribed to all teen parents in a moment of powerful ignorance. Most importantly I would hope that this conversation will lead to many more about taking positive steps towards preventing teen pregnancy. I can't see how name calling and stereotyping could have ever been considered an appropriate solution to preventing teen pregnancy and I believe we should ask a lot more questions of a man that would such a tactic. We all need to ask ourselves if we would want that person representing our voice.

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