Dear James Dobson,

Next week my 18 year old daughter will get the second in a series of 3 shots that will protect her against 2 of the most common HPV strains that cause cervical cancer. As a mother, I want to protect my children in any way I can, so when I learned about this vaccine, I knew I wanted her to be vaccinated as soon as it became available. I cannot tell you how comforting it is to know that she will soon be protected from this deadly cancer. And I know many parents who feel just as I do. And why wouldn’t we? This vaccine is 100% effective in preventing infection by the two viruses responsible for 70% of all cervical cancer cases.

So I’m writing you tonight because in addition to learning all I could about this vaccine, I also learned that you and many of your so-called “Christian”, “family advocate” buddies were not quite as enthusiastic about the arrival of this vaccine as we parents were. And when I learned how vociferously you were objecting to the recommendation that the vaccine be routinely given to girls between the ages of 11 and 12 to maximize its efficiency, I was both astounded and livid. But it wasn’t until I learned why you had objections that my blood began to really boil. I simply could not believe that it was because you feared that immunizing our daughters against this deadly cancer might send the implied message that we parents were endorsing teenage sexual activity.

What kind of idiocy is that? You are one troubled little man, aren’t you? I honestly thought you were joking, but sadly you were deadly serious. You were actually arguing that giving 11 and 12 year old girls this life-saving vaccine would encourage them to engage in sex. And then the light bulb went off in my head. Of course you’d be freaking out over a vaccine that prevents HPV. HPV has been your handy dandy justification for abstinence. It’s been a very effective scare tactic in your arsenal of scare tactics. It’s been way too useful a tool to get rid of with some stinkin vaccine. Hell, in your book, any kid promiscuous enough to get HPV, damn well deserves any nasty disease they get. And if they should die from that disease – oh well, it was God’s will.

Ooooof how could I have been so dumb? You don’t give a rat’s a** about our children’s health. You don’t give a rat’s a** about our children. You just don’t want them having s-e-x.

Well you listen here James Dobson. I don’t know how long you held up that vaccine’s approval with your creepy arguments. But any delay whatsoever affected my daughter. And that’s unacceptable. Who knows how much earlier she and countless others could have been vaccinated if it had not been for you and your very weird fear of anything: sex. I have had it with you and your sanctimonious crap. You want to spout that sh*t – fine, spout it – that’s your right, but when it starts affecting my family, then you’ve crossed the line and stepped on our rights. And you’ve crossed the line and stepped on our rights one too many times.

This is not the first time you’ve blatantly invaded the sanctity of my family’s private life. Unfortunately when we found out we had a gay son, it was your ugly message of hate that rang loudly in our ears. It was your cruel ignorant homophobic rants that cut deep into our hearts. At a time when we so desperately need a real family advocate, we learned the real truth. You’re no advocate to any family, you’re just a shill fraud. You proved it then with our son, and you’ve proved it more recently with our daughter.

So I have one request James Dobson. Get the hell out of my family’s life. You are not welcome. With family advocates like you, who needs enemies?