Since the First Mate lost her sight over twenty-five years ago and has had a number of medical conditions as complications to diabetes (now cured), she has a handicapped parking placard which allows us to use the closest spots in public lots, as well as forego parking meter fees in most areas. Since she often has minor problems in walking, the placard helps tremendously.

In Denmark, however, that placard gets the disabled much more personal service than it does in the United States. The London Telegraph reports that the Danes have government assistance programs that subsidize prostitution for those with disabilities so that they can have sexual fulfillment:

Disabled Danes are being encouraged to make monthly visits to prostitutes and reclaim the cost from the taxpayer, under laws intended to guarantee them equal rights.

In a move that has provoked angry protests but has delighted the country's legalised sex industry, the Danish government has launched an information campaign advising the disabled how best to go about obtaining erotic services.

Stig Langvad, the chairman of the Danish Association for the Disabled, hailed the campaign as a triumph for equality. "Sexual frustration can be a major problem for the disabled, and in some cases the last solution is to visit a prostitute," he said. "Politicians can debate whether prostitution in general should be allowed, but if it is, why should the disabled be the only ones prevented from having access to it?" ...

Now the regulations are being used to pay for visits to prostitutes after a disabled man - not named for legal reasons - won a legal action forcing officials to pay his expenses for the services of a call girl. Councils across Denmark have been left with no choice but to follow suit.

I've heard of getting screwed by government, but this really is ridiculous.

On a more serious note, this pattern shows what happens when people force government into legitimizing choices in a socialist model. We have seen this in our own country with abortion. First, a runaway Supreme Court ruled that not only should abortion be legalized but that it ascended to a "right", based on emanations from a penumbra at that point undiscovered in almost two centuries of jurisprudence. Once it assigned abortion as a "right", activist groups started pressuring governments at the federal and state level to subsidize them, arguing that equal access to this "right" required that taxpayers foot the bill for a procedure at least half of them opposed in any form.

We can laugh at the Danes who feel it necessary to have government pay for prostitution, but it follows the same model as the US uses with abortion. It is symptomatic of a government culture where everything that isn't outlawed becomes mandatory -- the typical socialistic approach that results in idiotic processes such as what the Telegraph describes today.

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» Are we far behind? from Windmills on the hill
I complain frequently to those who will listen about the extension of privileges to those who possess handicapped permits for their cars. [Read More]

Tracked on October 2, 2005 6:23 PM

» The Knucklehead of the Day award from The Florida Masochist
Today's winner is the government of Denmark. [Read More]

Tracked on October 3, 2005 6:01 AM