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Democratic representative blamed ‘alt-right Republicans’ for spreading ‘Qanon-like conspiracy theories’

Indiana University’s famous sex research center is officially defunded after Republican Gov. Eric Holcomb signed a two-year budget bill.

The state’s passage of the law on May 4 stipulates that taxpayer funds “may not be used to pay for the administration, operation, or programs of the Kinsey Institute for Research in Sex, Gender, and Reproduction.”

The College Fix asked university spokeswoman Amanda Roach what will happen next for the research center. She referred to IU President Pamela Whitten’s statement on the legislation.

“As a premier research institution with a 200-year legacy of impact within our state and around the world, IU is firmly committed to academic freedom,” Whitten stated prior to the governor’s signing of the law.

“The university is concerned that a provision singling out a specific research institute sets a troubling precedent with implications that could limit the ability of public colleges and universities to pursue research and scholarship that benefits people and improves lives.”

“IU will conduct a thorough legal review to ensure the university follows state law,” Whitten stated. “The university is committed to the ongoing crucial research and robust scholarship conducted by IU faculty and the Kinsey Institute.”

The Fix followed up by asking how the institute plans to sustain itself financially, but Roach did not respond.

The Democratic state representative for Bloomington told The Fix that the defunding “was driven by an alliance of extreme right Republicans and other Republican legislators who fear being defeated in a Republican primary.”

“This action is part of the culture war being waged by the Republican party,” Rep. Matt Pierce said via email. “Attacks on Alfred Kinsey and the Kinsey Institute are based on decades-old, unproven, QAnon-like conspiracy theories that have been circulating on the internet for decades.”

“The alt-right Republicans want to undermine the Kinsey institute because it uses scientific research to better understand human sexuality, and that undermines extreme Republicans’ efforts to push gays and lesbians back into the closet and to make transgender people invisible,” he said. “It is sad the Republicans who know better were unwilling to stand up to the most extreme elements of their party.”

Republican Rep. Lorissa Sweet introduced an amendment to defund the influential research center in February, drawing attention to its namesake, the late IU Professor Alfred Kinsey, and his research on childhood sexual behavior that involved interviewing a child rapist.

She responded on Wednesday morning to Pierce’s claims.

“It’s obvious that Rep. Matt Pierce either hasn’t read Alfred Kinsey’s books or is willing to defend a notorious pedophile,” Rep. Sweet said in an email to The Fix. “One only has to look at infamous Table 34 in Kinsey’s book Sexual Behavior in the Human Male to understand that children were sexually tortured around the clock.”

“By doing such dastardly experiments on children, Kinsey ‘determined’ that children are sexual from birth, which is why our society now sexually exploits children at very young ages,” she said.

“To deflect from the truth is nothing more than a Communist tactic which Rep. Pierce appears to do in his response. Sadly, he appears to misunderstand that Hoosiers are now aware of the Kinsey Institute and its sexually deviant founder and no longer wish to fund continued experiments with taxpayer dollars,” Sweet added. “It’s unfortunate that Rep. Pierce is so eager to ignore Kinsey victims such as Esther White who recalls her father sexually abusing her and then watched as he was paid by Alfred Kinsey for doing so.”

“Rep. Pierce can deflect all he wishes; however, the reality is that Alfred Kinsey is responsible for the sexual torture of hundreds, if not thousands of children. Defunding this wretched institution is the responsible thing to do,” she said. Sweet sent along several further resources that document the problems with Kinsey’s research.

Rep. Cindy Ledbetter, a nurse, also encouraged her colleagues to support the amendment because Kinsey Institute staff taught her and other nurses how to inject children who wish to present themselves as the opposite gender with cross-sex hormones as part of a continuing education program. The state has since banned such procedures for minors.

As part of his famous “Kinsey Reports,” the late scholar used the journal of a child rapist to record the rape of 196 children, which he referred to as “pre-adolescent sex play.” He claimed that the victims enjoyed the experience despite some giving “violent convulsions” or “sobbing.” He also described in detail how an infant supposedly achieves orgasm based on observations by “other boys or older adults.”

Kinsey used this and other information to support his claim that humans are sexual from birth.

While introducing her amendment, Rep. Sweet criticized the Kinsey Institute for creating an app that allows users to anonymously post descriptions of sexual encounters along with their location so that researchers can track the activity across the globe.

“Essentially, as was done in the 40s and 50s, the Kinsey Institute collects data from rapists and pedophiles worldwide,” Sweet told The Fix in March.

Editor’s note: The article has been updated with further comment from Rep. Sweet.

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IMAGE: Governor Holcomb Office

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