A Pennsylvania state senator is catching heat after asking a sixth-grade girl a question about giving children pornography during a national civics competition, according reports.
The girl, identified as Mary A., was defending her essay topic of book banning to a panel of judges at the National Civics Bee Penn State Schuylkill on Wednesday when Sen. Dave Argall (R-Mahanoy) brought up the racy subject.
“Should pornographic magazines be allowed in kindergarten?” the conservative pol asked, according to the Republican Herald.
The girl, who didn’t know what pornography was, responded by asking him what he “meant,” according to a Facebook post Wednesday by her mother, Erin Anderson.
The senator responded by telling the youngster that porn was “naked pictures of people.”
Mary replied that she doesn’t think those materials should be allowed in kindergarten, and clarified what she meant by book banning — but the question infuriated her mom.
“This question was both wildly inappropriate and ridiculous. Her paper had nothing to do with pornography,” she fumed in the post. “I am further appalled and furious that I now have to explain pornography to my 4th grader who was there to cheer on her sister.”
“I can only assume he set out to make a political statement and/or embarrass my child because he favors book banning, but he succeeded only in outing himself as vile and out of touch,” she added.
Her post had been shared more than 6,000 times by Friday, with other parents declaring, “Are you kidding me?” and “shocking.”
Argall apologized in an email Thursday, admitting the question wasn’t “appropriate for the age group.”
“During last night’s local round of the National Civics Bee, I posed a question as a volunteer judge to a participant that was not age-appropriate for this setting,” Argall told ABC 27. “I apologize to the young lady, her family, and all the participants who worked hard to get to this point.”
“I was attempting to ask if some books and magazines are not appropriate for some age groups, a subject which has received considerable attention in the General Assembly in recent years. In hindsight, my obvious mistake was in citing an example that was itself not appropriate for this age group, a mistake which I will not make again,” he said.
At the civics competition, students in sixth through eighth grades discussed a variety of essay topics. Winners, including Mary, moved on to the next round in Harrisburg, Anderson said.
