GOP lawmaker apologizes for calling unwed teen parents 'sluts'

David Edwards and Muriel Kane

Published: Friday February 8, 2008



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A Republican state representative in Colorado has apologized for calling unmarried teenage parents "sluts."

Larry Liston of Colorado Springs was talking at a GOP caucus meeting about teenagers who have babies and expect the government to support them.

"In my parents' day and age, they were sent away, they were shunned, they were called what they are," Liston told the caucus. "There was at least a sense of shame." He then used the word "slut," adding, "I don't mean just the women. I mean the men, too."

Rep. Stella Garza-Hicks, who was at the meeting, said she was "disturbed' and "offended" by Liston's use of the word. Other Republican women in the Colorado House of Representatives also called it inappropriate.

"A slut is a whore, that's the same word," one former unwed mother told a local news channel. "I'm a survivor, I made it. I raised my children, I was a good mother. ... He needs to talk to some young women, he needs to have some compassion."

"I regret using the word," Liston says now. "It was an inadvertent comment."



This video is CBS News 4 Denver, broadcast February 8, 2008.









