Join the National White Ribbon Campaign for Decency An annual campaign from the last Sunday of October to the first Sunday of November.“By displaying a white ribbon on your car antenna you are saying that you care and you count in the fight against pornography.” Norma Norris, founder, White Ribbon Campaign.

IT’S A SYMBOL - The white ribbon is the symbol of a nationwide anti-pornography movement. By displaying a white ribbon, you are saying you care and you count in the fight against hard-core pornography and for decency in the media. Display the ribbons in the windows of homes and stores; in churches, synagogues and mosques; on door - knockers, motorcycles, bicycles, baby carriages, and of course -- car antennas!

IT’S A STANDARD
The white ribbons set a standard for decency in your community. With community consensus regarding what is obscene, law enforcement officials, judges, juries and politicians will know that hard-core pornography, in any medium, is NOT tolerated in your community.

IT’S A SOLUTION
By mobilizing hundreds of thousands of people like you, the white ribbon paves the way for a solution to the problem of illegal, hard-core pornography and decency in media. Our grass-roots effort is public, peaceful and powerful. Take the momentum of public awareness generated during this campaign and channel it into increased public action designed to make your community porn free!

• Get approval from your pastor and/or church council.
  
• Gather a small team or utilize an existing church group (Women’s Group, Deacons, Youth Group, etc.) to take responsibility for the campaign.
  
• Creatively brainstorm ideas for posters, decorations, sermons, announcements & information tables. For instance, the youth group could paint a poster; create a special bulletin board; and / or decorate the church with large white bows.
  
• Order ribbons and materials from the Pittsburgh Coalition Against Pornography by calling 412-281-4565.
  
• Choose which Sunday, or several Sundays, to preach, hold special Sunday school sessions, hand out ribbons, display decorations/posters and pass out information from a table.
  

• Provide any amount of White Ribbons that you need. The ribbons are .05 cents apiece, therefore a hundred is $5.00, or a thousand ribbons is $50.00. We will include an invoice with your order. Postage added.
  
• Provide rolls of White Ribbon for you to use to make bows and decorations.
  
• 2 & 3/4” wide by 100 yards is $6.00 per roll -- excellent for large decorative bows
  
• 1 & 7/16” wide by 100 yards is $4.50 per roll -- for bows of all sizes
  
• 5/8” wide by 100 yards is $3.00 per roll -- excellent for lapel bows
  
• Provide a master copy of a bulletin insert which gives current information about the activities of the White Ribbon Campaign.
  
• Provide handouts about the dangers of pornography and the solutions -- for you to photocopy and distribute from an information table.
  
• Provide several flyers ideal for enlarging to poster sizes of 24”x36” or 36”x 48”.
  

THE STORY OF THE WHITE RIBBON
IT ALL STARTED when an interfaith coalition of pastors and citizens united to close down an adult bookstore in Butler Pennsylvania. They called themselves the Butler County Citizens for Decency and in 1986 they followed the leading of God and bought the property that the bookstore was leasing at a sheriff’s sale for $150,000! But the bookstore, with the help of liberal courts, managed to legally delay eviction. The case languished and so did the spirits of the citizens. In the early spring of 1988 the late Msgr. Glenn, a board member, preached a sermon about the perception of public officials that Butler citizens really didn’t care about pornography.

Appalled at that idea Mrs. Norma Norris, a parishioner, gazed out across the church and thought, "That can’t be." She determined that people just needed a simple and effective way of expressing their opinion against pornography. She envisioned a dove, wings spread, as a symbol for decency. A stiff white ribbon tied in a knot around a car antenna became “wings”. Soon thousands of “white wings” were placed on family cars throughout Butler County.

In March of 1988 a 250 car motorcade, festooned with White Ribbons and signs, drove past that adult bookstore and left no doubt as to what Butler’s community standards were.

Following this highly publicized "rally", the bookstore claimed they could not get a fair trial in Butler and requested a change of venue to a neutral county. Providentially for the Butler County Citizens for Decency the new judge in the next county immediately ruled that the bookstore did not have a valid lease! In June of 1988 the bookstore was closed and bulldozed into oblivion!

Since then the White Ribbon has become a national symbol of opposition to pornography.

• FOR A COPY OF THIS TEXT IN A TRI-FOLD PAMPHLET SUITABLE FOR REPRODUCTION CLICK HERE: WHITE RIBBON PAMPHLET adobe pdf.
  
• To find out what you can do to combat pornography throughout the year follow this link to the Morality In Media web site: http://www.moralityinmedia.org/wrap/whatYouCanDo.htm