500 Virgins Extol ‘Purity’ at White House Stop

Five hundred virgins from throughout the nation and the world converged Friday in front of the White House to celebrate their abstinence and urge young people to “honk for purity.”

The White House stop was the last in a 25-city cross-country trip organized by the Pure Love Alliance, a group of male and female students and church groups promoting abstinence from sex before marriage and fidelity within marriage.

Lenissa Strait, 19, of Bethesda, Md., who helped organize the tour, said: “I feel the real issue is the misuse and the misunderstanding of love.”

The tour, which began June 30, attracted adults and adolescents, the youngest being 13. The demonstrators also visited Los Angeles, Boston and Chicago.

Waving banners declaring that “Free sex is cheap sex,” the marchers began their day in the nation’s capital with a rally at Freedom Plaza.

The 500 included representatives from Austria, Korea and Holland.

“All over the world, virginity is something that is considered stupid. I’m a virgin, and it’s not always something that’s been easy,” said 17-year-old Renate Verstraeten of the Netherlands.

Organizers say they hope the 7,000-mile journey will help end the stigma of virginity.

“I really think we can show other people that it’s really normal and not strange,” Verstraeten said.