The Make-A-Wish Foundation says it won't pull away from a comic book convention held here just because the convention displays include Playboy magazines, Playboy models, adult comic books, and other adult materials that are covered if they happen to display any nudity.
Western Pennsylvania/Southern West Virginia regional Make-A-Wish president Judy Stone said in a statement that Make-A-Wish had no intention of dissociating with the comic convention despite criticism from the American Family Association, the conservative family group whose activities include pushing against porn.
"We're going to continue our affiliation with the organizers of Comiccon, and are going to remain the beneficiary of their auction and casino night," the two fundraisers whose proceeds are earmarked for the foundation.
The American Family Association had criticized Make-A-Wish, which grants wishes to terminally ill children, for attenting the Pittsburgh Comic Convention, where a number of fundraising events were aimed at benefitting their regional chapter.
"There were porn magazines openly displayed in front of children and porn stars posing with pictures with young boys," said AFA Northwestern Pennsylvania president Diane Gramley in a statement. Gramley also charged the convention allowed children to "wander through makeshift 'gambling halls'" where alcoholic beverages were "freely consumed."
Gramley had earlier written a description of convention activity on its first day, April 25, saying a table right across from that of the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund featured adult videos. Though the box covers "were not X-rated," she wrote, the titles were hard to miss, including Girls Gone Wild, Girls Gone Wild II, and Janene and Vince Neil - Uncut/Uncensored.
"As we stood a short distance away, we saw a young man who had been following his father take a quick look at the videos as his father turned his back," Gramley wrote. "How poignant the lesson to parents and dangers to their children when they turn their backs in such a 'comic book convention' as this!!"
The convention's marketing director, Patrick Thomas, denied to reporters that any nude images were displayed uncovered at the show, saying the convention had a strict rule that anything showing any nudity has to be covered up. "They're not allowed to show any pornographic material or nudity in the showroom at any time," he said.
The Make-A-Wish events aren't held in the same facility as the convention itself but at an area hotel where other convention-goers and convention-related events are held.
