JEFFERSON CITY - House members said Wednesday they wanted to send a message: Pedophilia is not something that should be discussed. Not even in academic journals. And especially not by an employee of a Missouri land-grant university.

House members called on the University of Missouri-Kansas City to fire professor Harris Mirkin because of his writings about pedophilia and homosexuality. They backed up their call by stripping $100,000 from the University of Missouri's budget.

The cut was suggested by Rep. Mark Wright, a Springfield Republican. The professor's writings, he said, seemed to defend sexual relationships between adults and children.

Wright said Mirkin's essays had been posted on Web sites promoting pedophilia and in publications oriented toward the gay community. Mirkin, he said, needs to be replaced.

"This professor has a right to espouse his views," Wright said. "But he doesn't have a right to espouse his illegal views on the taxpayer dime."

Another lawmaker accused Mirkin of "promoting the destruction of our children." Others said Mirkin's writings embarrassed the university.

Rep. Don Lograsso, a Blue Springs Republican, said Mirkin's views were repugnant. He should be reprimanded and probably fired, Lograsso said.

"Sex between adults and children is not acceptable," Lograsso said. "It is not acceptable in this body. It is not acceptable in Missouri. It is not acceptable for professors at a public university."

Mirkin, who has a doctorate from Princeton University and has taught at UMKC for 30 years, has argued that the topic of sexual relations involving children needs open discussion, not just emotional reactions that call all such relationships evil.

He has written that intergenerational sex has been permissible or even obligatory in many cultures. In western societies, sexual contact with minors has degrees of depravity.

One lawmaker defended Mirkin. Rep. Vicky Riback Wilson, a Columbia Democrat, said Republican critics were taking Mirkin's writings out of context. She said that while she disagreed with Mirkin, he had the right to say what he said.

"What he said was that (sex with) a 17-year-old is different than a younger child," Wilson said. "He is not advocating pedophilia."

Mirkin could not be reached for comment Wednesday night.

The funding cut was intended to represent Mirkin's salary, which as of last year was $68,088. Wright said he wanted the $100,000 to be transferred into the state's Crime Victims Compensation Fund.

The cut was approved, 102-29, with five abstentions.

The entire budget still must be debated in the Senate, where funding reductions could be reversed. Differences would have to be resolved in a conference committee made up of members of both chambers.

The Senate's role became more important later Wednesday night when the House cut $500,000 from the University of Missouri budget. This time, it was because of anger over a decision last year by management of the university-run television station, KOMU-TV.

After the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, the news director of the NBC affiliate directed on-air personnel not to wear flag pins or other patriotic symbols. House members considered the directive inappropriate.