message from debbie mahoney :: soc-um

NAMBLA and the ACLU defense of NAMBLA

Having had a child victimized by a member of North American Man Boy Lovers Assoc. (NAMBLA) , I must admit to being totally outraged by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) and it's reasoning for defending NAMBLA.

While I understand that it's the ACLU's mission to help defend people's First Amendment rights, I also understand that the ACLU's time is surely in great demand and that it does have a choice as to which cases it chooses to accept. NAMBLA is hiding very carefully under the First Amendment, while at the same time offering comfort and support to those men who are convicted sex offenders. Aren't there other pressing cases that the ACLU could choose to fight instead?

The reading of NAMBLA's position papers are very telling.... they don't call for lowering of the age of consent, they call for the abolishment of consent laws, period. They consider words like "sexual abuse" to refer to acts of force only, not the act of adults having "consensual" sexual relationships with children, knowing full well that children are manipulated and coerced into silence by adults during sexual abuse.

A quote from NAMBLA's Official Position Papers, Oct. 12, 1996.

"NAMBLA'S first position was adopted at its third General Membership Meeting in June, 1980. It focused on the hated "statutory rape" laws which confuse rape and violence with consensual sex. "Statutory rape" laws vilify, persecute, and arrest the development of the love which men have for boys and which boys have for men. These laws are used in a discriminatory way to give long prison sentences to boy lovers and hinder the development of the gentleness, wisdom, and creative contribution of boy lovers as a minority group. The resolution proposed by Tom Reeves states: (1) The North American Man/Boy Love Association calls for the abolition of age-of- consent and all other laws which prevent men and boys from freely enjoying their bodies. (2) We call for the release of all men and boys imprisoned by such laws."

How nice of NAMBLA to think of children (boys) and their sexual freedom in relationship to men, and how telling. NAMBLA helping boys find their sexual freedom, is like snakes helping their prey to be bitten or eaten.

That the ACLU is getting into the battle is an outrage. Offering assistance to a group that advocates the sexual abuse of children (oops, I mean "consenual" sex with children), and whose many members are convicted child molesters is simply unfathomable. How can the ACLU justify helping a group like NAMBLA when there are so many other worthy causes that it could choose to fight,.

I'm saddened that we have citizens in this country who don't understand that helping NAMBLA helps them promote sexual abuse of our sons. This is truly a dark day in history for our children.

Sincerely,

Debbie Mahoney
Advisory Board, Cyberangels
Founder, SOC-UM
www.soc-um.org