Bulletin Board v192

Boy Scouts End Longtime Ban on Openly Gay Youths — The Boy Scouts of America on Thursday ended its longstanding policy of forbidding openly gay youths to participate in its activities, a step its chief executive called “compassionate, caring and kind.” The decision, which came after years of resistance and wrenching internal debate, was widely seen as a milestone for the Boy Scouts, a symbol of traditional America. More than 1,400 volunteer leaders from across the country voted, with more than 60 percent approving a measure that said no youth may be denied membership “on the basis of sexual orientation or preference alone.”

Former Church of England priest, 74, abused girls and boys at Barnardo’s home then savagely beat victims who tried to speak out — A retired Church of England priest found guilty of a catalogue of historic sex attacks on young children at a Barnardo’s home has been jailed for 10 years. Canon Gordon Rideout, 74, abused more than a dozen girls and boys at the now closed home at Ifield Hall in Crawley, West Sussex, over a four-year period. The former Anglican clergyman from Polegate, East Sussex, also indecently assaulted two girls at an army site in Middle Wallop, Hampshire, the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) said.

Gym coach tried to ‘hypnotise boy for sex’ — A GYM instructor tried to hypnotise a teenage boy so he could abuse him, a court has heard. Paul Schofield, who was a head coach at Bolton Metro Olympic Gymnastics Club in Farnworth, is accused of abusing the boy in the mid 1990s at his former home, when he was aged 14 or 15. The complainant alleges Schofield, aged 47, of Railway View, Hednesford, Staffordshire, tried to hypnotise him to engage in sexual activity. During a police interview Schofield admitted he learned to hypnotise people after buying a book and said he used it as a “party trick”, but only when there were witnesses around.

Juvenile Inmates Found to Be at No Greater Risk for Prison Rape — Youth advocates have long argued that juveniles incarcerated in adult prisons and jails are at heightened risk for rape and other forms of sexual abuse because of their age. But a government survey released on Thursday found that juveniles did not report significantly more sexual victimization than adult inmates. The survey, which also examined sexual victimization among adult inmates, offers the first national estimates of the prevalence of sexual abuse among juveniles housed in adult facilities.

Bulletin Board v191

Boy Scouts agree to release ‘perversion files’ — The Boy Scouts of America said Thursday it will release to attorneys 10 years of confidential files it uses to keep pedophile suspects from becoming troop leaders or volunteers. The decision comes after the 4th Court of Appeals in San Antonio denied an appeal from the BSA to keep the files sealed. “Youth protection is of paramount importance to the Boy Scouts of America,” BSA spokesman Deron Smith said in an email. “We are thankful the court reviewed this matter and will comply with its order.”

Discrimination against men? — Recent Virgin airlines passenger, John McGirr claims Virgin airlines treated him like a sexual predator on a flight to Sydney. He claims a flight attendant asked him to move saying he was not allowed to sit next to children because he was male. According to Mr McGirr the flight attendant walked up the aisle and tried to find a female to swap seats with him. “By that time, people had looked around and it was like I’d done something wrong, (I felt) defenceless.

Ex-Scout leader admits sexual abuse of boys — Henry Calder, 60, who had been in a position of responsibility in the Scout Association for about 40 years, had taken videos between 1982 and 1991 at camps organised by the movement. He had also been an employee in the finance department at East Dunbartonshire Council until his retirement in 2010. Calder, of Kirkintilloch, was arrested in a raid organised under the auspices of Operation Alba, which targeted people who downloaded child pornography on the internet.

Bulletin Board v190

Boy reveals parental abuse via Facebook — “Hi, my name is S. and I am 14. Since I was 8, my parents beat me regularly. Whenever there was a family argument that I was not connected to and I made eye-contact with my father, he would get angry and punch me hard, sometimes with a belt.” This post, published Friday night by a 14-year-old-boy from Haifa on the police’s Facebook page, raised suspicions of harsh abuse and led to a police investigation and the subsequent arrest of the child’s parents.

Experts see increase in male sexual assault awareness — A California man who, as a child, was sexually molested by his mother, said the trauma he endured has stayed with him well into his adult life and affected his ability to comprehend his emotions and be intimate with women. The 50-year-old, who asked to remain anonymous, said he only came to the realization that his mother’s behavior was inappropriate with him as a boy, within the last few years. “I still battle with a voice that says I’m a baby,” he said, adding that coping is a continuous struggle.

Female rapists abuse soldier for 4 days — A 25-YEAR-OLD soldier was allegedly kidnapped and detained for four days by suspected female rapists, who are said to have sexually abused him several times before releasing him early this week. Police in Mutare have confirmed the incident, saying they were hunting for the suspected culprits. Manicaland assistant police spokesperson Assistant Inspector Muzondiwa Clean told NewsDay yesterday that on April 19 around midnight at Birchenough Bridge business centre, the unsuspecting soldier boarded the women’s vehicle on his way to Mutare.

Mother rapes 2-year-old son with sex toy

This is a fairly horrific case of child rape and abuse. But in keeping with the need to talk about female sex offenders, I think it is important to mention this case:

A 21-year-old mother from Phoenix, Arizona has been charged with sexually abusing her two-year-old son with a vibrator.

Rickesha Burns is accused of assaulting the toddler by forcing the sex toy into his anus. The object had to be surgically removed.

According to court documents obtained by the Phoenix New Times, police said they responded to a 911 call from Burns’ home on March 24.  On their arrival they found the boy crying and bleeding from his rectum.

The child was rushed to the Phoenix Children’s Hospital, where doctors discovered a foreign object lodged in his body. They noted that he was also suffering from other rectal injuries as well as a “hanger-type” bruise on his hip and another bruise on his neck.

Bulletin Board v185

Art teacher sexually abused boy for years, court told — A high school art teacher on Sydney’s northern beaches gave drugs to a teenage student and then performed sex acts on him on multiple occasions, subjecting him to years of abuse, a Sydney court has heard. Peter Wayne Scott, 62, is facing child sex and drug supply charges over a series of incidents at Cromer High School in the mid-1980s with a boy then aged between 14 and 16.

Evangelical church accused of ignoring sexual abuse, “pedophilia ring” — I was not surprised when Sovereign Grace Ministries (SGM), the church group I grew up in as a teen and young adult, was served with a lawsuit this past October, alleging clergy cover-ups of sexual abuse. Sadly, I was even less surprised when the suit was amended in January to include Covenant Life Church (CLC), the congregation I had attended for nine years, and to add new charges of physical and sexual abuse by pastors, as well as allegations of abuse on church property.

Exploited boys remain invisible — Yoyo was 14 when he was thrown out of his house. He knew even then he was gay, but coming out to his family left him homeless and broke. He lost one job after another. He thought about suicide. He traveled around, voguing in ballroom dance events and looking for work. Then one of his women friends suggested they try to make money “escorting,” to use the popular euphemism. Soon enough, Yoyo was in “the life.”

Like Mother Like Daughters

Back in 2010, Christine Shreeve Hubbs was sentenced to three years in jail for sexually abusing two boys. Just days after her release on February 10 of this year, Hubbs violated her parole:

Christine Shreeve Hubbs, 44, who was released from prison Feb. 10, was arrested late Friday during a surprise compliance visit by state parole agents to her Hayward home, said parole spokesman Fred Bridgewater. She is being held without bail at Santa Rita Jail in Dublin.

Bridgewater said that there was no indication the pornography involved children but that Hubbs is not allowed to possess any pornography under the conditions of her parole. If the state pursues sanctions, she has a right to a parole hearing within 10 days.

She was sentenced to a five-year prison term and required to register as a sex offender for the rest of her life after pleading no contest in 2011 to one count of unlawful sex with a minor and three counts of lewd acts with a child.

Hubbs made excuses for herself in a prior interview, including blaming the victim:

The Invisible War’s ironic invisible victims

The 2012 documentary The Invisible War delved into the topic of sexual violence in the military. The film won much acclaim and several awards. The film focuses primarily on female survivors, but also featured two male survivors. However, both of them have a complaint about the film:

“We’re being abandoned by (director) Kirby Dick. The guys feel betrayed,” said Michael Matthews, a 20-year Air Force veteran who, in the movie, tells of his 1974 gang rape by three other airmen. The publicity campaign hawking the film — and its Academy Award candidacy — includes a website that shows the faces of six female victims of military sexual assault, and no male survivors of that crime, as well as formal screenings to which only female victims have been asked to attend, Matthews said.

“What the (bleep) is that about? They don’t list any of the men on the website. He’s making millions of dollars but he’s not bringing any of the men to any these appearances all over the country like he’s bringing the women,” Matthews told NBC News. “I appreciate them putting us in the movie but, now, the men are not being represented at all. He has turned his back on us. And the movie, some of it, is hurting us.”

I have yet to watch the film, but based on the reviews I suspected that the focus was exclusively on women and that any men featured in the film were at best throwaway mentions. It is a truly terrible thing because most of the men raped in the military do not come forward. The film could have helped change that, particularly since the air and attitude of silence is so prevalent with male victims in the military.  Instead, it appears the filmmakers and their predominantly female executive producers decided to paint sexual violence in the military as something that only men do to only women.

And in case people think I am being unreasonable, there is this: