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{{Short description|American pedophilia advocacy organization}} | |||
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{{Use mdy dates|date=July 2022}} | |||
{{Infobox organization | |||
| name = North American Man/Boy Love Association | |||
| logo = NAMBLA logo.svg | |||
| logo_caption = A NAMBLA logo. The capital ''M'' and lowercase ''b'' symbolize a man and a boy. | |||
| type = Unincorporated association | |||
| founded_date = {{start date and age|1978|12|2}}<ref name='Gayhist'/> | |||
| defunct_date = {{start date and age|2006}} | |||
| tax_id = | |||
| registration_id = | |||
| founder = ] | |||
| location = ] and ] | |||
| key_people = | |||
| area_served = ] | |||
| method = ] | |||
| focus = ] and ] activism | |||
| dissolved = | |||
}} | |||
The '''North American Man/Boy Love Association''' ('''NAMBLA''', stylized as '''NAMbLA''') is a ] and ] advocacy organization in the United States. It works to ] criminalizing adult sexual involvement with minors<ref name= Holmes>{{Cite book|title=Current perspectives on sex crimes|first=Ronald M. |last=Holmes |author2=Stephen T. Holmes |publisher=SAGE|year=2002|isbn=0-7619-2416-7|page=165}}</ref><ref name=deyoung>{{Cite journal|title=The World According to NAMBLA: Accounting for Deviance |journal=Journal of Sociology and Social Welfare|volume=16|date=March 1989|pages=111–126|author=M DeYoung|doi=10.15453/0191-5096.1885 |s2cid=55149751 |doi-access=free}}</ref> and campaigns for the release of men who have been jailed for sexual contacts with minors that did not involve what it considers coercion.<ref name= Holmes/><ref name=soto/> | |||
The '''North American Man/Boy Love Association (NAMBLA)''' is a ] and ]-based unincorporated organization that opposes the use of age as the sole criterion for deciding whether minors can legally engage in sexual relations. NAMBLA defends what it asserts to be the right of minors to explore their sexuality on a much freer basis. It has resolved to "end the oppression of men and boys who have freely chosen mutually consenting relationships", and calls for "the adoption of laws that both protect children from unwanted sexual experiences and at the same time leave them free to determine the content of their own sexual experiences."<ref>Radow, Roy (1994). ''</ref> NAMBLA's webpage states that 'NAMBLA does not provide encouragement, referrals or assistance for people seeking sexual contacts' and that it does not <nowiki>"engage in any activities that violate the law . . . advocate that anyone else should ."</nowiki><ref>. 2003.</ref> | |||
The group no longer holds regular national meetings, and as of the late 1990s—to avoid local police infiltration—the organization discouraged the formation of local chapters.<ref name=soto/><ref name=boston/> Around 1995, an undercover detective discovered there were 1,100 people on the organization's rolls.<ref name=soto/> NAMBLA was the largest group in ] (IPCE), an international pro-pedophile activist organization.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Whitfield |first1=Charles L. |last2=Silberg |first2=Joyanna L. |last3=Fink |first3=Paul Jay |title=Misinformation Concerning Child Sexual Abuse and Adult Survivors |date=2001 |publisher=Haworth Maltreatment & Trauma Press |isbn=9780789019004 |page=129 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=09ZXAAAAYAAJ |language=en}}</ref> Since then, the organization has dwindled to only a handful of people, with many members joining online pedophile networks, according to Xavier Von Erck, director of operations at the anti-pedophile organization ].<ref name="PearlVice">{{cite news|last1=Pearl|first1=Mike|title=Whatever Happened to NAMBLA, America's Paedophilia Advocates?|url=https://www.vice.com/en_uk/read/whatever-happened-to-nambla|access-date=March 30, 2016|work=VICE US|date=March 25, 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160329051807/http://www.vice.com/en_uk/read/whatever-happened-to-nambla|archive-date=March 29, 2016|url-status=live}}</ref> {{As of|2005}}, a newspaper report stated that NAMBLA was based in New York and San Francisco.<ref name=soto>Soto, Onell R. (2005). ' {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20050325102309/http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/metro/20050217-2208-manboy-daily.html |date=March 25, 2005 }}', San Diego Union-Tribune, February 18.</ref> | |||
There is an annual gathering in New York City and monthly meetings around the country.<ref>Soto, Onell R. (2005). '', San Diego Union-Tribune, 18 February.</ref> In the early 1980s, NAMBLA was reported to have had over 300 members, and was supported by such noted figures as ].<ref></ref> Since then, the organization has kept membership data private, but an undercover ] investigation in 1995 discovered that there were 1,100 people on the rolls.{{ref label|soto|4|a}} It is the largest organization in the umbrella group IPCE<ref></ref> (formerly "International Pedophile and Child Emancipation").<ref></ref> | |||
Since 1995, public criticism and law enforcement infiltration have heavily impaired the organization. Its national headquarters now consists of little more than a private mail box service in San Francisco, and inquiries are rarely responded to. Some reports state that the group no longer has regular national meetings and few local monthly meetings.<ref>Denizet-Lewis, Benoit (2001). "," Boston Magazine.</ref> | |||
==Platform and positions== | |||
NAMBLA describes itself as a "support group for intergenerational relationships," and uses the slogan "sexual freedom for all." According to the group's web site, its aim is to "support the rights of youth as well as adults to choose the partners with whom they wish to share and enjoy their bodies."{{ref label|who-we-are|3|b}} | |||
One of the group's arguments is that ] laws unnecessarily criminalize sexual relationships between adults and minors (particularly boys).<ref>NAMBLA's Official Position Papers, Oct. 12, 1996.</ref> In 1980 a NAMBLA general meeting passed a resolution, which said: "(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."{{ref label|positions-1996|6|a}} This policy was still in NAMBLA's "official position papers" in 1996. | |||
] | |||
According to ], a NAMBLA principal and one of the many NAMBLA members being sued by the Curleys for allegedly encouraging the rape and murder of their son,<ref>CNN (2001). "</ref> NAMBLA has opposed ], ], and ]ping, and has declared that sexual exploitation is grounds for expulsion from the group.<ref>Radow, Roy (1994). ""</ref> | |||
Although some sources allege that NAMBLA has used the slogan "sex by eight is too late" or "if there is grass on the wicket it is too late" or "sex by eight or else it's too late",<ref> for Massachusetts Senate Bill 2175</ref> this motto is properly attributed to the ]. | |||
==History== | ==History== | ||
Events such as ]'s 1977 "]" campaign and a police raid of a ]-area newspaper, '']'', for publishing an article by ] sympathetic to "boy-love" set the stage for the founding of NAMBLA.<ref name=boston/> | |||
NAMBLA emerged from the tumultuous political atmosphere of the 1970s, particularly from the wing of the ] movement that followed the 1969 ] in ]. Although discussion of gay adult-minor sex did take place, gay rights groups immediately following the Stonewall riot were more concerned with issues of police harassment, nondiscrimination in employment, health care and other issues. | |||
In December 1977, police raided a house in the Boston suburb ]. Twenty-four men were arrested and indicted on over 100 felony counts of the ] of boys aged eight to fifteen.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.thefreelibrary.com/The+Boston/Boise+Affair,+1977-78.+(Essay).-a098247486|title=The Boston/Boise Affair, 1977-78. (Essay). - Free Online Library|website=www.thefreelibrary.com|access-date=June 25, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190427005425/https://www.thefreelibrary.com/The+Boston%2fBoise+Affair%2c+1977-78.+(Essay).-a098247486|archive-date=April 27, 2019|url-status=live}}</ref> Suffolk County district attorney ] found the men had used drugs and video games to lure the boys into a house, where they photographed them as they engaged in sexual activity. The men were members of a "sex ring"; Byrne said the arrest was "the tip of the iceberg".<ref>{{cite book|last=Mitzel|first=John|title=The Boston sex scandal|year=1980|publisher=Glad Day Books|isbn=0-915480-15-8}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|last=Aloisi|first=James|title=The Bonin story : the persecution of a Chief Justice and the lesson for today|url=https://commonwealthmagazine.org/politics/001-the-bonin-story/|year=2012|access-date=April 27, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190427004529/https://commonwealthmagazine.org/politics/001-the-bonin-story/|archive-date=April 27, 2019|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="boston">{{cite web |url=http://www.bostonmagazine.com/home/articles/boy_crazy/ |title=Boy Crazy |first=Benoit |last=Denizet-Lewis |date=May 2001 |work=] |access-date=October 7, 2009 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20120308172841/http://www.bostonmagazine.com/scripts/print/article.php?asset_idx=200857 |archive-date=March 8, 2012 |url-status=dead }}</ref> Commenting on this issue, '']'' magazine described NAMBLA as "the most despised group of men in America", which was "founded mostly by eccentric, boy-loving leftists".<ref name="boston" /> The "Boston-Boise Committee", a gay rights organization, was formed in response to these events (which they termed the "Boston witch-hunt"), allegedly in order to promote solidarity amongst gay men, saying in an official leaflet that: "The closet is weak. There is strength in unity and openness."<ref name=Nu /> NAMBLA's founding was inspired by this organization.<ref name=Nu>{{cite web |url=http://www.lib.neu.edu/archives/voices/gl_sexual2.htm | title = Gay Community Fights Back (1978) | access-date = August 26, 2010 | work = We Raise Our Voices | publisher = Northeastern University | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120207121011/http://www.lib.neu.edu/archives/voices/gl_sexual2.htm | archive-date = February 7, 2012 | url-status = dead }}</ref> It was co-founded by gay-rights activist and socialist ].<ref name="books.google.com"> {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160413072025/https://books.google.com/books?id=L9Mj7oHEwVoC&pg=PA628 |date=April 13, 2016 }} By George E. Haggerty p. 628</ref> | |||
Not until a "sex ring" of underage boys brought intense media scrutiny in ] in the closing weeks of 1977, and police raided the ]-area gay newspaper '']'' for publishing an article by ] titled "" did the subject of adult-minor sex garner enough attention to prompt the formation of a group like NAMBLA. | |||
In 1982, a NAMBLA member was falsely linked to the disappearance of ]. Although the accusation was groundless, the negative publicity was disastrous to the organization.<ref>{{Cite book| last1 = Jenkins | first1 = Philip | title = Moral Panic: Changing Concepts of the Child Molester in Modern America | publisher = Yale University Press | year = 2004 | page = 158 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=g_wT9QQgu1IC&pg=PA158 | access-date = September 2, 2010 | isbn = 978-0-300-10963-4}}</ref> NAMBLA published a book ''A Witchhunt Foiled: The FBI vs. NAMBLA'', which documented these events.<ref>{{Cite journal| title = A Witch-hunt foiled: The FBI vs. NAMBLA | journal = The Advocate | date = May 13, 1986 | first = Hubert | last = Kennedy | issue = 446 | page = 54| author-link=Hubert Kennedy| quote = book review}}</ref> In testimony before the United States Senate, NAMBLA was exonerated from criminal activities; it said, "It is the pedophile with no organized affiliations who is the real threat to children".<ref> by George E. Haggerty, p. 627</ref> | |||
===The founding of NAMBLA (1977-1978)=== | |||
In December 1977, police raided a house in the Boston suburb of ]. Twenty-four men were arrested and indicted on over 100 felony counts of the ] of boys aged eight to fifteen. Suffolk County District Attorney ] alleged that the men used drugs and ]s to lure the boys into a house, where they photographed them as they engaged in sexual activity. Byrne accused the men of being members of a "sex ring", and said that the arrest was only "the tip of the iceberg."<ref>Trinward, Steve (2006). " FMNN, 16 January.</ref> The arrests sparked intense media coverage, and local newspapers published the photographs and personal information of the accused men. | |||
], the author of '']'', infiltrated NAMBLA and recorded his observations in his book, which was published in 1991. Echols published the names, addresses and telephone numbers of eighty suspected NAMBLA members on his website, which led to death threats being made to people who were not members of the organization.<ref name=boston/> | |||
Staff members of the gay newspaper '']'' believed the raid was politically motivated. They and others in Boston's gay community saw Byrne's round-up as an anti-gay ]. On ] they organized the ], a name intended as a reference to a similar situation that unfolded in ], ] in the 1950s. The group sponsored rallies, provided funds for the defendants, and tried to educate the public about the case by passing out fliers. It would also later spawn NAMBLA. | |||
Onell R. Soto, a '']'' writer, wrote in February 2005, "Law enforcement officials and mental health professionals say that while NAMBLA's membership numbers are small, the group has a dangerous ripple effect through the Internet by sanctioning the behavior of those who would abuse children".<ref name="soto"/> | |||
District Attorney Garrett Byrne was defeated in his re-election bid. The new DA said that no man should fear prison for having sex with a teenager unless coercion was involved. All charges were dropped. The few who had already pled or been found guilty received only probation.<ref>O'Carrol, Tom (1980). ''Pedophilia: The Radical Case'', .</ref> | |||
===ILGA controversy=== | |||
On ], ], ] of the Boston-Boise Committee convened a meeting called "Man/Boy Love and the Age of Consent." Approximately 150 people attended. At the meeting's conclusion, about thirty men and youths decided to form an organization which they called the North American Man/Boy Love Association, or NAMBLA for short. | |||
{{main|ILGA consultative status controversy}} | |||
In 1993, the ] (ILGA) achieved ] consultative status. NAMBLA's membership in ILGA drew heavy criticism and caused the suspension of ILGA. Many gay organizations called for the ILGA to dissolve ties with NAMBLA. Republican Senator ] proposed a bill to withhold {{USD|119 million}} in UN contributions until U.S. President ] could certify that no UN agency grants any official status to organizations that condoned pedophilia.<ref>{{cite news|last1=Abrams|first1=Jim|title=Senate demands U.N. end ties with NAMBLA|url=http://www.qrd.org/qrd/orgs/NAMBLA/senate.demands.un.oust.nambla|agency=]|access-date=September 19, 2015|date=January 26, 1994|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151123014056/http://www.qrd.org/qrd/orgs/NAMBLA/senate.demands.un.oust.nambla|archive-date=November 23, 2015|url-status=live}}</ref> The bill was unanimously approved by Congress and signed into law by Clinton in April 1994.<ref name="GibsonAlexander2013"/> | |||
In 1994, ILGA expelled NAMBLA— the first U.S.-based organization to be a member<ref name="books.google.com"/>—as well as ] and Project Truth,<ref name="GibsonAlexander2013">{{cite book|author1=Michelle A. Gibson|author2=Jonathan Alexander|author3=Deborah T. Meem|title=Finding Out: An Introduction to LGBT Studies: An Introduction to LGBT Studies|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=AawgAQAAQBAJ&pg=PA141|date=February 14, 2013|publisher=SAGE Publications|isbn=978-1-4833-1572-0|page=141|access-date=September 11, 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160503141922/https://books.google.com/books?id=AawgAQAAQBAJ&pg=PA141|archive-date=May 3, 2016|url-status=live}}</ref> because they were judged to be "organizations with a predominant aim of supporting or promoting pedophilia".<ref>{{Cite news |last=Campbell |first=Kristina |date=July 1, 1994 |title=Pedophile groups expelled from ILGA |pages=1, 12 |work=] |url=https://digdc.dclibrary.org/islandora/object/dcplislandora%3A165214#page/1/mode/1up |access-date=December 5, 2023}}</ref> Although ILGA removed NAMBLA, the UN reversed its decision to grant ILGA special consultative status. Repeated attempts by ILGA to regain special status with the UN succeeded in 2006.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.un.org/News/Press/docs/2006/ecosoc6242.doc.htm |title=''Economic and Social Council Approves Consultative Status for Three Non-Governmental Organizations Focusing on Gay, Lesbian Rights'', Economic and Social Council ECOSOC/6242, December 11, 2006 |publisher=Un.org |access-date=October 7, 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090705213937/http://www.un.org/News/Press/docs/2006/ecosoc6242.doc.htm |archive-date=July 5, 2009 |url-status=live }}</ref> | |||
===Ostracism=== | |||
Immediately following the ] riots, some U.S. and Canadian gay rights organizations advocated the abolition of age-of-consent laws, believing that gay liberation for minors implied the permission to engage in sexual relationships.<ref>Warner, Tom. ''Never Going Back.'' (Toronto: University of Toronto, 2002), 120.</ref> The Gay Activists Alliance (GAA), a group which splintered from the ] in December of 1969, opposed age-of-consent laws and hosted a forum on the topic in 1976. In 1972 Chicago's Gay Activists Alliance and New York's Gay Activists Alliance jointly sponsored a conference that brought together gay rights activists from eighty-five different gay rights organizations and eighteen states.<ref>Armstrong, Elizabeth A. ''Forging Gay Identities''. (Chicago: University of Chicago, 2002), 100.</ref> At the conference these approximately 200 activists coalesced to form the ], and drafted and passed a "Gay Rights Platform"<ref>"."</ref> which called for the "repeal of all laws governing the age of sexual consent." The Canadian Lesbian and Gay Rights Coalition, also known as the National Gay Rights Coalition (NGRC), supported eliminating age-of-consent laws, as did Gay Alliance Toward Equality (GATE).<ref>Smith, Miriam Catherine. ''Lesbian and Gay Rights in Canada''. (Toronto: University of Toronto, 1999), 60-61.</ref> | |||
Partially in response to the NAMBLA situation,<ref name="GibsonAlexander2013" /> Gregory King of the ] later said, "NAMBLA is not a gay organization ... they are not part of our community and we thoroughly reject their efforts to insinuate that pedophilia is an issue related to gay and lesbian civil rights".<ref name="Gamson 178–199">{{cite journal|jstor=190542|title=Messages of Exclusion: Gender, Movements, and Symbolic Boundaries|first=Joshua|last=Gamson|date=January 1, 1997|journal=Gender and Society|volume=11|issue=2|pages=178–199|doi=10.1177/089124397011002003|s2cid=144695531}}</ref> NAMBLA said, "man/boy love is by definition homosexual", that "the Western homosexual tradition from Socrates to Wilde to Gide ... many non Western homo sexualities from New Guinea and Persia to the Zulu and the Japanese" were formed by pederasty, that "man/boy lovers are part of the gay movement and central to gay history and culture", and that "homosexuals denying that it is 'not gay' to be attracted to adolescent boys are just as ludicrous as heterosexuals saying it's 'not heterosexual' to be attracted to adolescent girls".<ref name="Gamson 178–199" /> | |||
The relative acceptance or indifference to opposition of the age-of-consent began to change at the same time as accusations that gays were child pornographers and child molesters became common. Only weeks apart in 1977 both Judianne Densen-Gerber, founder of the New York drug rehabilitation center Odyssey House, and former beauty queen ] launched separate campaigns targeting gays. Densen-Gerber alleged that gays produced and sold child pornography on a massive scale, while Anita Bryant's "Save Our Children" campaign sought to portray all gays as child molesters. "The recruitment of our children," Bryant argued, "is absolutely necessary for the survival and growth of homosexuality." Bryant's campaign focusing on the alleged "recruitment" of boys by gay men succeeded in overturning a law that had protected civil rights for gays in ]. As a result, the age-of-consent issue became a hotly debated topic within the gay community, and disputes over the age of consent issue within and between gay rights groups — many of which directly or indirectly involved NAMBLA — began to occur on an increasingly frequent basis. | |||
Disagreement was evident following the conference that organized the first gay march on Washington in 1979. In addition to forming several working committees, the conference was responsible for drafting the basic organizing principles of the march ("the five demands" <nowiki></nowiki>). Originally, the Gay Youth Caucus had won approval for its proposal demanding "Full Rights for Gay Youth, including revision of the age of consent laws." However at the first meeting of the National Coordinating Committee, a contingent of lesbians threatened not to participate in the march unless a substitute was adopted. The substitute, authored by an adult lesbian and approved in a mail poll by a majority of delegates, stated: "Protect Lesbian and Gay Youth from any laws which are used to discriminate against, oppress, and/or harass them in their homes, schools, job and social environments."<ref>Thorstad, David. "Man/Boy Love and the American Gay Movement," Journal of Homosexuality 20 (1990): 251-274.</ref> | |||
In 1980 a group called the "Lesbian Caucus – Lesbian & Gay Pride March Committee" distributed a hand-out urging women to split from the annual New York City Gay Pride March because the organizing committee had supposedly been dominated by NAMBLA and its supporters.{{ref label|thors|13|a}} The next year, after some lesbians threatened to picket, the ] gay group Gay PAC (Gay People at Cornell) rescinded its invitation to NAMBLA founder ] to be the keynote speaker at the annual May Gay Festival.{{ref label|thors|13|b}} In the following years, gay rights groups attempted to block NAMBLA’s participation in gay pride parades, prompting leading gay rights figure ] to wear a sign proclaiming "NAMBLA walks with me" as he participated in a 1986 gay pride march in Los Angeles. | |||
Thus by the mid-1980s, NAMBLA was virtually alone in its positions and found itself politically isolated. Gay rights organizations, burdened by accusations of child recruitment and child abuse, had abandoned the radicalism of their early years and had "retreat from the idea of a more inclusive politics,"<ref>Johnson, Matthew D. (2004). ''''. An Encyclopedia of Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender, and Queer Culture.</ref> opting instead to appeal more to the mainstream. Support for "groups perceived as being on the fringe of the gay community," such as NAMBLA, vanished in the process.{{ref label|glbt-enc|14|a}} Today almost all gay rights groups disavow any ties to NAMBLA, voice disapproval of its objectives, and attempt to prevent NAMBLA from having a role in gay and lesbian rights events. | |||
===The International Lesbian and Gay Association controversy=== | |||
The case of ] (ILGA) illustrates this opposition. In 1993, ILGA, of which NAMBLA had been a member for a decade, achieved ] consultative status. NAMBLA's association with ILGA drew heavy criticism, and many gay organizations called for the ILGA to dissolve ties with NAMBLA. Republican Senator ] proposed a bill to withhold $119 million in U.N. contributions until U.S. President ] could certify that "no UN agency grants any official status, accreditation, or recognition to any organization which promotes, condones, or seeks the legalization of pedophilia, that is, the sexual abuse of children". The bill was unanimously approved by Congress and signed into law by Clinton in April 1994. | |||
ILGA had passed a resolution in 1985 which stated that "young people have the right to sexual and social self-determination and that age of consent laws often operate to oppress and not to protect." In spite of this apparent agreement with NAMBLA on the age of consent issue just nine years before, ILGA, by a vote of 214-30 expelled NAMBLA and two other groups (] and ]) in early 1994 because they were judged to be "groups whose predominant aim is to support or promote pedophilia." Although ILGA removed NAMBLA, the U.N. reversed its decision to grant ILGA special consultative status. Repeated attempts by ILGA to reacquire special status with the U.N. have not been successful ], but the group does exercise consultative status with the ]. | |||
Gregory King of the ] later said that "NAMBLA is not a gay organization ... They are not part of our community and we thoroughly reject their efforts to insinuate that pedophilia is an issue related to gay and lesbian civil rights."<ref>Gamson, Joshua (1997). ''Messages of Exclusion: Gender, Movements, and Symbolic Boundaries''. Gender and Society 11(2):178-199. ()</ref> NAMBLA responded by claiming that "man/boy love is by definition homosexual," that "man/boy lovers are part of the gay movement and central to gay history and culture," and that "homosexuals denying that it is 'not gay' to be attracted to adolescent boys are just as ludicrous as heterosexuals saying it's 'not heterosexual' to be attracted to adolescent girls."{{ref label|gamson-1997|15|a}} | |||
===1990s=== | |||
In 1994 the ] (GLAAD) adopted a "Position Statement Regarding NAMBLA" saying GLAAD "deplores the North American Man Boy Love Association's (NAMBLA) goals, which include advocacy for sex between adult men and boys and the removal of legal protections for children. These goals constitute a form of child abuse and are repugnant to GLAAD." Also in 1994 the Board of Directors of the ] (NGLTF) adopted a resolution on NAMBLA that said: "NGLTF condemns all abuse of minors, both sexual and any other kind, perpetrated by adults. Accordingly, NGLTF condemns the organizational goals of NAMBLA and any other such organization." | |||
In 1996 co-founder David Thorstad complained that, "The Bulletin is turning into a semi-pornographic jerk-off mag for pedophiles." Other members insisted that the group only had a minority who were pedophiles, with the majority being pederasts.<ref></ref> | |||
Documents relating to the court case ''] and others'' provide further information on NAMBLA's structure and activities. In March 2003 Judge ] of the Massachusetts federal court found that in the 1990s (the period being considered by the court), NAMBLA was controlled by a national Steering Committee, "a group which purposefully directed NAMBLA's outreach activities generally." | |||
The court documents also shed light on some of NAMBLA's activities, including that: | |||
:"NAMBLA was established as an unincorporated association in 1978 to encourage public acceptance of consensual sexual relationships between men and boys. Its principal place of business is New York, and its primary mechanisms of public outreach include its ''Bulletin'', a quarterly publication sent to dues-paying members... ''Gayme Magazine'', a NAMBLA publication mailed periodically to dues-paying members and sold at some bookstores; a NAMBLA website... TOPICS, a series of booklets providing more focused consideration of issues related to "man-boy love"; a prison newsletter; Ariel's Pages, a NAMBLA project through which literature concerning "man-boy love" was sold; and membership conferences. | |||
:"The Steering Committee, through several of its members, also formed "Zymurgy, Inc.," a Delaware corporation, which was operated as a profit-making arm of NAMBLA. Although the defendants describe the ''Bulletin'', ''Gayme Magazine'', Ariel's Pages, and Zymurgy, Inc. as separate and distinct from NAMBLA, it appears from the materials submitted, including minutes of Steering Committee meetings, that the Steering Committee controlled all of these entities, providing monies to initiate and support various projects and freely transferring funds among them." | |||
:"In addition to managing NAMBLA's financial matters, the Steering Committee also directed the association's policy, political, legal, and public relations efforts. Steering Committee members held frequent meetings and retreats during which they discussed NAMBLA's public image, formulated the association's outreach efforts, and nominated spokespersons. Members of the Steering Committee in close coordination with each other, created and maintained NAMBLA's website, and wrote, marketed, sold, and otherwise disseminated a variety of publications. Working in Massachusetts, William Andriette served as the editor of the ''Bulletin'' and ''Gayme Magazine''. He did not act alone but rather under the supervision of the Steering Committee in producing these publications and in holding himself out as a NAMBLA spokesman. | |||
:"In addition to the financial support and supervision provided by the full Steering Committee, the content of the ''Bulletin'' was guided by the "Bulletin Collective," an editorial board comprising NAMBLA members from across the country who contributed and edited articles, screened photos and pictures, and participated in coordinating the production and distribution of the publication." | |||
Judge O'Toole found that ], Dennis Bejin, Joe Power, David Miller (also known as David Menasco), Peter Melzer (also known as Peter Herman), Arnold Schoen (also known as Floyd Conaway), Dennis Mintun, Chris Farrell, Tim Bloomquist, Tecumseh Brown, Gary Hann, Peter Reed, Robert Schwartz, Walter Bieder and Leyland Stevenson were or had been members of the NAMBLA Steering Committee or had held other leading positions in the organization. | |||
===Today=== | |||
More recently, media reports have suggested that for practical purposes the group no longer exists and that it consists only of a web site maintained by a few enthusiasts. NAMBLA maintains a web site that shows addresses in ] and ] and a phone contact in New York, and offers publications for sale, including the NAMBLA Bulletin. | |||
==Criticism and response== | |||
Some gay groups, ] groups, anti-sexual abuse organizations, law enforcement agencies and other critics see NAMBLA as a front for the criminal sexual exploitation of children. They say NAMBLA functions as a meeting place for male ] and ] and their sympathizers. Opponents also argue that pre-] children in particular are not capable of giving consent and that the power imbalance between adults and children makes any sexual relationship exploitative. A number of alleged NAMBLA members have been charged with and convicted of sexual offenses against children. | |||
Onell R. Soto, a ''San Diego Union-Tribune'' writer, wrote in February 2005: "Law enforcement officials and mental health professionals say that while NAMBLA's membership numbers are small, the group has a dangerous ripple effect through the Internet by sanctioning the behavior of those who would abuse children."{{ref label|soto|4|b}} | |||
Suspicion pertaining to the group's activities led both the U.S. Senate and U.S. Postal Service to conduct investigations of the group, both of which concluded without allegations of legal impropriety. | |||
NAMBLA responds to the criticism that it is a "front for criminal and sexual exploitation of children" and that it advocates sex between men and boys by stating unequivocally that "NAMBLA does not engage in any activities that violate the law, nor do we advocate that anyone else should do so".{{ref label|who-we-are|3|b}} Since sex between adults and minors is illegal, it is presumably included in NAMBLA's avoidance of advocating activities that violate the law. | |||
NAMBLA rejects the widely held view that sex between adults and minors is always harmful, arguing that "the outcomes of personal experiences between adults and younger people primarily depend upon whether their relationships were consensual."<ref>"" 2003.</ref> In support of this position NAMBLA cites research such as '']'', which was published in the ] in 1998. NAMBLA devoted a web page to a brief overview of the study under the heading "The Good News About Man/Boy Love," and claimed the study showed, "On average, nearly 70% of males in the studies reported that as children or adolescents their sexual experiences with adults had been positive or neutral."<ref>"." 2003.</ref> Some researchers dispute the findings of this ].<ref>.</ref> | |||
Gay rights groups opposed to NAMBLA contend that their reason for disavowing NAMBLA has always been their sharing of the general public's disdain for pedophilia and ] (as expressed in issues statements). These gay rights groups reject NAMBLA's claims of an analogy between the campaign for gay and lesbian equality and the abolition of age-of-consent laws, and view NAMBLA's rhetoric about "the sexual rights of youth" as a cover for its members' "real agenda". | |||
Radicals like ]<ref>Califa, Pat (1994). "The Aftermath of the Great Kiddy-Porn Panic of '77," ''The Culture of Radical Sex.''</ref> argue that politics played an important role in the gay community's rejection of NAMBLA. Califia says that although the gay rights mainstream never committed itself to NAMBLA or its platform, neither did it actively ostracise NAMBLA until opponents of gay rights used the group to link gay rights with child abuse and "recruitment." As evidence, subscribers to this theory point to statements made by prominent gay activists which contain political assessments of NAMBLA's impact on gay rights. One such statement was made by gay rights lobbyist Steve Endean. Endean, who opposed NAMBLA, said: "What NAMBLA is doing is tearing apart the movement. If you attach it to gay rights, gay rights will never happen." Gay author and activist Edmund White made a similar statement in his book ''States of Desire'': "That's the politics of self-indulgence. Our movement cannot survive the man-boy issue. It's not a question of who's right, it's a matter of political naivete." | |||
==Related legal proceedings== | |||
===Criminal cases=== | |||
Although NAMBLA itself has never been prosecuted, there have been a number of prosecutions of alleged NAMBLA members for sexual offences involving children or adolescents. | |||
*The most recent of these cases involved a number of men arrested by the FBI in ] and ] in February 2005. Seven men were charged with planning to travel to ] to have sex with boys, the FBI said. An eighth man was charged with distributing ].{{ref label|soto|4|c}} According to a media report,{{ref label|soto|4|d}} the FBI believes that at least one of the arrested men is a member of NAMBLA's national leadership, a second organized the group's national convention last year and a third said he had been a member since the 1980s. | |||
*Roy Radow, a self-described pedophile and member of the NAMBLA Steering Committee sometimes described as its chairman or spokesman, was arrested in 1996 for masturbating in front of a 12-year old boy. The trial ended in a ].<ref></ref> | |||
*John David Smith, a San Francisco man, unwittingly spoke of his crimes to an undercover investigator who had infiltrated NAMBLA. Upon obtaining a warrant, the investigator also found ] in Smith's apartment. He was arrested in 1996 and was subsequently convicted of sexually assaulting an 11-year-old boy he was babysitting. Smith's membership in NAMBLA was raised at trial to prove his lascivious intent.<ref></ref><ref></ref><ref></ref> | |||
*], a ] priest convicted of abusing children as young as six years old over a period of three decades, allegedly participated in NAMBLA workshops and advocacy, according to contemporaneous accounts of the events obtained by the ].<ref></ref><ref></ref> | |||
*Johnathan Tampico was convicted of child molestation in 1989 and paroled in 1992 on condition that he not possess child pornography. After moving without informing authorities of his new address, he was found after a broadcast of ]. He was arrested and convicted on child pornography charges. In his sentencing, the court stated that Tampico was a member of NAMBLA, and that he and others frequently traveled to ] to have easy access to young boys. The court cited a number of ] pictures provided by Thai officials depicting Tampico with young Thai boys sitting on his lap as evidence of the latter claim.<ref></ref><ref></ref> | |||
*James C. Parker, a New York man who, according to court records, told the police that he was a member of NAMBLA, was arrested in 2000 and convicted in 2001 of committing sodomy with a young boy.<ref></ref> | |||
===''Curley v. NAMBLA''=== | ===''Curley v. NAMBLA''=== | ||
{{Main|Curley v. NAMBLA}} | |||
In 2000, a Boston couple, Robert and Barbara Curley, sued NAMBLA. According to the Curley's suit, Charles Jaynes and Salvatore Sicari (who were convicted of murdering the Curleys' son, Jeffrey) "stalked Jeffrey Curley... and tortured, murdered and mutilated body on or about October 1, 1997. Upon information and belief immediately prior to said acts Charles Jaynes accessed NAMBLA's website at the Boston Public Library." According to police, Jaynes had eight issues of a NAMBLA publication in his home at the time of his arrest. The lawsuit further alleges that "NAMBLA serves as a conduit for an underground network of pedophiles in the United States who use their NAMBLA association and contacts therein and the Internet to obtain child pornography and promote pedophile activity."<ref></ref> | |||
In 2000, a Boston couple, Robert and Barbara Curley, sued NAMBLA for the wrongful death of their son. According to the suit, defendants Charles Jaynes and Salvatore Sicari, who were convicted of murdering the Curleys' son Jeffrey, "stalked ... tortured, murdered and mutilated body on or about October 1, 1997. Upon information and belief immediately prior to said acts, Charles Jaynes accessed NAMBLA's website at the Boston Public Library."<ref name="thecpac"/> The lawsuit said, "NAMBLA serves as a conduit for an underground network of pedophiles in the United States who use their NAMBLA association and contacts therein and the Internet to obtain and promote pedophile activity".<ref name="thecpac">{{cite web|url=http://www.thecpac.com/Curleys-v-NAMBLA.html |title=Curley v. NAMBLA |publisher=Thecpac.com |access-date=September 19, 2015 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20020606132158/http://www.thecpac.com/Curleys-v-NAMBLA.html |archive-date = June 6, 2002 | url-status=dead}}</ref> Jaynes wrote in his diary, "This was a turning point in discovery of myself ... NAMBLA's ''Bulletin'' helped me to become aware of my own sexuality and acceptance of it ... ".<ref>{{Cite news |author=Slobogin |first=Kathy |date=January 5, 2001 |title=Parents of murdered child sue child-sex advocates - January 8, 2001 |publisher=Edition.cnn.com |url=http://edition.cnn.com/2001/LAW/01/08/nambla.suit.crim/ |url-status=live |access-date=October 7, 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090812105425/http://edition.cnn.com/2001/LAW/01/08/nambla.suit.crim/ |archive-date=August 12, 2009}}</ref> | |||
Citing cases in which NAMBLA members |
Citing cases in which NAMBLA members were convicted of sexual offenses against children, Larry Frisoli, the attorney representing the Curleys, said the organization is a "training ground" for adults who wish to seduce children, in which men exchange strategies to find and groom child sex partners. Frisoli also said NAMBLA has sold on its website "The Rape and Escape Manual", which gave details about the avoidance of capture and prosecution.<ref>{{cite news|author1=Murdock, Deroy|title=No Boy Scouts: The ACLU defends NAMBLA|url=http://www.nationalreview.com/murdock/murdock200402270920.asp|access-date=August 5, 2015|work=National Review Online|date=February 27, 2004|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20040229030409/http://www.nationalreview.com/murdock/murdock200402270920.asp|archive-date=February 29, 2004|url-status=dead}}</ref> The ] (ACLU) stepped in to defend NAMBLA as a free speech matter;<ref>{{cite web|title=ACLU Statement on Defending the Free Speech of Unpopular Organizations|url=https://www.aclu.org/news/aclu-statement-defending-free-speech-unpopular-organizations|work=]|access-date=August 5, 2015|date=August 31, 2000|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150726080311/https://www.aclu.org/news/aclu-statement-defending-free-speech-unpopular-organizations|archive-date=July 26, 2015|url-status=live}}</ref> it won a dismissal because NAMBLA is organized as an unincorporated association rather than a corporation. John Reinstein, director of the ACLU Massachusetts, said although NAMBLA "may extol conduct which is currently illegal", there was nothing on its website that "advocated or incited the commission of any illegal acts, including murder or rape".<ref>Reinstein, John. "ACLU Agrees to Represent NAMBLA in Freedom of Speech Case." ACLU of Massachusetts Press Release, June 9, 2003.</ref> | ||
A NAMBLA founder said the case would "break our backs, even if we win, which we will".<ref name="boston"/> Media reports from 2006 said that for practical purposes the group no longer exists and that it consists only of a website maintained by a few enthusiasts.<ref name="boston" /> The Curleys continued the suit as a wrongful death action against individual NAMBLA members, some of whom were active in the group's leadership. Targets of the wrongful death suits included NAMBLA co-founder David Thorstad. The lawsuit was dropped in April 2008 after a judge ruled that a key witness was not competent to testify.<ref>Saltzman, Jonathan. '' {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081118225715/http://www.boston.com/news/local/breaking_news/2008/04/curley_family_d.html |date=November 18, 2008 }}'', The Boston Globe, April 23, 2008</ref> | |||
The ] stepped in to defend NAMBLA as a free speech matter and won a dismissal based on the fact that NAMBLA is organized as an unincorporated association, not a corporation. John Reinstein, the director of the ACLU Massachusetts, said that although NAMBLA "may extol conduct which is currently illegal", there was nothing on its website that "advocated or incited the commission of any illegal acts, including murder or rape".<ref>Reinstein, John. "ACLU Agrees to Represent NAMBLA in Freedom of Speech Case." ACLU of Massachusetts Press Release, 9 June 2003.</ref> The Curleys continued the suit as a wrongful death action against individual NAMBLA members, some of whom were active in the group's leadership.{{ref label|curley-v-nambla|21|a}} | |||
== Support == | |||
The target of the wrongful death suits were Roy Radow, Joe Power, David Miller, Peter Herman, Max Hunter, Arnold Schoen and ], a co-founder of NAMBLA and well-known writer. The Curleys alleged that Charles Jaynes and Salvatore Sicari, who were convicted of the rape and murder of their ten-year-old son Jeffrey, were NAMBLA members. | |||
], poet and father of the ], was an affiliated member of NAMBLA. Claiming to have joined the organization "in defense of free speech",<ref name="donnell-milner">{{cite book |last1=O'Donnell |first1=Ian |last2=Milner |first2=Claire |title=Child Pornography: Crime, Computers and Society |date=2012 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=9781135846350 |pages=12–13 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=tv6Qgl021wkC |language=en |access-date=November 29, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160513090118/https://books.google.com/books?id=tv6Qgl021wkC |archive-date=May 13, 2016 |url-status=live }}</ref> Ginsberg said: "Attacks on NAMBLA stink of politics, witchhunting for profit, humorlessness, vanity, anger and ignorance ... I'm a member of NAMBLA because I love boys too—everybody does, who has a little humanity".<ref>{{cite web |last1=Thrift |first1=Matt |title=Pedophiles on display |url=http://mytjnow.com/2020/01/22/pedophiles-on-display/ |website=My TJ Now |date=January 22, 2020}}</ref> He appeared in '']'', produced and directed by Adi Sideman, a documentary in which members of NAMBLA gave interviews and presented defenses of the organization.<ref>{{Cite news | first = Stephen | last = Holden | title = FILM REVIEW; Men Who Love Boys Explain Themselves | date = July 8, 1994 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1994/07/08/movies/film-review-men-who-love-boys-explain-themselves.html | work = ] | access-date = September 1, 2010 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100626093631/http://www.nytimes.com/1994/07/08/movies/film-review-men-who-love-boys-explain-themselves.html | archive-date = June 26, 2010 | url-status = live }}</ref> | |||
] argued that politics played an important role in the gay community's rejection of NAMBLA.<ref>Califa, Pat (1994). "The Aftermath of the Great Kiddy-Porn Panic of '77," '' {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151002120220/http://www.worldcat.org/title/public-sex-the-culture-of-radical-sex/oclc/30664975 |date=October 2, 2015 }}.'' Pittsburgh, Pa.: Cleis Press.</ref> Califia has since withdrawn much of his earlier support for the association while still maintaining that discussing an issue does not constitute criminal activity.<ref>{{Cite news |url=http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2000/10/27/WB78665.DTL&type=printable |title=''Radical Transformation'', Writer Patrick Califia-Rice has long explored the fringes. Now the former lesbian S/M activist is exploring life as a man, San Francisco Chronicle, Rona Marech, October 27, 2000 |publisher=Sfgate.com |date=October 27, 2000 |access-date=October 7, 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090704204742/http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=%2Fc%2Fa%2F2000%2F10%2F27%2FWB78665.DTL&type=printable |archive-date=July 4, 2009 |url-status=live }}</ref> | |||
As of April 2005 the wrongful death cases were still being considered by a Massachusetts federal court, with the American Civil Liberties Union assisting the defendants on the grounds that the suit violated their ] rights to free speech.{{ref label|murdock|2|a}} The American Civil Liberties Union makes it clear, however, that it does not endorse NAMBLA's objectives. "We've never taken a position that sexual-consent laws are beyond the state's power to legislate," John Reinstein, attorney for the Massachusetts branch of the American Civil Liberties Union, said in 1997. "I've never been able to fathom their position." (''Boston Globe'', October 9, 1997). | |||
], feminist academic and social critic, signed a manifesto supporting the group in 1993.<ref>{{cite news|last=Paglia|first=Camille|date=March 1, 2014|title=The Drinking Age Is Past Its Prime|work=]|url=http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/news/timstanley/100261734/allen-ginsberg-camille-paglia-and-the-literary-champions-of-paedophilia/|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140306014809/http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/news/timstanley/100261734/allen-ginsberg-camille-paglia-and-the-literary-champions-of-paedophilia/|archive-date=March 6, 2014}}</ref><ref name="salonissue">{{cite magazine|date=April 15, 1997|title=Camille Paglia's online advice for the culturally disgruntled|url=http://www.salon.com/april97/columnists/paglia970415.html|magazine=]|location=San Francisco|publisher=]|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20000510042252/http://www.salon.com/april97/columnists/paglia970415.html|archive-date=May 10, 2000|access-date=September 7, 2019|url-status=dead}}</ref> In 1994, Paglia supported lowering the ] to fourteen. She noted in a 1995 interview with pro-pedophile activist ] "I fail to see what is wrong with erotic fondling with any age."{{sfn|Paglia|1994|pages = -91}}<ref>{{cite web|first=Camille|last=Paglia|url=http://archive.guidemag.com/magcontent/invokemagcontent.cfm?ID=E6B2CF78-031D-11D4-AD990050DA7E046B|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110711133353/http://archive.guidemag.com/magcontent/invokemagcontent.cfm?ID=E6B2CF78-031D-11D4-AD990050DA7E046B|title=Has the gay movement turned down the wrong path?|website=The Guide|publisher=Bill Andriette|location=Montreal, Canada|date=August 1995|access-date=September 7, 2019 | url-status = dead| archive-date=July 11, 2011}}</ref> In a 1997 '']'' column, Paglia expressed the view that male pedophilia correlates with the heights of a civilization, stating "I have repeatedly protested the lynch-mob hysteria that dogs the issue of man-boy love. In '']'', I argued that male pedophilia is intricately intertwined with the cardinal moments of Western civilization."<ref name="salonissue"/> Paglia noted in several interviews, as well as ''Sexual Personae'', that she supports the legalization of certain forms of ].<ref name="timeinterview">{{cite magazine | title = The Bete Noire of Feminism: CAMILLE PAGLIA | magazine = ] | location = New York City | date = January 13, 1992 | url = http://content.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,974660,00.html | access-date = September 7, 2019 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web|first=Camille|last=Paglia|url=http://gos.sbc.edu/p/paglia.html|title=Crisis In The American Universities|website=]|publisher=]|location=Sweet Briar, Virginia|date=September 19, 1991|access-date=September 7, 2019|archive-date=August 31, 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130831053013/http://gos.sbc.edu/p/paglia.html|url-status=dead}}</ref>{{sfn|Paglia|1994|pages = -91}} She later had a change of heart on the matter. In an interview for Radio New Zealand's ''Saturday Morning'' show, conducted on April 28, 2018, by ], Paglia was asked, "Are you a libertarian on the issue of pedophilia?", to which she replied, <blockquote>"In terms of the present day, I think it's absolutely impossible to think we could reproduce the Athenian code of pedophilia, of boy-love, that was central to culture at that time. ... We must protect children, and I feel that very very strongly. The age of consent for sexual interactions between a boy and an older man is obviously disputed, at what point that should be. I used to think that fourteen (the way it is in some places in the world) was adequate. I no longer think that. I think young people need greater protection than that. ... This is one of those areas that we must confine to the realm of imagination and the history of the arts."<ref>{{cite web |last1=Paglia |first1=Camille |title=Camille Paglia — Free Women, Free Men |url=https://www.rnz.co.nz/national/programmes/saturday/audio/2018642586/camille-paglia-free-women-free-men |website=RNZ (Radio New Zealand) |access-date=August 22, 2020 |location=Wellington (NZ) |pages=44:29 (starting time of quoted passage) |date=April 22, 2018}}</ref></blockquote> | |||
===Other civil cases=== | |||
In addition to ''Curley v. NAMBLA'', several other cases have been cited as evidence that NAMBLA serves as a meeting place or front for men who commit sexual crimes against children and adolescents. | |||
=== Feigned support === | |||
*Peter Melzer served as a NAMBLA treasurer, Steering Committee Member, fundraiser, spokesman, and ''Bulletin'' editor. In his private life he was a tenured physics teacher at the elite ], where he had taught for over three decades. The school district knew of his membership in NAMBLA in 1985 but did not act as mere membership was not an adequate cause for discipline. In 1993 a local TV news expose revealed that he was a NAMBLA member. As a result the ] commissioned a report. The report states that Melzer had personally expressed a sexual interest in boys up to age 16, and that he had written about having acted on those desires. The report also asserts that, while he was editor, the NAMBLA ''Bulletin'' printed instructions for seducing young boys and avoiding law enforcement along with sensual accounts of sexual encounters between adults and minors. Further, the investigators claim not to find any significant attempts by NAMBLA to advocate for changing the age of consent laws, and claim that the self-definition of advocacy group is a misleading attempt by NAMBLA to cover itself with a political purpose. Melzer was removed as a school teacher, but no criminal charges were filed in connection with the matter. The case went as far as the federal appeals court, which affirmed the dismissal of Melzer in 2003.<ref>NYCSI, 1993 "", an objective investigation of NAMBLA and one of its officers. (PDF)</ref><ref></ref> | |||
{{See also|Anti-LGBT rhetoric#Conflation with child abuse|Societal attitudes toward homosexuality#Association with child abuse and pedophilia}} | |||
In a 2017 protest at Columbia University against ], an unidentified individual raised a pro-pedophilia banner showing logos from NAMBLA and some leftist organizations (all denying knowledge of any such cooperation). Fact-checking organizations consider this a ] as ] personalities were quick to repost the photo without caveat and because NAMBLA had largely ceased operation by 2016.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Weill |first1=Kelly |title=Far-Right Trolls Are Falsely Saying LGBT Activists Want Pedophilia Accepted |url=https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/janelytvynenko/far-right-trolls-lgbt-pedophilia-hoax |work=BuzzFeed News |date=October 31, 2017 |language=en}}</ref> A similar ] hoax in 2018 connected NAMBLA with ], following a controversial TEDx presentation—notably unvetted by the TED organization—referring to pedophilia as an "unchangeable sexual orientation".<ref>{{cite web |title=Did Facebook Allow a Pro-Pedophilia Ad to Run? |url=https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/facebook-ted-ad/ |website=Snopes.com|date=July 14, 2020 }}</ref> | |||
==Opposition == | |||
*In 2005, a NAMBLA member and self-professed pedophile, Kevin Brown, called<ref></ref> into Rick Roberts' radio show on KFMB in response to a ]1000 "bounty" Roberts had placed on the heads of NAMBLA members. Brown said that he felt calling into the show to " stand on behalf of the physical safety of NAMBLA members" was a moral imperative,<ref>http://unkind.atspace.com/seizure.html</ref> and stated that he would use the $1000 to finance a play he was writing which sympathetically depicted romance between adults and children. After hearing a child in the background, Roberts convinced Brown to clarify that he was a father. A little over one week and five days later, ] seized his 2-year-old son, citing an expired conviction for possession of child pornography and his alleged "support the sexual exploitation of minor children." Brown also lost his job and was divorced by his wife. He did not receive the $1000, and is currently seeking to have his child returned to him using legal remedies. | |||
The first documented opposition to NAMBLA from LGBT organizations occurred at the conference that organized the ].<ref name="thorstad">{{citation| journal = Journal of Homosexuality| title = Man/Boy Love and the American Gay Movement| volume = 20| issue = 1 & 2| date = February 1990| last = Thorstad| first = David| pages = 251–274| doi = 10.1300/J082v20n01_15| pmid = 2086634| issn = 0091-8369| publisher = Routledge|url=https://archive.org/details/ManboyLoveAndTheAmericanGayMovement| access-date = August 17, 2016| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160612114119/https://archive.org/details/ManboyLoveAndTheAmericanGayMovement| archive-date = June 12, 2016| url-status = live}}</ref> | |||
In 1980, a group called the Lesbian Caucus distributed a flyer urging women to split from the annual ], because according to the group, the organizing committee had been dominated by NAMBLA and its supporters.<ref name="thorstad"/> The next year, after some lesbians threatened to picket, the ] group Gay People at Cornell (Gay PAC) rescinded its invitation to NAMBLA co-founder David Thorstad to be the keynote speaker at the annual May Gay Festival.<ref name="thorstad"/> In the following years, gay rights groups tried to block NAMBLA's participation in gay pride parades, prompting leading gay rights figure ] to wear a sign proclaiming "NAMBLA walks with me" as he participated in a 1986 gay pride march in Los Angeles.<ref name=hogan>Hogan, Steve and Lee Hudson (1998). ''Completely Queer: The Gay and Lesbian Encyclopedia''. New York, Henry Holt and Company. {{ISBN|0-8050-3629-6}}.</ref> | |||
==In the popular media== | |||
NAMBLA was parodied in episode 203 of '']'', ''The Biggest Failure In Broadway History'', and also in episode 406 of '']'', "]" (see below). | |||
By the mid-1980s, NAMBLA was virtually alone in its positions and found itself politically isolated.<ref name="Johnson">Johnson, Matthew D. (2015). '' {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150924022428/http://www.glbtqarchive.com/ssh/nambla_S.pdf |date=September 24, 2015 }}'' on ]. Archived from {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20051027155539/http://www.glbtq.com/social-sciences/nambla.html |date=October 27, 2005 }} (2004)</ref> Support for "groups perceived as being on the fringe of the gay community," such as NAMBLA, vanished in the process.<ref name="Johnson"/> | |||
NAMBLA is identified as a lobby group in ]'s '']'' (2004), and is also alluded to on '']'', often tagged on to an existing lobby group's acronym for the parody (''e.g.'', "The International Atomic Energy Agency, or NAMBLA"). '']'' acknowledged this in a clip retrospective on the July 27, 2006 episode, then turned the joke on its head by saying "However, for the record, the Daily Show has absolutely no affiliation with the North American Man/Boy Love Association or, as it's called, ]", and again on October 2, 2006, in response to the ], "The Foley saga quickly set leaders of the North American Man/Boy Love Association, or, ], into action." | |||
In 1994, Stonewall 25, a New York LGBT rights group, voted to ban NAMBLA from its international march on the ] in June of that year.<ref>{{cite news|last1=Mills|first1=Kim I.|title=Gays tell abusers they're unwelcome|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=2457&dat=19940214&id=EWo-AAAAIBAJ&pg=2349,4115733&hl=en|access-date=September 19, 2015|work=Bangor Daily News|date=February 14, 1994|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151008211646/https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=2457&dat=19940214&id=EWo-AAAAIBAJ&sjid=u1kMAAAAIBAJ&pg=2349,4115733&hl=en|archive-date=October 8, 2015|url-status=live}}</ref> The same year, NAMBLA was again banned from the march commemorating Stonewall. Instead, members of NAMBLA and the ] formed their own competing march called "The Spirit of Stonewall".<ref name="rhh">{{Cite news|url=http://www.bostonphoenix.com/boston/news_features/other_stories/documents/02511115.htm|title=The real Harry Hay|date=November 7, 2002|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090530123601/http://www.bostonphoenix.com/boston/news_features/other_stories/documents/02511115.htm |archive-date=May 30, 2009 |access-date=July 25, 2018|first=Michael|last=Bronski|publisher=]}}</ref> The ] (GLAAD) adopted a document called "Position Statement Regarding NAMBLA", which said GLAAD "deplores the North American Man Boy Love Association's (NAMBLA) goals, which include advocacy for sex between adult men and boys and the removal of legal protections for children. These goals constitute a form of child abuse and are repugnant to GLAAD."<ref name=DKDec112011>{{cite news|last1=Wooledge|first1=Scott|title=Who dropped the ball discussing the Pennsylvania State scandal?|url=http://www.dailykos.com/story/2011/12/11/1042611/-Who-dropped-the-ball-discussing-the-Pennsylvania-State-scandal#|access-date=September 19, 2015|work=Daily Kos|date=December 11, 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151003075106/http://www.dailykos.com/story/2011/12/11/1042611/-Who-dropped-the-ball-discussing-the-Pennsylvania-State-scandal|archive-date=October 3, 2015|url-status=live}}</ref> | |||
Mike Echols, the author of ''I Know My First Name is Steven'', the true story of the kidnap and ] of ] infiltrated NAMBLA and his observations are recorded in his book. | |||
That year, the Board of Directors of the ] (NGLTF) adopted a resolution on NAMBLA that said, "NGLTF condemns all abuse of minors, both sexual and any other kind, perpetrated by adults. Accordingly, NGLTF condemns the organizational goals of NAMBLA and any other such organization."<ref name=DKDec112011/> | |||
Detectives in ] often ask suspects if they are in NAMBLA when they claim they had a consensual relationship with a minor. | |||
In 2000 in New York, a teacher was fired for his association with NAMBLA. There were no criminal charges or complaints about his conduct in class.<ref>{{Cite news|last=Hentoff|first=Nat|date=October 30, 1993|title=A PEDOPHILE AS TEACHER|language=en-US|newspaper=]|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/opinions/1993/10/30/a-pedophile-as-teacher/50bfeab1-b942-4fc2-9d98-36a155b9e34e/|access-date=September 2, 2020|issn=0190-8286}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|last=Hendrie|first=Caroline|date=March 3, 2004|title=Court Rebuffs Teacher Who Advocated 'Man-Boy' Sex - Education Week|work=Education Week|url=https://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2004/03/03/25scotus.h23.html|access-date=September 2, 2020}}</ref> | |||
Hardcore punk band ] feature a song called "Muppet NAMBLA" on their ] "Rock The 40oz" EP. ] band ] included a song called "I Gave NAMBLA Pictures of Your Kid" on their ] album '']''. The Norwegian band ] also has a song named "The midnight NAMBLA" on their ] Album '']''. | |||
In April 2013, the ] group ] prevented NAMBLA's website from being accessed as part of an operation dubbed "Operation Alice Day".<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K2wOVHN6ezA|title = Anonymous Operation Alice Day|date = April 22, 2013|website = Youtube|publisher = anon2world|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170308214131/https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K2wOVHN6ezA|archive-date = March 8, 2017|url-status = live|df = dmy-all}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title = Operation Alice Day : Child abusers will not celebrate this year|url=https://anoninsiders.net/operation-alice-day-1788/|website = anoninsiders.net|access-date = August 3, 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151002113935/https://anoninsiders.net/operation-alice-day-1788/|archive-date = October 2, 2015|url-status = dead}}</ref> The timing of the attack coincided with Alice Day, a Pedophilia Pride Day celebrated by a small group of pedophiles and their supporters on April 25.<ref>{{cite web|title = Anonymous Just Took Down NAMBLA's Homepage to Protest Pedophilia Pride Day|url=https://gizmodo.com/5995389/anonymous-just-took-down-namblas-homepage-to-protest-pedophilia-pride-day|access-date = August 3, 2015|first = Ashley|last = Feinberg|date=April 25, 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150709221449/http://gizmodo.com/5995389/anonymous-just-took-down-namblas-homepage-to-protest-pedophilia-pride-day|archive-date = July 9, 2015|url-status = live}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|author1=Fleishman, Cooper|title=Anonymous is targeting every pedophile hub on the Web|url=http://www.dailydot.com/society/alice-day-anonymous-pedo-attack/|publisher=The Daily Dot|access-date=August 3, 2015|date=April 24, 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150707111047/http://www.dailydot.com/society/alice-day-anonymous-pedo-attack/|archive-date=July 7, 2015|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=Alice Day|url=http://www.snopes.com/crime/warnings/aliceday.asp|website=]|access-date=August 3, 2015|date=April 20, 2015}}</ref> | |||
NAMBLA was featured in an episode of ] where ] is ostracised from his friends, and decides to try to make new, older, "mature", friends on the internet. He unwittingly attends a NAMBLA meeting later and becomes their poster child, where they take photos of him in nothing but a speedo. A few NAMBLA members meet ] and ] and they are invited to a banquet along with Cartman. It is here that they learn the true nature of NAMBLA, but the NAMBLA members are soon arrested by the police. It also introduces a second NAMBLA, the "National Association of ] Look-Alikes" who are in constant battle with NAMBLA for the domain name nambla.com. | |||
==Associated individuals== | |||
NAMBLA was also briefly mentioned in a 2006 episode of the MTV show ]. Nick Diamond comments, "We've got more ] than '] at a NAMBLA convention!", to which Johnny Gomez replies "And that's a lot of mail, Nick". | |||
*], journalist. He joined NAMBLA at the age of 15 and edited the ''NAMBLA Bulletin'' for six years.<ref name='lowenthal'>{{cite news | first = Michael | last = Lowenthal | title = The Boy-lover Next Door | date = October 24, 1996 | publisher = The Phoenix Media/Communications Group |url=http://www.bostonphoenix.com/alt1/archive/styles/96/10/NAMBLA.html | work = The Boston Phoenix | access-date = October 5, 2010 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110505071340/http://www.bostonphoenix.com/alt1/archive/styles/96/10/NAMBLA.html | archive-date = May 5, 2011 | url-status = dead }}</ref> | |||
*] was a defender of NAMBLA and a member.<ref name='Gayhist'>{{cite book | last1 = Haggerty | first1 = George | title = Gay histories and cultures: an encyclopedia | publisher = Taylor & Francis | year = 2000 | pages = 627–628 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=L9Mj7oHEwVoC&pg=PA628 | access-date = September 17, 2010 | isbn = 978-0-8153-1880-4 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160413072025/https://books.google.com/books?id=L9Mj7oHEwVoC&pg=PA628 | archive-date = April 13, 2016 | url-status = live }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|date=September 25, 2019|title=Howl of protest: Facing public pressure, Hermosa Beach Mural Project to remove poet Allen Ginsberg from work honoring counterculture|url=https://easyreadernews.com/howl-of-protest-facing-public-pressure-hermosa-beach-mural-project-to-remove-poet-allen-ginsberg-from-work-honoring-counterculture/|access-date=September 13, 2020|website=Easy Reader News|language=en-US}}</ref> | |||
*], founding member.<ref>{{cite news | first = Hubert | last = Kennedy | author-link=Hubert Kennedy |title = Sexual Hysteria—Then and Now | year = 1991 | publisher = Gay and Lesbian Historical Society of Northern California | work = OurStories | pages = 17–18 | quote = A former president of New York's Gay Activists Alliance and a founding member of the North American Man/Boy Love Association (NAMBLA), Thorstad is uniquely qualified to write on this topic.}}</ref> | |||
*], prominent LGBT rights activist. Hay supported NAMBLA's inclusion in gay pride parades<ref name= rhh/> and publicly addressed their meetings in support of the organization.<ref name="Publishing1994">{{cite book|last=Weir|first=John|title=The Advocate|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=KmMEAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA37|date=August 23, 1994|publisher=Here Publishing|chapter=Mad about the boys|journal=The Advocate: The National Gay & Lesbian Newsmagazine|page=37|issn=0001-8996}}</ref> | |||
*Alan J. Horowitz, MD, convicted sex offender, ordained Orthodox rabbi, and psychiatrist. He specialized in working with adolescents, graduated magna cum laude from Harvard University, and earned a Ph.D. and medical degree from Duke University. Infamous for being the subject of a worldwide manhunt, Horowitz was known as "NAMBLA Rabbi".<ref>{{Cite web|date=June 1, 2007|title=The Orthodox rabbi and the Man/Boy Love Assoc.|url=https://jewishjournal.com/uncategorized/17306/|access-date=September 2, 2020|website=Jewish Journal|language=en-US}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|title=Ruling keeps Schenectady sex offender confined {{!}} The Daily Gazette|url=https://dailygazette.com/article/2016/07/23/0723_horrowitz|access-date=September 2, 2020|website=dailygazette.com|date=July 23, 2016 }}</ref> | |||
==In popular culture== | |||
On September 28th, 2006, ] did an entire episode dedicated to ] and ] ]'s undercover investigative reports on ]. | |||
*In the '']'' episode "]", which first aired on June 21, 2000, ] is convinced to become a poster boy for the organization after befriending older men online.<ref>{{Cite web|title=South Park - Season 4, Ep. 5 - Cartman Joins NAMBLA|url=https://southpark.cc.com/episodes/vxu8qr/south-park-cartman-joins-nambla-season-4-ep-5|access-date=September 11, 2022|website=South Park – Comedy Central|date=June 21, 2000 }}</ref> | |||
*In the '']'' episode “Angels,” which aired on November 1, 2002, the body of a battered young boy found in a luggage compartment of an airport shuttle bus sends the detectives to his guardian who was discovered to be a pedophile only to find his corpse in bed with his genitals removed. The subsequent investigation leads them to a travel agency specializing in exotic trips for sexual predators, some of which were NAMBLA members. | |||
== |
==See also== | ||
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==Footnotes== | |||
<references /> | |||
==References== | ==References== | ||
{{Reflist|colwidth=35em}} | |||
* Art Cohen, "The Boston-Boise Affair, 1977-78", ''Gay and Lesbian Review Worldwide'', Vol. 10, No. 2. March-April, 2003. | |||
* Benoit Denizet-Lewis, "Boy Crazy: NAMBLA: The Story of a Lost Cause," ''Boston Magazine'' May 2001. | |||
==Further reading== | |||
* John Mitzel, ''The Boston Sex Scandal'', Boston, Glad Day Books, 1981 | |||
* Art Cohen, "The Boston-Boise Affair", ''Gay and Lesbian Review Worldwide'', Vol. 10, No. 2. March–April, 2003. | |||
* John Mitzel, ''The Boston Sex Scandal'', Boston, Glad Day Books, 1981. | |||
* Stuart Timmons, ''The Trouble with Harry Hay: Founder of the Modern Gay Movement'', Alyson Pubns, 1990. | |||
== |
==External links== | ||
{{commons category|NAMBLA}} | |||
* A history of NAMBLA, May 2001 | |||
* from the ], archived at the ] | |||
* January 8, 2001 | |||
* | |||
* | |||
* | |||
* by Onell R. Soto, ]], '']''. A general profile of NAMBLA. | |||
* | |||
* | |||
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Latest revision as of 01:26, 15 December 2024
American pedophilia advocacy organization
A NAMBLA logo. The capital M and lowercase b symbolize a man and a boy. | |
Founded | December 2, 1978; 46 years ago (1978-12-02) |
---|---|
Founder | Christopher Delsesto |
Type | Unincorporated association |
Focus | Pedophile and pederasty activism |
Location | |
Area served | North America |
Method | Removing age of consent laws |
The North American Man/Boy Love Association (NAMBLA, stylized as NAMbLA) is a pedophilia and pederasty advocacy organization in the United States. It works to abolish age-of-consent laws criminalizing adult sexual involvement with minors and campaigns for the release of men who have been jailed for sexual contacts with minors that did not involve what it considers coercion.
The group no longer holds regular national meetings, and as of the late 1990s—to avoid local police infiltration—the organization discouraged the formation of local chapters. Around 1995, an undercover detective discovered there were 1,100 people on the organization's rolls. NAMBLA was the largest group in International Pedophile and Child Emancipation (IPCE), an international pro-pedophile activist organization. Since then, the organization has dwindled to only a handful of people, with many members joining online pedophile networks, according to Xavier Von Erck, director of operations at the anti-pedophile organization Perverted-Justice. As of 2005, a newspaper report stated that NAMBLA was based in New York and San Francisco.
History
Events such as Anita Bryant's 1977 "Save Our Children" campaign and a police raid of a Toronto-area newspaper, The Body Politic, for publishing an article by Gerald Hannon sympathetic to "boy-love" set the stage for the founding of NAMBLA.
In December 1977, police raided a house in the Boston suburb Revere. Twenty-four men were arrested and indicted on over 100 felony counts of the statutory rape of boys aged eight to fifteen. Suffolk County district attorney Garrett H. Byrne found the men had used drugs and video games to lure the boys into a house, where they photographed them as they engaged in sexual activity. The men were members of a "sex ring"; Byrne said the arrest was "the tip of the iceberg". Commenting on this issue, Boston magazine described NAMBLA as "the most despised group of men in America", which was "founded mostly by eccentric, boy-loving leftists". The "Boston-Boise Committee", a gay rights organization, was formed in response to these events (which they termed the "Boston witch-hunt"), allegedly in order to promote solidarity amongst gay men, saying in an official leaflet that: "The closet is weak. There is strength in unity and openness." NAMBLA's founding was inspired by this organization. It was co-founded by gay-rights activist and socialist David Thorstad.
In 1982, a NAMBLA member was falsely linked to the disappearance of Etan Patz. Although the accusation was groundless, the negative publicity was disastrous to the organization. NAMBLA published a book A Witchhunt Foiled: The FBI vs. NAMBLA, which documented these events. In testimony before the United States Senate, NAMBLA was exonerated from criminal activities; it said, "It is the pedophile with no organized affiliations who is the real threat to children".
Mike Echols, the author of I Know My First Name Is Steven, infiltrated NAMBLA and recorded his observations in his book, which was published in 1991. Echols published the names, addresses and telephone numbers of eighty suspected NAMBLA members on his website, which led to death threats being made to people who were not members of the organization.
Onell R. Soto, a San Diego Union-Tribune writer, wrote in February 2005, "Law enforcement officials and mental health professionals say that while NAMBLA's membership numbers are small, the group has a dangerous ripple effect through the Internet by sanctioning the behavior of those who would abuse children".
ILGA controversy
Main article: ILGA consultative status controversyIn 1993, the International Lesbian and Gay Association (ILGA) achieved United Nations consultative status. NAMBLA's membership in ILGA drew heavy criticism and caused the suspension of ILGA. Many gay organizations called for the ILGA to dissolve ties with NAMBLA. Republican Senator Jesse Helms proposed a bill to withhold US$119 million in UN contributions until U.S. President Bill Clinton could certify that no UN agency grants any official status to organizations that condoned pedophilia. The bill was unanimously approved by Congress and signed into law by Clinton in April 1994.
In 1994, ILGA expelled NAMBLA— the first U.S.-based organization to be a member—as well as Vereniging Martijn and Project Truth, because they were judged to be "organizations with a predominant aim of supporting or promoting pedophilia". Although ILGA removed NAMBLA, the UN reversed its decision to grant ILGA special consultative status. Repeated attempts by ILGA to regain special status with the UN succeeded in 2006.
Partially in response to the NAMBLA situation, Gregory King of the Human Rights Campaign later said, "NAMBLA is not a gay organization ... they are not part of our community and we thoroughly reject their efforts to insinuate that pedophilia is an issue related to gay and lesbian civil rights". NAMBLA said, "man/boy love is by definition homosexual", that "the Western homosexual tradition from Socrates to Wilde to Gide ... many non Western homo sexualities from New Guinea and Persia to the Zulu and the Japanese" were formed by pederasty, that "man/boy lovers are part of the gay movement and central to gay history and culture", and that "homosexuals denying that it is 'not gay' to be attracted to adolescent boys are just as ludicrous as heterosexuals saying it's 'not heterosexual' to be attracted to adolescent girls".
Curley v. NAMBLA
Main article: Curley v. NAMBLAIn 2000, a Boston couple, Robert and Barbara Curley, sued NAMBLA for the wrongful death of their son. According to the suit, defendants Charles Jaynes and Salvatore Sicari, who were convicted of murdering the Curleys' son Jeffrey, "stalked ... tortured, murdered and mutilated body on or about October 1, 1997. Upon information and belief immediately prior to said acts, Charles Jaynes accessed NAMBLA's website at the Boston Public Library." The lawsuit said, "NAMBLA serves as a conduit for an underground network of pedophiles in the United States who use their NAMBLA association and contacts therein and the Internet to obtain and promote pedophile activity". Jaynes wrote in his diary, "This was a turning point in discovery of myself ... NAMBLA's Bulletin helped me to become aware of my own sexuality and acceptance of it ... ".
Citing cases in which NAMBLA members were convicted of sexual offenses against children, Larry Frisoli, the attorney representing the Curleys, said the organization is a "training ground" for adults who wish to seduce children, in which men exchange strategies to find and groom child sex partners. Frisoli also said NAMBLA has sold on its website "The Rape and Escape Manual", which gave details about the avoidance of capture and prosecution. The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) stepped in to defend NAMBLA as a free speech matter; it won a dismissal because NAMBLA is organized as an unincorporated association rather than a corporation. John Reinstein, director of the ACLU Massachusetts, said although NAMBLA "may extol conduct which is currently illegal", there was nothing on its website that "advocated or incited the commission of any illegal acts, including murder or rape".
A NAMBLA founder said the case would "break our backs, even if we win, which we will". Media reports from 2006 said that for practical purposes the group no longer exists and that it consists only of a website maintained by a few enthusiasts. The Curleys continued the suit as a wrongful death action against individual NAMBLA members, some of whom were active in the group's leadership. Targets of the wrongful death suits included NAMBLA co-founder David Thorstad. The lawsuit was dropped in April 2008 after a judge ruled that a key witness was not competent to testify.
Support
Allen Ginsberg, poet and father of the Beat Generation, was an affiliated member of NAMBLA. Claiming to have joined the organization "in defense of free speech", Ginsberg said: "Attacks on NAMBLA stink of politics, witchhunting for profit, humorlessness, vanity, anger and ignorance ... I'm a member of NAMBLA because I love boys too—everybody does, who has a little humanity". He appeared in Chicken Hawk: Men Who Love Boys, produced and directed by Adi Sideman, a documentary in which members of NAMBLA gave interviews and presented defenses of the organization.
Pat Califia argued that politics played an important role in the gay community's rejection of NAMBLA. Califia has since withdrawn much of his earlier support for the association while still maintaining that discussing an issue does not constitute criminal activity.
Camille Paglia, feminist academic and social critic, signed a manifesto supporting the group in 1993. In 1994, Paglia supported lowering the legal age of consent to fourteen. She noted in a 1995 interview with pro-pedophile activist Bill Andriette "I fail to see what is wrong with erotic fondling with any age." In a 1997 Salon column, Paglia expressed the view that male pedophilia correlates with the heights of a civilization, stating "I have repeatedly protested the lynch-mob hysteria that dogs the issue of man-boy love. In Sexual Personae, I argued that male pedophilia is intricately intertwined with the cardinal moments of Western civilization." Paglia noted in several interviews, as well as Sexual Personae, that she supports the legalization of certain forms of child pornography. She later had a change of heart on the matter. In an interview for Radio New Zealand's Saturday Morning show, conducted on April 28, 2018, by Kim Hill, Paglia was asked, "Are you a libertarian on the issue of pedophilia?", to which she replied,
"In terms of the present day, I think it's absolutely impossible to think we could reproduce the Athenian code of pedophilia, of boy-love, that was central to culture at that time. ... We must protect children, and I feel that very very strongly. The age of consent for sexual interactions between a boy and an older man is obviously disputed, at what point that should be. I used to think that fourteen (the way it is in some places in the world) was adequate. I no longer think that. I think young people need greater protection than that. ... This is one of those areas that we must confine to the realm of imagination and the history of the arts."
Feigned support
See also: Anti-LGBT rhetoric § Conflation with child abuse, and Societal attitudes toward homosexuality § Association with child abuse and pedophiliaIn a 2017 protest at Columbia University against Mike Cernovich, an unidentified individual raised a pro-pedophilia banner showing logos from NAMBLA and some leftist organizations (all denying knowledge of any such cooperation). Fact-checking organizations consider this a false flag operation as alt-right personalities were quick to repost the photo without caveat and because NAMBLA had largely ceased operation by 2016. A similar 4chan hoax in 2018 connected NAMBLA with TED, following a controversial TEDx presentation—notably unvetted by the TED organization—referring to pedophilia as an "unchangeable sexual orientation".
Opposition
The first documented opposition to NAMBLA from LGBT organizations occurred at the conference that organized the first gay march on Washington in 1979.
In 1980, a group called the Lesbian Caucus distributed a flyer urging women to split from the annual New York City Gay Pride March, because according to the group, the organizing committee had been dominated by NAMBLA and its supporters. The next year, after some lesbians threatened to picket, the Cornell University group Gay People at Cornell (Gay PAC) rescinded its invitation to NAMBLA co-founder David Thorstad to be the keynote speaker at the annual May Gay Festival. In the following years, gay rights groups tried to block NAMBLA's participation in gay pride parades, prompting leading gay rights figure Harry Hay to wear a sign proclaiming "NAMBLA walks with me" as he participated in a 1986 gay pride march in Los Angeles.
By the mid-1980s, NAMBLA was virtually alone in its positions and found itself politically isolated. Support for "groups perceived as being on the fringe of the gay community," such as NAMBLA, vanished in the process.
In 1994, Stonewall 25, a New York LGBT rights group, voted to ban NAMBLA from its international march on the United Nations in June of that year. The same year, NAMBLA was again banned from the march commemorating Stonewall. Instead, members of NAMBLA and the Gay Liberation Front formed their own competing march called "The Spirit of Stonewall". The Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD) adopted a document called "Position Statement Regarding NAMBLA", which said GLAAD "deplores the North American Man Boy Love Association's (NAMBLA) goals, which include advocacy for sex between adult men and boys and the removal of legal protections for children. These goals constitute a form of child abuse and are repugnant to GLAAD."
That year, the Board of Directors of the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force (NGLTF) adopted a resolution on NAMBLA that said, "NGLTF condemns all abuse of minors, both sexual and any other kind, perpetrated by adults. Accordingly, NGLTF condemns the organizational goals of NAMBLA and any other such organization."
In 2000 in New York, a teacher was fired for his association with NAMBLA. There were no criminal charges or complaints about his conduct in class.
In April 2013, the hacktivist group Anonymous prevented NAMBLA's website from being accessed as part of an operation dubbed "Operation Alice Day". The timing of the attack coincided with Alice Day, a Pedophilia Pride Day celebrated by a small group of pedophiles and their supporters on April 25.
Associated individuals
- Bill Andriette, journalist. He joined NAMBLA at the age of 15 and edited the NAMBLA Bulletin for six years.
- Allen Ginsberg was a defender of NAMBLA and a member.
- David Thorstad, founding member.
- Harry Hay, prominent LGBT rights activist. Hay supported NAMBLA's inclusion in gay pride parades and publicly addressed their meetings in support of the organization.
- Alan J. Horowitz, MD, convicted sex offender, ordained Orthodox rabbi, and psychiatrist. He specialized in working with adolescents, graduated magna cum laude from Harvard University, and earned a Ph.D. and medical degree from Duke University. Infamous for being the subject of a worldwide manhunt, Horowitz was known as "NAMBLA Rabbi".
In popular culture
- In the South Park episode "Cartman Joins NAMBLA", which first aired on June 21, 2000, Eric Cartman is convinced to become a poster boy for the organization after befriending older men online.
- In the Law and Order: Special Victims Unit episode “Angels,” which aired on November 1, 2002, the body of a battered young boy found in a luggage compartment of an airport shuttle bus sends the detectives to his guardian who was discovered to be a pedophile only to find his corpse in bed with his genitals removed. The subsequent investigation leads them to a travel agency specializing in exotic trips for sexual predators, some of which were NAMBLA members.
See also
- List of pedophile advocacy organizations
- Age disparity in sexual relationships
- Chickenhawk (gay slang)
- Paedophile Information Exchange
- René Guyon Society
- Vereniging Martijn
- Pedophile Group
- Party for Neighbourly Love, Freedom and Diversity
References
- ^ Haggerty, George (2000). Gay histories and cultures: an encyclopedia. Taylor & Francis. pp. 627–628. ISBN 978-0-8153-1880-4. Archived from the original on April 13, 2016. Retrieved September 17, 2010.
- ^ Holmes, Ronald M.; Stephen T. Holmes (2002). Current perspectives on sex crimes. SAGE. p. 165. ISBN 0-7619-2416-7.
- M DeYoung (March 1989). "The World According to NAMBLA: Accounting for Deviance". Journal of Sociology and Social Welfare. 16: 111–126. doi:10.15453/0191-5096.1885. S2CID 55149751.
- ^ Soto, Onell R. (2005). 'FBI targets pedophilia advocates: Little-known group promotes 'benevolent' sex Archived March 25, 2005, at the Wayback Machine', San Diego Union-Tribune, February 18.
- ^ Denizet-Lewis, Benoit (May 2001). "Boy Crazy". Boston. Archived from the original on March 8, 2012. Retrieved October 7, 2009.
- Whitfield, Charles L.; Silberg, Joyanna L.; Fink, Paul Jay (2001). Misinformation Concerning Child Sexual Abuse and Adult Survivors. Haworth Maltreatment & Trauma Press. p. 129. ISBN 9780789019004.
- Pearl, Mike (March 25, 2016). "Whatever Happened to NAMBLA, America's Paedophilia Advocates?". VICE US. Archived from the original on March 29, 2016. Retrieved March 30, 2016.
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A former president of New York's Gay Activists Alliance and a founding member of the North American Man/Boy Love Association (NAMBLA), Thorstad is uniquely qualified to write on this topic.
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ignored (help) - "The Orthodox rabbi and the Man/Boy Love Assoc". Jewish Journal. June 1, 2007. Retrieved September 2, 2020.
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Further reading
- Art Cohen, "The Boston-Boise Affair", Gay and Lesbian Review Worldwide, Vol. 10, No. 2. March–April, 2003.
- John Mitzel, The Boston Sex Scandal, Boston, Glad Day Books, 1981.
- Stuart Timmons, The Trouble with Harry Hay: Founder of the Modern Gay Movement, Alyson Pubns, 1990.
External links
- Declassified NAMBLA files from the FBI, archived at the Internet Archive