By Guy Page
Vermont State Police officers were racking up overtime last week and this weekend in response to the announcement of a gathering of pedophiles at a Vermont campground.
Although the announcement didn’t specify location, locals in Plainfield believed it would take place at the Onion River Campground, not far from the K-12 Twinfield school. Without confirming that ORC was the pedophile (a/k/a Minor Attracted Persons or MAP) camp location, state police sent officers to the school beginning Thursday. The owner of ORC denied the camp would take place at her facility.
Many people were wondering last week: was this just a hoax? Media coverage was scanty and police were not confirming whether the event had even been planned.
It’s not a hoax. The MAP camp was a real, planned, event, according to a pedophile support group that suggests it was cancelled due to threatened vigilante violence against “society’s most oppressed minority group.”
The group also claims organizers were in discussions with police.
At 2:03 PM Friday, the VDC received an email from Percy Shelley, the communications officer of MAP Union. Percy – likely a pseudonym based on the 19th century English author of Mathilda, a novel about incest between a father and daughter – confirmed the event was planned.
Excerpts appear below in italics. Mu, besides being an acronym for the organization, is also the Greek alphabet letter for M.
Hello, my name is Percy. I’m the Communications Officer of Mu (MAPUnion). Mu is an international organization representing the interests of minor-attracted people and their allies. I’m sure you’ve heard of MAPs or “minor-attracted people” before. However, you may not be aware of what Mu, as an organization, represents. You can find out more on our FAQ page – https://www.map-union.org/about/faq but if you have any questions I’d also be delighted to answer them.
I’m writing this time with a press release from Mu regarding the MAP Camp that was planned for this weekend in Vermont that you have already written about. I understand that with the pressure of deadlines it can be difficult to delve into all angles on an issue, but I thought that you may be interested in hearing a voice from the MAP community since the camp organizers have not responded to press enquiries.
MU is outraged – but not at the campers. They’re mad at online threats of violence.
“We want to strongly condemn the calls to violence from cyberbullies and some sections of the public while applauding the mature stance taken by local law enforcement. We think more people need to think calmly through these issues while respecting basic human rights as we explain in the press release below.
Several of hundreds of online comments – including some on VDC platforms – did include suggestions about rope, ammo, and wood chippers.
We also understand if our ideas don’t quite match up with what you are looking to publish at this stage, but we’d be delighted to keep in contact so that we can provide a minor-attracted person’s perspective in relevant articles you may publish in the future. We hope to provide a more balanced approach to MAP advocacy than groups like NAMBLA have been able to in the past.
Mu is an international umbrella organization seeking to represent the MAP community. While it supported the MAP Camp event being held, it has no ties with MAP Camp itself, nor with the organizers of the event.
MU then confirms that this camp has been in the works since July, and that police have been involved.
MAP Camp was a planned social gathering for minor-attracted people (MAPs) that was scheduled to be held this weekend at a campground in Vermont. It was first organized in July of this year by civil rights group MEDAL (MAP Equality, Dignity, and Liberation) but soon after became independently run. Preparation for the camp seemed to be going smoothly until bullies on X (formerly Twitter) caught wind of the event and decided to launch an attack against it, doxxing some of the people involved in the camp in the process and jeapordizing their safety. Many of the comments on X involved death threats and incitements to violence; comments that would be deemed hate speech if directed at any other minority group.
Local law enforcement authorities were also contacted, but after looking into the event they concluded that no illegal activities were planned and that the MAPs involved were free to exercise their right to free speech and association.
At a 3-hour long Marshfield Selectboard meeting on Tuesday, Lt. Thomas Howard, Vermont State Police’s Berlin Barracks commander, responded that “people having certain thoughts does not necessarily mean that they’ve committed a crime.”
Shelley then described pedophiles as ‘society’s most oppressed minority group.’
Mu applauds this stance in standing up for society’s most oppressed minority group. While it is appropriate for law enforcement to investigate crimes when they occur, no-one should face legal sanctions for speaking freely about a sexual orientation they did not choose, nor for meeting up with others who have the same orientation.
In the Mu statement, engaging with minors, and the proximility with the school, are not explicitly denied as a feature of the planning process: only that there was “no mention whatsoever” and “none of the promotional material for the event show any awareness of the fact.” It does not mention that the website says one of the downsides of the hiking activity is “no sexy children to look at.”
Planned activities for the camp included hiking, bingo, dancing and a campfire, with no mention whatsoever of engaging in any way with minors. In fact, the event was explicitly restricted to over 18s.
Some of the outrage mob on social media have pointed out that the camp ground rumored to be hosting the event is located near a school, yet none of the promotional material for the event show any awareness of the fact.
It seems that cyberbullies with overactive imaginations think that MAPs are nothing but predatory, but mindless zombies. They seem to think that a MAP’s desire for children is so strong that, against all logic, they would be willing to illegally enter a school that is in session to try and commit felonies that would rightfully land them in prison for decades.
Clearly such an idea is ridiculous on its face. Far more likely is that the MAPs involved in the camp would stay far away from the school for fear of unfounded accusations.
Shelley suggests the event may have been cancelled out of concern about ‘violent vigilantes.’
It is unclear whether the event was cancelled or not due to safety concerns regarding the risk of being attacked by violent vigilantes. Although the VSP have pledged to work out “how best to manage any security-related and safety-related concerns for those involved and everyone in the vicinity” MAPs, even if they have never broken the law, are rightfully skittish about interacting with law enforcement.
Many MAPs have a legitimate fear of engaging with law enforcement, even in a progressive state like Vermont. They are all too aware of the unwarranted arrests, sting operations and other injustices that other oppressed minority groups have historically faced and are wary of even law enforcement responses that claim to be supportive of First Amendment rights.
Shelley said critics of the camp “have been watching a little too much Law and Order: SVU.”
This wasn’t some sex offender crime ring where young children were to be bought and sold at auction. If such a thing even exists, none of the MAPs I’ve met know anything about it. The camp was merely a group of adults with a particular sexuality who hoped to meet other adults with the same sexuality in a relaxed environment providing support and fellowship.
Shelley also suggested camp planners may try again.
The VSP seem to be the only adults in the room that have been able to look at the event rationally, assess whether it seemed to be a risk to the community or not, and their rightful conclusion is that rather than MAPs being a risk by holding this event, they are actually AT RISK of being attacked by violent vigilantes imagining monsters under the bed. Whether or not the event is able to be held this year, we express our gratitude to the VSP and hope that they will extend the same offer of legal protection from violence to MAP events that may be held in Vermont in the future.”
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