Never let your kids be alone with only one adult (as opposed to an activity where multiple adults will be present). Be suspicious if a youth leader or teacher seeks to socialize with your children at an activity that has nothing to do with the point of the group; e.g., a soccer coach taking a group of kids out to a movie. Be especially suspicious if the adult shows favoritism towards a sub-set of the group or individuals in the group, granting them special favors, giving them gifts that they didn’t also give others in the group, or asking only one or a few to go somewhere.

I wonder which if any of these behaviors were exhibited and ignored. And regrettably, it’s well worth asking whether his action in bringing the suit was based out of sincere conviction or out of a desire to mask his actions (presuming that the trial shows that he actually did what he stands accused of). Pedophilia and especially ephebophilia are a curse in any youth-serving organization. It’s a gross abuse even in an organization where the youth are of legal age, and regardless of the sex of the individuals involved.

—Myca

I didn’t mean that he was a closeted gay man projecting his sexuality on other people. I meant that he was a pervert, projecting his perversions onto other people who happen to make easy targets

I’m fairly sure Myca meant to indicate this meaning of closeted — in the closet about perversion — just because I know Myca.

But the reading everyone has given the words is fair, and it’s a good thing to have reiterated in the thread.

To clarify, when I said that he was “projecting,” I didn’t mean that he was a closeted gay man projecting his sexuality on other people. I meant that he was a pervert, projecting his perversions onto other people who happen to make easy targets, with his contention that gays and atheists are “moral perverts” unfit to be scout leaders. As others have pointed out, there is a world of difference between gay men and pedophiles, and the two should not be conflated.

—Myca