Someone wrote that gay JMDL'ers have been silent on this issue. Well here's an opinion from a gay man.
I think the issue of whether one is pro or anti NAMBLA obfuscates a larger and much more essential issue: whether children of any age should be permitted to experience sexual pleasure without interference from adults.I believe they should. I believe that the concept that children are physically ready but not emotionally ready for sex is completely wrong. Biology determines physical as well as emotional maturity. The only reason the two seem to be at odds is that our society with its sex negative methods of child rearing prevent children from expressing their love and sexuality together until years after they are physically ready to do so. This gap creates all the guilt, frutrations and fears that young adults eventually have to overcome. If adults would support their children's sexual experimentation instead of prohibiting it, the children would not become the easy prey of criminal pedophiles. Why? Because pedophiles use children's fear and anxiety about sexuality in order to seduce them and depend on children's shame about sexual pleasure in order to keep them silent. As for NAMBLA my guess is that it's a mix of men who have a genuine loving sexual feeling for boys and wouldn't think of forcing any child to engage in sex and probably an equal number of dreadful seductive users who are caught up in a cycle of guilt and exploitation and are using the organization as just one of many ways to get at children sexually. But i don't think focusing on NAMBLA as the root of child exploitation makes much sense. The way to protect children is to support their genuine sexual feelings and experiences so that they will have no trouble saying no to an adult who doesn't have their best interests in mind.
