melissaanelli:

So there’s this thing online now about Mike Lombardo. You can read about it here.

I want to echo the main things being said: 

A) Anyone who tries to blame the (at this point still alleged) victims should check themselves, redirect themselves, and never talk to me ever. It does not matter what they wore, said, did, intended, did not intend, nothing: minors are not to blame, period.

B) This is still an investigation. No charges, no conviction. That means there is the slim possibility still that this is all a horrible mistake. If that is the case, we will report that honestly too.

But here is what prompts me to make a post about something I intended to stay fully silent about:

I have seen a couple of people say that this is a PRIVATE ISSUE.

No.

Absolutely not.

In so many ways not. Not even a little.

This is not only NOT a private issue, it is an issue of public safety. The names of the victims, excess details of the case, no, there is no need to make that public. But this is not and never will be something that is not fair game for people to discuss, take safeguards against, concern themselves with, be preoccupied about. It is, and it should. This is not a case where you say to yourself, “whatever happened there is not my business.” It IS. It absolutely IS. If you are a minor, think about what this means for you, when people approach you. If you are a parent, think about how to safeguard your child. And I don’t mean in the abstract: that this is going on is important, and relevant. It is a legitimate public safety concern, one that already has me making further plans for events. No one I have talked to about this today has taken this in the slightest bit lightly, nor should they. And no one has said “it’s not my business.”

It is. We are part of a community where this is possible. Let’s face it: it is possible. It very likely has happened. Don’t feel the need to judge, but DO feel the need to learn about the public details, think about how to help encourage a world where this is less possible than it was five minutes ago, and help safeguard minors from sexual predators.

It is important. It is not a private matter to be ignored or hushed up.