“John” deserves support as do others who have a minor attraction. He is also fervent about helping prevent child sexual abuse by speaking out against it and by showing his support of global child sexual abuse prevention programs on his social media. “John” is not a child molester nor is he a sex offender. Once he shared about his attraction to children, his therapist told him, “I don’t treat sex offenders,”’ a passage on The Prevention Project about MAPs reads. Although he was scared to share about himself with a stranger, he felt desperate for help as he had NO desire to harm anyone, ever. Desperate for help, John sought treatment for his shame, depression, and suicidality. They described how they would kill him on his twitter page and people supported their hate. The bullies were primarily people who claimed, based on their religious beliefs, that “John” was going to hell and deserved to die. He had been bullied by trolls on social media for most of his life for being different. MAPs attempts to soften the idea of pedophilia by insisting it’s not wrong if there is no contact. A group known as MAPs (or Minor Attracted Persons, not to be confused with the Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies) has been circulating its own version of the Pride flag.
