Pedophile Panic at the Salvation Army: No Teen Boys Allowed, Too Dangerous

When it comes to helping families in need,
the Salvation Army turns a cold shoulder to one class of people:
Teenage boys. A family in Johnson City, TN, found this out recently
when, on a freezing cold night, they asked the organization for
shelter. But because their family of five contained a 15-year-old
boy, they were turned down. 

As the dad, Tim Lejeune, explained to WMC Action News 5:

“They said he’s too old to stay on the women’s side, because of
the women running around in their pajamas and they said he’s too
young to stay on the men’s side in case some pervert wants to do
whatever,” Lejeune said.

Lejeune says his wife, their 15 year-old son, 16 year-old
daughter and five year-old son, all down on their luck, have been
living in their car for the last several weeks.

So instead the family headed to their car. The temperature: 18
degrees.

Somehow, local police officers came upon them and brought them
to the Johnson Inn. The officers then pooled their money to pay for
a room. When the night clerk figured out what was going on, he
comped the room, so the officers’ money went to groceries for the
family.

Meantime, 911 dispatchers who had been in on the action
pooled their money to provide the
Lejeunes some more food.

And after that, the Salvation Army did take the family in—minus
the teen boy.

He’s not sleeping on
the streets. He’s now in a mental health facility. He had a breakdown, his
dad says, because he thought it was his fault the family was turned
away from shelter.

I blame a society so obsessed with sex crimes and predators that
it has lost its mind. It cannot imagine a 15-year-old male, chilled
to the bone, simply and gratefully sleeping through the night. In
our worst-first fantasies, which we give the weight of fact, all
young men are either innocent victims about to be violated by
predators, or predators eager to prey upon innocent victims.

The Salvation Army told WMC it is now reconsidering its
longstanding prejudice against teen boys.

That should make us all sleep a little easier.

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