Welcome to Rape Culture in Texas & Louisiana
***Trigger warning for description of sexual assault***
The Amarillo diocese needs to beef up employee background checks.
In Los Angeles, Salazar pleaded guilty in 1987 to one count of oral copulation and one count of lewd or lascivious acts with a child for molesting two altar boys, then ages 13 and 14. Salazar, who was required to register as a sex offender and was banned from serving as a priest in the Diocese of Los Angeles, served three years of a six-year prison term before being sent in 1990 to a New Mexico treatment program for pedophile priests. The Roman Catholic Diocese of Amarillo hired Salazar in 1991 and assigned him - while he was still on parole - to the Church of the Holy Spirit in Tulia.
Wait, what?! They let this guy in knowing he plead guilty?! I guess the diocese was following this terrible advice (see #10).
A former Tulia priest has been sentenced to 10 years in prison after pleading guilty to molesting a young male parishioner who attended the Church of the Holy Spirit. John Salazar, 58, pleaded guilty Monday in a Tulia court to a second-degree felony charge of indecency with a child - sexual contact. The case stemmed from an incident that occurred Dec. 23, 2001.
Surprise! This guy is still a pedophile and the Amarillo diocese just let him molest more children. Here is the real gem:
In a letter to a Los Angeles cardinal in 1992, former Amarillo Bishop Leroy Matthiesen defended his decision to hire priests with backgrounds of sexual abuse.
Wow, this Bishop sounds kind of like these Louisiana officials:
A Louisiana parish is arguing that it should not be held liable for the rape of a 14-year-old girl in a juvenile detention center because the victim “consented” to be sexually assaulted by a 40-year-old corrections officer at the facility....The age of consent in Louisiana is 17, but court documents allege that “Vickers could not have engaged in sexual relations within the walls of the detention center with [the victim] without cooperation from her. Vickers did not use force, violence or intimidation when engaging in sexual relations. In a comment on the case to the Tri-Parish Times, an anonymous official also remarked that the 14-year-old should share the blame for her assault, saying: “These girls in the detention center are not Little Miss Muffin.”
Double wow!! Did these Louisiana officials miss the rape sensitivity training? Maybe this high school band director and administrator should join the training:
In the room, she said, things took a violent turn and he raped her. She said she distinctly recalls saying no. Afterward, she said, "I was crying. I pulled my pants up and went to the bathroom to clean myself up." She then went to an assistant band director, she said, telling him what had happened. His words stunned her: "He told me to work it out with the boy. There's no way I would do that. But I didn’t know what to think. I was 17.”...Accused of "public lewdness," she was sent to a special school for students with discipline problems, along with the boy she said had assaulted her. "I saw him there all the time," she said.
How in the world did these “educators” get away with treating a survivor like this?! Oh, that's right, as long as you are in a position of power (priest, corrections officer, politician, etc.) you get a free pass in our rape culture because our bodies are not our own. No wonder there were no exceptions in HB2 for rape or incest and Texas Senator Hegar couldn't recall hearing any testimony regarding rape or incest (even though thousands of people, including myself, testified how devastating this law would be to survivors).
If someone is in a position of power, they can blame the survivor, completely ignore and dismiss the voices/stories of survivors, and hire rapists/pedophiles to work with potential victims.
These stories taken alone may seem to be isolated/extreme instances, but taken together they show a bigger picture of how deeply steeped we are in a rape culture. I urge all rational voices to vote these people out of office, help report incidents, support survivors, and hold institutions accountable for their actions. Only then can we begin to heal together.
The Amarillo diocese needs to beef up employee background checks.
In Los Angeles, Salazar pleaded guilty in 1987 to one count of oral copulation and one count of lewd or lascivious acts with a child for molesting two altar boys, then ages 13 and 14. Salazar, who was required to register as a sex offender and was banned from serving as a priest in the Diocese of Los Angeles, served three years of a six-year prison term before being sent in 1990 to a New Mexico treatment program for pedophile priests. The Roman Catholic Diocese of Amarillo hired Salazar in 1991 and assigned him - while he was still on parole - to the Church of the Holy Spirit in Tulia.
Wait, what?! They let this guy in knowing he plead guilty?! I guess the diocese was following this terrible advice (see #10).
A former Tulia priest has been sentenced to 10 years in prison after pleading guilty to molesting a young male parishioner who attended the Church of the Holy Spirit. John Salazar, 58, pleaded guilty Monday in a Tulia court to a second-degree felony charge of indecency with a child - sexual contact. The case stemmed from an incident that occurred Dec. 23, 2001.
Surprise! This guy is still a pedophile and the Amarillo diocese just let him molest more children. Here is the real gem:
In a letter to a Los Angeles cardinal in 1992, former Amarillo Bishop Leroy Matthiesen defended his decision to hire priests with backgrounds of sexual abuse.
Wow, this Bishop sounds kind of like these Louisiana officials:
A Louisiana parish is arguing that it should not be held liable for the rape of a 14-year-old girl in a juvenile detention center because the victim “consented” to be sexually assaulted by a 40-year-old corrections officer at the facility....The age of consent in Louisiana is 17, but court documents allege that “Vickers could not have engaged in sexual relations within the walls of the detention center with [the victim] without cooperation from her. Vickers did not use force, violence or intimidation when engaging in sexual relations. In a comment on the case to the Tri-Parish Times, an anonymous official also remarked that the 14-year-old should share the blame for her assault, saying: “These girls in the detention center are not Little Miss Muffin.”
Double wow!! Did these Louisiana officials miss the rape sensitivity training? Maybe this high school band director and administrator should join the training:
In the room, she said, things took a violent turn and he raped her. She said she distinctly recalls saying no. Afterward, she said, "I was crying. I pulled my pants up and went to the bathroom to clean myself up." She then went to an assistant band director, she said, telling him what had happened. His words stunned her: "He told me to work it out with the boy. There's no way I would do that. But I didn’t know what to think. I was 17.”...Accused of "public lewdness," she was sent to a special school for students with discipline problems, along with the boy she said had assaulted her. "I saw him there all the time," she said.
How in the world did these “educators” get away with treating a survivor like this?! Oh, that's right, as long as you are in a position of power (priest, corrections officer, politician, etc.) you get a free pass in our rape culture because our bodies are not our own. No wonder there were no exceptions in HB2 for rape or incest and Texas Senator Hegar couldn't recall hearing any testimony regarding rape or incest (even though thousands of people, including myself, testified how devastating this law would be to survivors).
If someone is in a position of power, they can blame the survivor, completely ignore and dismiss the voices/stories of survivors, and hire rapists/pedophiles to work with potential victims.
These stories taken alone may seem to be isolated/extreme instances, but taken together they show a bigger picture of how deeply steeped we are in a rape culture. I urge all rational voices to vote these people out of office, help report incidents, support survivors, and hold institutions accountable for their actions. Only then can we begin to heal together.