The “Protecting Young Victims from Sexual Abuse and Safe Sport Authorization Act of 2017” was a bipartisan law that went a long way to protecting our children and youth from predators and other dangerous individuals. Now it’s time to take that one step further to stop such people from circumventing SafeSport’s ineligibility by adding such attempts to the criminal code. Please contact one of the co-sponsors, or your own congressman, to help make defying the ineligibility, or supporting the ineligible, a federal crime. https://www.congress.gov/bill/115th-congress/senate-bill/534/text
Giving the 2017 SafeSport Act some teeth could be the most important bipartisan accomplishment to protect impressionable athletes from sexual predators like Anthony DeSilva and friends. It’s clear that such individuals have found loopholes to circumvent SafeSport actions and remain close to potential victims of their liking.
The time to put an end to this ridiculousness is now. What is it going to take for this country to stand up to the predators that prey upon our young athletes?
As of now, these predators are free to operate outside the umbrella of sports that are sanctioned by the national governing bodies of each sport under the authority of the United States Olympic Committee. this includes offseason development camps and events. In the case of DeSilva, the self-professed child molester, has taken that one step further and fancies himself as a family advisor. Let’s be clear, every coach that DeSilva has contacted regarding underage players, and that coach has not reported that contact to SafeSport, should consider themselves to be enabling DeSilva.
So, what can we do?
It’s time to get busy. SafeSport protection must extend to every program that targets young athletes, regardless of their affiliation with USOC. This must include facilities that allow athletes under 18 years old to train and develop within their structure.
As we move closer to the 2024 election cycle, this is an issue that both sides of the political spectrum, can easily grasp and support. Anybody that it is against criminalizing such circumvention of sanctions, could find themselves as easy targets for political opponents.
It’s my hope that each one of you that reads this will pick up the phone and talk to your congressman. Maybe even ask your friends and family to do the same thing. Doing so could make enough of an impact to force an action.
What are we asking for?
It’s simple, SafeSport should not be the entity that investigates violations. This should be turned over to the Justice Department. Making violations a criminal offense would go a long way towards curbing violations entirely.
These circumventions of SafeSport ineligibility, and the act of aiding the circumvention, should be a felony as well. The real question, why is it not?
Who would be against this?
Believe it or not, there’s an element within our society that would like to normalize such pedophilia. In this USA Today article ( https://www.usatoday.com/story/life/health-wellness/2022/01/10/pedophiles-pedophilia-sexual-disorder/8768423002/ ) the writer clearly attempts to try and normalize the behavior.
Taking corrective action against sexual predators, physical abusers, or even drug dealers is not discriminatory, it’s simply doing what is right to let our kids enjoy being kids.
Stephen Heisler 