A note on our sponsor

A few of you have sent me emails recently questioning my decision to take on NAMBLA as a sponsor of the web log.

I knew very little about NAMBLA before meeting with them in their basement offices in an undeveloped block of Northeast DC. Though dank, not marked by any signage at all, and smelling of baby oil, the offices were set up to be quite comfortable, with lots of big, comfy furniture that you could just fall asleep in.

Their mission, as they explained it to me, is for the “growth, development, and maturity - but not too quickly - of young boys so that they can grow up to be explorative, adventurous, muscled, discreet, and shaven.” I don’t entirely know what all that means, but clearly this group is sort of like the YMCA in that it wants to help young men, and in the words of the Village People, “They have everything that you need to enjoy - you can hang out with all the boys..."

The place was set up to be very encouraging….pictures of successful young men were hanging from every wall space: Antonio Sabato, Lance Bass from N’Sync, and that soccer guy. Further, there were a number of those “encouragement” posters on the wall to put these young boys in the right frame of mind. Whether it was the stress-relieving “lie back and just try to relax,” or, “all boys become a man someday!” or “a little pain usually precedes a lot of pleasure,” an environment of support is obvious. An active, sporty life is also shown in a positive light, without being overly pushy on success. For instance one poster showed a basketball tantalizingly rolling along the rim of the goal with the caption, “Sometimes even when it doesn’t go in, progress has been made!” And judging from a few firemen calendars, it looks like they push young boys to move into worthy careers. (Too often our young men are raised in a misogynistic society where women are glorified only as sexual beings, and even at the YMCA I’m sure you would see some posters of attractive young ladies on the wall…but not a one at NAMBLA!). And no restrictions are placed on any young man…no biases or questions asked if a boy needs attention – they take all comers, they told me (their words).

The point I’m trying to make is, without plunging in real deep to poke around, I would say this is an organization that bends over every which way for young boys and those of you with a problem with the sponsorship need to adjust your priorities.

My only concern to come out of the meeting was their thinking that sponsorship gave them some control over content, something I guard very closely. There were a variety of links they encouraged me to add to the site, which I won't, but I will pass this on. Halloween evening they'll have repeated showings of "Garcon Stupide" for all interested in attending. (Again, not sure what this is about, but probably also an uplifting tail...and it's French so they're supporting some good cultural education!)