Should a convicted child rapist be barred from receiving some types of award?

[PurgatoryOfPotholes]

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A convicted child sex offender is performing community outreach for an organization that advises incarcerated men on how to declare a transgender status and legally change their identification.

Xena Grandichelli, born Jeffrey Willsea, is a biological male who now identifies as a woman. In 1994, Grandichelli pleaded guilty to 11 counts of sexual abuse involving a 3 year-old girl and was designated a sexually violent offender. [bold mine] His sex offender registration categorizes him as a risk level 3, which denotes the highest recidivist risk and a threat to public safety. New York State law restricts level 3 sex offenders from being within 1,000 feet of a school.

Yet since his release from prison, Grandichelli has become a highly-regarded trans activist and has spoken at top-tier universities. In 2017, he was a panelist representing “women’s experiences of incarceration” at Columbia University. In 2016, Grandichelli spoke at NYU on the topic of incarceration and trauma. In the same year, he led a workshop on trans issues for the National Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender People of Color Health Conference.

Notably, he has also partnered with the Sylvia Rivera Law Project (SRLP) and was designated as a Movement Building Team member. In a letter posted to the SRLP website, Grandichelli describes how team members from the organization actively worked to recruit him while he was still incarcerated for sexually abusing a child. Grandichelli’s crime has been obscured by his self-declared transgender status. By claiming a female identity, Grandichelli has been afforded a platform by two of the most prestigious universities in the nation, and in 2017, he was presented with a Community Hero award by the Anti-Violence Project. [bold mine]

In 2021, the Women & Justice Project, an organization that lobbies for the rights of incarcerated women, featured a quote from Grandichelli on their website: “[I] break down crying when trying to explain to somebody what it’s like to be in a state prison or Rikers Island and to be physically beat half to death and raped, and misgendered and abused so much that you’re ready to take your own life.”

Continues here www.reduxx.info/post/toddler-rapist-now-award-winning-trans-rights-activist

I'm sick. Just sick thinking about this. How could Columbia allow this to get this far?

So... All hail the brave and stunning sex offender?

Nope. And that this has happened casts a long and dark shadow across any number of organisations that should be seen as beacons of light.

When did such organisations become so blind to what they are actually doing?

And why, after so many u-turns are they still doing such stupid, stupid stuff?

It is totally unacceptable to me how a monster like this is given a voice on any platform.
When a human being chooses to abuse a child , the most vulnerable in society, that's it for me,nothing he can say is relevant.
Who cares what experiences they had whilst in prison , they no longer matter ,i wonder if he thought about his vile acts and the terror he inflicted on that poor child when he was on the receiving end , i certainly don't want to hear his explanation .
I absolutely do not care what he went through , the world has gone mad.

Imagine a movement which actively centres child rapists.

And gcs are supposed to be tainted because of accusations of shadowy right wing connections.

LO fuckin L.

Remember this next time someone accuses feminists of "scraping the bottom of the barrel" because the latest person to say 'humans can't change sex' doesn't meet a purity test!

Yet again, I’m noticing a lack of input from our regular disputers… where oh where could they be!? Seems a wasted opportunity to defend one of the most marginalised.

Do they not have Views on how giving this person a Community Hero Award might have been scraping the bottom of the barrel?

Actual child rapists.
Over and over again. Apologetics, handwriting excuses, memory holed, and actually feted and centred. Set up as spokespeople of an oppressed minority.
Ordinary decent transpeople better stand up.
If only to get out of the way of the backlash.

Handwringing! I don't think penmanship the biggest problem here

This person also tries to solicit women for sex on social media. My skin is crawling.

@thinkingaboutLangCleg

[I] break down crying when trying to explain to somebody what it’s like to be in a state prison or Rikers Island and to be physically beat half to death and raped, and misgendered and abused so much that you’re ready to take your own life

Shock news, violent males in prison with other violent males suffer violence. If this child-abuser had said "I break down crying when I think of what I did to that little girl," I might have some sympathy.

And yes, this person should not be receiving awards.

This. I see no reason for that disgustìng piece of crap to ever see the light of day. If he was ready to take his own life he should have been allowed to do so . No way should he ever be out in the world and Never given an award for anything.

www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-5440153/Trans-convict-invited-speak-House-Lords.html

Motivational speaker??

Xena Grandichelli appears in the Netflix documentary the Death and Life of Marsha P Johnson. About 10 minutes from the end, speaking about justice for transwomen. Presented as a volunteer and activist, totally unproblematic.

Amazing who is seen by this lobby as worthy of a 'platform', and who needs to be cancelled.

It is difficult to be believe this is possible. How are people sane who confer status on someone like this, surely only because they are a trans woman?

No ordinary man who had committed these crimes would be given an award for anything. If Jimmy Saville, say, were still alive, while people knew of his crimes to the extent they are openly recognised now, would we let him get a special award for work on the incarceration of men? Wouldn’t we think he was so very evil that he had no right to speak for other incarcerated men?

What about Mira Hindley? Would we accept her getting an award for speaking on behalf of incarcerated women? I don’t think other women in prison would want that.

And why anyway should this person be getting an award for talking about the incarceration of women? (Or have I misunderstood?)

In answer to you question, maybe someone like this could be worthy of a reward if they expressed regret and sorrow for what they had done and used their ‘expertise’ in toddler sexual abuse to warn parents about safeguarding their children and how to watch out for people like themselves and no doubt other people they knew about.

Is he claiming he was torture and raped because of being a transwoman? Not sure about West, but in Eastern Europe rapist and pedophiles have particularly hard time in prison because of the sexual nature of their crimes, so I suspect rape and torture he experienced was an effect of that rather than his gender identity.

@ScrollingLeaves

It is difficult to be believe this is possible. How are people sane who confer status on someone like this, surely only because they are a trans woman?

No ordinary man who had committed these crimes would be given an award for anything. If Jimmy Saville, say, were still alive, while people knew of his crimes to the extent they are openly recognised now, would we let him get a special award for work on the incarceration of men? Wouldn’t we think he was so very evil that he had no right to speak for other incarcerated men?

What about Mira Hindley? Would we accept her getting an award for speaking on behalf of incarcerated women? I don’t think other women in prison would want that.

And why anyway should this person be getting an award for talking about the incarceration of women? (Or have I misunderstood?)

In answer to you question, maybe someone like this could be worthy of a reward if they expressed regret and sorrow for what they had done and used their ‘expertise’ in toddler sexual abuse to warn parents about safeguarding their children and how to watch out for people like themselves and no doubt other people they knew about.

Exactly. This is a dystopian nightmare situation. On what planet does a convicted child rapist get awards? How on Earth have public bodies allowed it to get this far?

Declaring yourself as trans is almost akin to absolving these criminals of all sins. All is forgiven because 'trans'.

Fucking hell, surely to god people aren't ok with this?

How can this ever be fucking justifies. My heart breaks for that little child, and possibly more victims too.

I hope he rots.

MNHQ, if your fingers are hovering over the delete buttons at misgendering posts, please, please don't.

From the OP
“ In 2017, he was a panelist representing “women’s experiences of incarceration” at Columbia University“

He was a male rapist. If he was treated brutally and raped by men I presume that was in a male prison.

How is he able to advise the panel on women’s incarceration. Where does a male rapist’s experiences represent those of women prisoners?

Even if he became a trans woman and was moved to a woman’s prison, ( I am not clear if this happened) did those women there nominate him to represent them?

This is hideous. It seems that “trans equals free pass”. There certainly seem to be an increasing number of opportunists in the system now - both criminals and their legal advisers.