Mermaids closes chatlines

[Sparklybutold]

So... Mermaids closes chat lines owing to abusive phone calls. I can't help but think this is awful behaviour from those ringing.

That.

Twitter rumours so far suggest that the actual truth may possibly be

a) volunteers walked, in droves, not wanting to be further involved once all this mess spilled everywhere

b) there was a panic about volunteers not being DBS checked.

But frankly considering Mermaids are wailing that pointing out that having a trustee who openly talks about how sad it is that society is not more supportive of his sexual attraction to children and seeks to legitimise this through books and papers, and a media person who has regaled the world with pictures of his anus, is 'hate' and 'bigotry' and totally unfair to expect them to be basically fit for the job they do?

Anything they say at this point has to be regarded with several mountains of salt. Their capacity for a grip on reality and interpreting facts accurately is not currently being demonstrated as one of their strengths.

Maybe a 'trans-friendly DBS check' means ensuring the candidate had displayed Dick, Bumhole, upSkirt on social media

b) there was a panic about volunteers not being DBS checked.

Or maybe c) there was a panic from some volunteers about now having to be DBS checked? (Even a "trans friendly" version?) Just speculating...

This.

"There was a rumour that their volunteers abandoned them."

There is a rumour that Joshua Moon has now closed kiwifarms and will dedicate his life to helping LGBT people.

See I can make things up too. Rumours aren't worth anything without a source.

Except here I suspect rumours have as much status as Mermaid’s official line.

You seem quite invested in KF, Marge. Are you a member?

Exactly. And saying they closed due to abusive phone calls can also be made up. Just because one person says so doesn't make it true 😉

Pretty easy to check that KF is still up -
impossible to check re: Mermaids volunteers until the CC investigation (and perhaps criminal investigation) is complete.

"You seem quite invested in KF, Marge. Are you a member?"

I'm now the owner, according to rumour 😄

Cool, hopefully you are like the old owner and opposed to images of child sexual abuse and pro the sex offender register.

Explanation for MN members not on the KF thread:
I asked Marge if Marge thought the sex offender registry was a positive thing several days ago, no answer as yet.

Marge us too busy catching up on KF @TheClogLady there’s been a lot going on down the farm and I think Marge is glued.

Two Trustees quit Mermaids right before all these scandals started to break.

Thats pretty coincidential timing.

And I've long said I don't believe in coincidence.

They quit for some reason and its hard to argue that was for no reason.

What often happens with the press is the press is someone whistle lows and quits or the press ring up before publishing a story and say 'we've got evidence of x, y or z, what is your response?' in order to improve their story.

Now if two trustees quit (28th and 29th September) immediately ahead of a shit storm (started 1st October) that's a pretty good indication they head wind of trouble afoot. And if you've got people quitting from these roles, it's actually hard to give credibility to the idea that other people in other roles would ALL stick to their jobs and volunteer roles.

Now we know that one of the roles of Dazza was as forum moderator, so immediately we know they are going to be short staffed in that area and will have to cover that. It doesn't take more than a couple of resignations for them to have a problem.

Honestly we are talking about balance of probabilities not just rumours on this one.

We know that Mermaids have recently filed a few serious incident reports with the Charity Commission. Obviously one of them was the trustee. I’d bet good money some of the others related to the helpline. Are those reports ever made public?

Oh and BTW the counter argument is that all staff and volunteers were a-ok with penis porn man and paedo apologist trustee.

Hopefully they will also supply recordings of the calls of them giving 'advice' to teens so the world can see exactly what they have been doing.

You really are determined to keep defending the indefensible aren’t you?
I wonder why

I also used to volunteer for the Samritans and can confirm I recieved a fair few wanking / fetish calls. Some of them were very creative, took me a while to work out what was going on.

So I've no doubt that Mermaids recieves more than its fair share of fetish calls.

In fact, given the various shocking stories of online grooming / abuse which a number of detransitioners have shared, I'm afraid it would not surprise me if a fair number of adults who call Mermaids are looking for something other than advice.

I suspect ‘abusive’ means ‘undercover press reporters and we’re scared of anything else getting out’

If they’re actually abusive they should compile a list of recordings and sent them to the police immediately. They’re very quick to respond to ‘transphobia’ so I’m sure they will find those responsible without delay.

Just remember that just yesterday, after the paedo Trustee, after the Digital Engagement officer and his anus and penis art on twitter, after the safeguarding and binder issues they STILL are recruiting with 'trans friendly DBS' procedures.

This has alarmed me quite a lot. What are 'trans friendly DBS' procedures....and why would trans people need different DBS procedures to actual DBS procedures?

Fantastic news, hope the calls hurt their feelings

This has alarmed me quite a lot. What are 'trans friendly DBS' procedures....and why would trans people need different DBS procedures to actual DBS procedures?

If let's say, you had been in prison for something it sits on your records. If you 'transition', basically get a new name, then when you complete a new DBS it is completely on you whether you mention your old name or not. The DBS people allow this because trans people are for some reason sacred. It says in the form that if you have transitioned, you can contact them outside the form for the check. Which means of course if you don't want to you don't have to.

In yesterday's job description evidence, it appears that mermaids specifically operates a 'trans friendly' DBS process. We don't know just how friendly of course. But it already is trans friendly. How much more 'trans friendly' can it be?

Of course if we made an assumption that trans people need to have an opt out of DBS system because they are all ex criminals, then we'd be transphobic. But for them, it's fine.

Seems typical DARVO behaviour.

I wonder what percentage of the "abuse" is people phoning up to ask why they (the individual and mermaids) are pushing such a bigoted agenda what leaves young people genitally mutilated and sterile?

I wonder what percentage of the "abuse" is people phoning up with the sole intention of wasting staff time to minimise the harm the staff can do to vulnerable kids who might otherwise get through?

I guess admitting you once had a different name and sex must be very triggering

It's unbelievable that a charity where staff talk to children below the age of consent about sex, sexual identity, their bodies, drug use and how to illegally access drugs, don't have fully enhanced DBS checks on their staff. If they've been "making up" their own checks, that in itself should shut them down tomorrow.

I hope that Miriam Cates and other politicians have referred them to the police as this is turning out to be a major scandal and they need forensic examination of their practices.