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Sea Scout Master Eugene Austin Evans
With all this news in the news about Gay Boy Scout news, I’m surprised that neither you nor I have heard the fascinating tale BEHIND the Supreme Court decision leading to the BSA’s predicament. (Hat-tip to my brother Crab.)
It all began with a Sea Scout Master, name of Eugene Austin Evans, who sued the City of Berkeley when the city stopped allowing the scout ship free berthing rights at their marina. Their reason for the city’s action was that he and his organization refused to allow gay members, in violation of city policies that deny free services to organizations that discriminate that way.
So the fine upstanding Sea Scout Master challenged that decision all the way to the US Supreme Court, which finally ruled against him in 2006, leading to today’s situation with the Boy Scouts of America. During Evans’ long righteous fight he became “a hero to conservatives and the religious right.”
You just know this is gonna turn out badly, don’t you? I mean first of all you get that feeling because he’s got THREE NAMES – Eugene Austin Evans – the way the law and press do out of consideration to all the other Eugene Evanses who want to be sure you don’t confuse them with him.
And then you get an even worse feeling when you realize that his initials are all vowels, and you would be right:
Three young men filed suit Tuesday against the Boy Scouts and their former Berkeley Sea Scouts master, seeking damages for their sexual molestation on board the S.S.S. Farallon.
Former scoutmaster Eugene Austin Evans is already in prison after entering guilty pleas in July to sexually abusing two of the plaintiffs in the action filed by Oakland attorneys John D. Winer and Alexis McKenna.
“At the time he was convicted, he admitted in criminal court that the actions had been going on for 30 years,” McKenna said Wednesday afternoon.
Prosecutors at the time said they had agreed to the plea on only two of the victims to save them and others from the trauma of testifying about their abuse in open court.
THOUGHT 1: Do you see why so many of us tend to suspect outspoken homophobes of really being repressed homosexuals?
The 20-page complaint filed in Alameda County Superior Court contains detailed allegations about the complaints that led to Evans’ conviction.
The first of the plaintiffs, identified in the filing only as Roe 1, said he was 13 and an eighth-grader when he entered the program in 2002, and was subjected to abuse for the entire three to four years he belonged to the troop.
According to the young man’s allegations, Evans began his seduction with talk of masturbation, and would tell the youths, “I’m the skipper. I’m not going to hurt you. You are my best buddy. You are the best thing that ever happened to me.”
Sexual contact took place inside the ship’s cabin after Evans locked the door and began rubbing the youth’s back, the young man declared. Massage was followed by masturbation and attempted—but never consummated—fellation of the youth, according to the declaration.
THOUGHT 2: Imagine Evans’ arguments to the Supreme Court: “Gays are dangerous, your Honor. Don’t ask me how I know. I just know.”
The second youth declared that molestation began a year after he joined the troop in 2002, ending with the scoutmaster masturbating the youth.
The third youth said he first boarded the ship in early 2001, and he said Evans told him “a story about a guy who lifted a lot of weights in his garage and would let Evans smoke marijuana if he was allowed to perform oral sex on Evans.”
The youth said Evans had groped his buttocks, but he was able to extricate himself before Evans could proceed further.
The complaint also alleges that Evans made frequent racist and homophobic jokes, and warned his charges that any complaints could result in the breakup of the troop “and other boys would hate them for ruining the group.”
“What happens on the boat stays on the boat,” Evans reportedly told the scouts.
THOUGHT 3: Maybe sociopathic gays such as child molesters especially fear normal gays, because normal gays can see through them easier? (A gay friend of mine thinks that makes sense.)
“Evans ran the program with a divide and conquer mentality,” the litigation charges, “turning kids against each other so that he could obtain sexual access to the Scouts that he wanted.”
The complaint also alleges that Evans “constantly made inappropriate masturbation references to the boys and stocked the ship full of pornography,” allegations a scout had earlier reported to the Daily Planet.
…..Despite his conviction in the criminal case, Evans has retained a solid core of supporters, with many of them writing letters on his behalf to the court and showing up to support him at the sentencing hearing.
THOUGHT 4: And just in case you need to be reminded, gays are no more likely to be child molesters than straight people!
YOUR THOUGHTS?
Well let’s kick this off by saying that “gay” and “molester” are not the same. The vast majority of gay men out there will never harm a child and are as repulsed and angered by the thought of sexual contact with a child as any straight guy out there. On the flip side, many molesters do not have sexual relationships with gay men. Molesters are not attracted to men, they are attract to BOYS (or little girls) and pedophilia and homosexuality are entirely different subjects, please do not confuse them.
This guy is a monster, and while I know it was not your intent, a blog post that ties his abusive attacks on minors to a story on homosexuality furthers the ignorant argument that gays cannot be trusted in Scouting because they will prey on our children. Nothing is further from the truth. Pedophiles cannot be trusted around our children, in or out of Scouting, but do not look to the homosexual population to find the culprits.
And now for a word from the pseudo-conservative sock puppets, denouncing my view as liberal and demanding my Republican secret decoder ring be returned along with the handbook outlining the special handshake.
Yeah, as I wrote at the bottom, “And just in case you need to be reminded, gays are no more likely to be child molesters than straight people!”
But the larger point is that this guy was a famous HOMOPHOBE publicly, and a hero to other HOMOPHOBES for suing his way to the Supreme Court for the right to keep gays out of his Sea Scouts Troop. This is the interesting irony, wouldn’t have been worth doing the story without it.
Ok now I am supremely embarrassed because I missed your little caveat at the bottom, and I hate it when other people do it. Thanks for pointing that out. Gently.
Don’t feel bad honey, if you didn’t see it then a lot of people didn’t, and I should have made it more prominent.
“honey”
I say that sort of thing and all Hell breaks loose on this blog. Why is that?
I wasn’t managing the blog (at least not as attentively and with a set of rules) like that. But if Vern hadn’t been friends with Cynthia, rather than trying to put down a stranger he disagreed with, I might have caught it.
In other news: the comment by “revolting” below is probably one where I would have tried to verify identity of authorship by email, and if it didn’t check out then the comment would be gone.
And this was in the innocent pre-woke days of 2013. Plus, Cynthia Ward is and was supremely honey-rific.
Yes, and there’s a difference between something said in a wry way to a friend and in a snarling way towards someone one wants to undermine.
I don’t want this to come off as a challenge, but Zenger seems not to be doing the latter so much anymore, which is great.
The ones that protest the loudest are always suspect.
If someone ever tells you what “they aren’t,” that is usually a dead giveaway as to who they really are.
Methinks.
Ah, but there you go stereotyping again! I find that that’s only true with about 90% of people who tell you they “aren’t!”
🙂
It’s an old theory….Willie S. said it best:
“The lady doth protest too much, methinks.”
I remember getting an earring in my left ear back when I was like 19, and hardly any other guys in the OC were doing it. Everyone kept asking me “What does that MEAN? The left ear? Does that mean you’re gay? Well?” And I told them it was none of their business.
So then I went and pierced my other ear because I liked the symmetry (and I read that Willie DeVille did it, and he seemed pretty cool.) And everyone said, “What does THAT mean? What does it mean when you have both your ears pierced?” And I said, “It means it’s nobody’s business if I’m gay or not.”
In short, I suppose I never “protested too much.” Maybe I’m not gay after all!
Maybe.
Evans’ sidekick and supporter, Scott Benedict, now has possession of the SSS Farallon. Benedict, a felon, is employed as a Special Education teacher in Antioch, California. Though not directly implicated in Evans’ crimes, Evans reported spent many nights on the SSS Farallon moored at Benedict’s home. It is not clear if Evans has been released from prison, however, there is a man which reportedly resembles Evans is staying on a boat at the Benedict property.
Evans is out of prison. Evidently sipping coffee around the East Bay with the grown boys he taught to restore the boat that he would molest them on. Look here in the comments section of this 2009 article – they are all trying to keep the boat afloat. Each one of these “men” who as adults supported the “man” who taught them so much while he abused them as youth by writing letters to the judge and showing support in court should be scrutinized by law enforcement to make sure they are not perpetuating his crimes. http://www.eastbayexpress.com/oakland/the-ss-farallon-takes-on-water/Content?oid=1370735
Revolting…how appropriate you call yourself such. The suggestion that his supporters are perpetuating anything and should be scrutinized by law enforcement is concerning. However,the tone of your comment almost sounds as if you’re are gloating. Why is that?
I enjoyed membership in Gene Evan’s sea scout troop from 8th grade to graduation from high school. I never witnessed or heard about any sexual overtures, grooming, or behavior by Mr. Evans during my four years. (Yes, I did hear vulgar language and no I never saw porn on the ship). Instead, Gene was dedicated beyond measure to the success of the Farallon. It is hard to see his conviction as anything other than revenge for his bringing his appeal to the State Supreme Court. As a criminal defense attorney I recognize that a plea of no contest is often the only possible outcome to an allegation of sexual abuse, regardless the underlying facts.