The ABC has told reporters to avoid referring to child sex abusers as “pedophiles” because it marginalizes people with pedophilia.

According to The Australian, a leaked email sent from a senior producer to all news staff in Tasmania this week advised against using the term “pedophile,” even when describing serial child abusers.

The email followed “a discussion between a reporter and a local Sexual Assault Support Service last weekend,” The Australian said.

This was “prompted by reporting on alleged pedophile nurse James (Jim) Geoffrey Griffin, who killed himself in October 2019 while facing multiple charges relating to child sex abuse and producing child exploitative material,” the outlet added.

The email noted the Sexual Assault Support Service’s (SASS) concerns about describing Griffin as a pedophile and advised reporters to avoid using the word.

“We should avoid it,” the email said. “Unless we know he had a clinical diagnosis of paedophilia and instead use serial sexual offender / predator, or a sexual abuser of children and young people.

“SASS says another consideration is from their point of view, there are a lot of paedophiles / people with paedophilia who do not act on those impulses, especially if they reach out for and receive professional psychological help… describing (perhaps technically inaccurately) Griffin as a paedophile could discourage those people from seeking help, making it more likely that they go on to abuse children.”

These sentiments are nothing new. In 2014 The New York Times published an op-ed piece arguing for an end to the stigma associated with pedophilia because it prevents pedophiles from seeking treatment to help manage urges.

In the years following, TEDx hosted lectures in which academics set forward essentially the same argument, suggesting society has to “break taboos” and stop hating pedophiles in order to solve the problem of child sexual abuse.

The rationale here is that children are being sexually abused due to the social stigma associated with a sexual attraction towards minors. A stigma that shames pedophiles into hiding, leaving them untreated and, therefore, more likely to commit crimes.

One lecture, which was eventually removed from YouTube for violating the platform’s Terms of Service, even claimed “pedophilia is a natural, unchanging sexual orientation.”

In recent years, this idea has even found its way into schools. In 2019 there were reports that a college in Ohio was teaching students that pedophilia is an orientation that could be part of the “acceptance of diverse sexual identities.”

Earlier that year, government school officials in California horrified parents by admitting to teaching students that pedophilia is an orientation recognized throughout history.

Ultimately, that’s where this is all headed. There is a growing push to make pedophilia socially acceptable by making a distinction between child molestation as a criminal act and pedophilia as a status.

The implications of this can’t be overstated. Once pedophilia is recognized as a “sexual orientation,” in many parts it’ll be legally prohibited to discriminate against them on that basis, provided they identified as such in status only.

So, the question is, what would that mean for daycares, schools, and children’s hospitals when an individual who openly identifies as a pedophile applies for a job?

Even if the individual does not act on their urges, few parents would knowingly hand their children over to a ‘pedophile,’ even if in ‘status-only.’

Not only will all of this expose children to potential harm, but it’s also likely to see concerned employers in court or else financially ruined.

Of course, if you have any legitimate objections at this point, you’ll be dismissed for perpetuating the stigma and accused of endangering children by forcing pedophiles back into the shadows.

Yes, once again, you and your bigotry will be regarded as the real threat to society.

But in the words of Isaiah, “Woe to those who call evil good and good evil, who put darkness for light and light for darkness, who put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter.” (Isaiah 5:20)