Did Oklahoma GLBT Center Head Nathan Bowen Admit To Sexing A 15-Year-Old On Valentine’s Weekend?
Nathan Bowen, the head of the Enid GLBT Community Center in Oklahoma, admitted to having sex with a 15-year-old boy, police say. While claiming (through his attorney, the famous trans lawyer Brittany Novotny) that while “they worked on chores, the teenaged accuser, who is physically larger than Mr. Bowen, began kissing Mr. Bowen and requesting that he have sex with him,” Bowen confessed to his crimes, according to a police affidavit that “claims Bowen admitted to police he knew the boy was 15 and that he engaged in sexual contact with him for several hours Sunday while they were alone at the community center, which was supposed to be closed for the day. According to the affidavit, the boy and Bowen met Saturday during a Valentine’s Day party at the center.”
I hope he didn’t, but if he did he shouild be castrated. I work with gay youth and have had plenty of opportunities, but I’m not even tempted. That wouild be a sad betrayal to myself and the community. It can cause a tremendous damage to the movement.
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What’s up with the double standard? If this were a straight priest, you’d be cheering at the exposure. If this were a straight senator, you’d be cheering at the exposure. Well, it works both ways.
Actually, I’d suggest it’s even more important to deal with this in the gay press because if kids are attending functions at this center, they certainly have the right to know if someone is engaging in illegal activity with underage attendees.
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Bad judgement, my ass! This douchebag should be stripped of his position. This is wrong & illegal — whoever does it. But it just really sucks that someone in such an important position would do this. Don’t blame the 15 year old — otherwise u too could find urself in the same situation . . .
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What makes this especially vile is that the kid’s mother brought him to the Center. She put aside all the stereotypes she had heard about predatory gays, accepted her son, joined PFLAG and was happy to take her kid to the “safe space” of the Center. And now she must feel completely betrayed and is probably re-thinking whether those anti-gay stereotypes are false. How did a guy like this get to be in charge of the Center?
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Predatory people are often in positions of leadership, that’s how they get into those positions. What this guy did was wrong and he should be fired and held legally responsible. I’d hold off with the pitchforks and torches though. There’s a difference between having consensual sex with a post pubescent physically mature teen and molesting a child. Don’t mistake my words for a defense of his actions, just pointing out there are degrees of badness.
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The fact that the teenager was “physically larger” than Bowen is absolutely IRRELEVANT.