I have enjoyed going to the festival for a few years and being with our community. I have so many wonderful memories. I am concerned that memories will be all I have left and will not be able to attend Florida Pagan Gathering again.
By saying The Frosts are welcome to present workshops, says that we as a group agree with what they have written about incest and sexual abuse of children. I do not agree. I am a police officer and what they have written and encouraged people to do, by writing about it in detail is disgusting. I hold myself and yes sorry, my fellow humans to a higher standard.
I would like this out in the open. A real discussion, no back door conversations. No deleting comments from YOUR COMMUNITY about concerns! It looks like you don't care or worse that you want to hide this issue.
Did the BOD or anyone connected with running the festival pay for the Frosts airfare? The ticket fees and accommodations? If so, don't hide it. I only found out yesterday that they will be attending. But I now see on their website they have known they were coming for a while. Didn't the BOD say that last time they attended would be the last time?
If The Frosts will
not recant and apologize for what they wrote and condoned, which is
RITUAL SEXUAL ABUSE OF CHILDREN, then they have no place in our
community. The community at large has worked so hard to overcome the
days of Satanic Panic and the fear that all Pagans sexual abuse children! Why
give anyone a platform to be an influence on others if what they condone
is immoral and illegal?
FPG you have a disappointed many loyal attendees and staff members who feel lied to and censored. You have questions to answer to YOUR COMMUNITY, the community that supports you....you do not have a festival without this community and it's money. I am happy to pay for the wonderful memories, but not at the cost of my integrity.
FPG you have a disappointed many loyal attendees and staff members who feel lied to and censored. You have questions to answer to YOUR COMMUNITY, the community that supports you....you do not have a festival without this community and it's money. I am happy to pay for the wonderful memories, but not at the cost of my integrity.
Love,
Amber
Thank you Amber for talking more about this issue. I feel that due to the BOD of FPG deleting all posts regarding this discussion shows me that the BOD has no interest is resolving the concerns of many of its staff and patrons and even vendors. I to will not be attending due to this issue and I loved being at festival and all the great people. But can not sit by and do nothing , like you said it is their message that continues to damage our community from the inside out. The sad part is I know of people who has been told not to come to festival due to hearsay of one or two people and even after they got more information clearing them of any wrong doing. But here they are hiding and deleting posts ... sad
ReplyDeleteThank you for your comments. It is a shame that what should be a fun and safe community gathering is not welcome to hearing it's own community's thoughts.
ReplyDeleteIf I had thought about the way it was considered so ordinary to have the Frosts leading, well, anything, it would have told me so much more about the culture of FPG leadership. Sadly, I had to find that out on my own .
ReplyDeleteYou see, there was another predator there a few years ago. He was with me for awhile, until I got a warning from another young woman he 'knew.' His days past of threats and sexually aggressive behavior, which had gotten him banned only temporarily from festival, were not in the past after all. He was getting worse, not better, and he didn't care. It couldn't all be blamed on a change of meds or what have you. I heeded the warning and got him out of my life, posthaste and permanently.
Or so I thought.
With the woman's permission, I forwarded a screen cap of some of his text conversation, in which he bragged about a sexual violation. It wasn't enough to get him in trouble with the law, but it should have been enough to attract the attention of the FPG board member I sent it to. I added 'You cannot sweep this under the rug.'
She ignored me and brought the predator as her very own guest. He drove a staff golf cart. He made violent threats toward a number of women. He threatened the fire tenders, which was still not enough to get him kicked off the premises but was enough to get him permanently banned at last.
And yet, when I mentioned what a bad idea it was to bring him in the first place, I was banned from staff for a year.
You should have told us privately, said another board member. 'We would have listened.' Well, I had already tried that, and the results were not spectacular.
Here is my point: the current controversy over the Frosts being at FPG is really not a new issue. It's an old one. It's all about speaking out in favor of safety and being ignored or even punished. It's about people in positions of leadership who don't have a heart for the vulnerable.
Noticing and commenting on this years-long trend doesn't make me a Debbie Downer. Calling out the Board's negligence is not 'drama.' Calling for changes doesn't mean I don't appreciate the staff and all they have done. It means I expect better from a group I used to call my community. I could call it that again, after a drastic change in leadership.