Professor who resigned after saying adult sexual attraction to minors is OK blames trans discrimination

The Old Dominion University professor who resigned after defending pedophilia now says that he resigned because of transgender discrimination, according to a report from Campus Reform.

What's a brief history here?

Former professor Allyn Walker earlier this year received heavy criticism after saying that the term "pedophile" ought to be changed to "minor-attracted people."

He made the remarks during an interview with the Prostasia Foundation about his recent book, "A Long, Dark Shadow."

In the controversial book, subtitled "Minor-Attracted People and Their Pursuit of Dignity," Walker said that the word "pedophile" perpetuates stigma and those of that persuasion should be referred to as "minor-attracted people."

"MAP advocacy groups like B4UAct have advocated for use of the term, and they've advocated for it primarily because it's less stigmatizing than other terms like 'pedophile,'" Walker said during the interview. "A lot of people when they hear the term 'pedophile,' they automatically assume that it means a sex offender. And that isn't true. And it leads to a lot of misconceptions about attractions towards minors."

During the interview, Walker also said that "there is no morality or immorality attached to attraction to anyone because no one can control who they're attracted to at all."

He resigned from the university in November following immense backlash from the media and the school community alike, but not before he was placed on administrative leave.

What are the details?

Walker said that he was forced to resign from his position at the college because of trans discrimination.

In a late November statement, Walker addressed the criticism and speculated that he believes it's possible he was forced to resign due to his transgender ideology.

“That research was mischaracterized by some in the media and online, partly because of my trans identity,” Walker wrote in the statement according to the outlet. “As a result, multiple threats were made against me and the campus community generally.”

According to the statement, Walker's resignation will take effect at the end of his contract, which is set to expire in May 2022. He will remain on administrative leave until that time.

"We have concluded that this outcome is the best way to move forward," ODU President Brian Hemphill explained in the statement. "We hope today's action helps bring closure for our Monarch family. As we move forward, I encourage all members of the Monarch family to continue our efforts toward healing and civil discourse."

The outlet reported that it reached out to Walker for comment, but was directed by the university to its published statement.

Anything else to know?

Elsewhere during the Prostasia interview, Walker said, "I want to be extremely clear that child sexual abuse is never ever OK. But having an attraction to minors as long as it isn't acted on doesn't mean the person who has those attractions is doing something wrong. I think we have a tendency to want to categorize people with these attractions as evil or morally corrupt. But when we're talking about non-offending MAPS, these are people who have an attraction that they didn't ask for. And one that frequently they would give anything to change. But they find that they're unable to change those attractions. And most importantly, the people in my study did not act on them."

Prostasia Conversations: Allyn Walkerwww.youtube.com