Reader: ‘Call it what it is – rape’

Dear Editor,

Just a note to let “Mary Doe” know that although our state has inexcusably let her down, many in the world still support her and other victims in similar circumstances.

I am ashamed to be from Louisiana today. The fact that respected lawmakers and mature adults are even questioning where to place blame in this situation baffles me. A 14-year-old child cannot legally consent to sexual encounters with an adult in the state of Louisiana. Furthermore, a prisoner of any age engaging in sexual encounters with a prison worker, in this case, a guard, is in a position of vulnerability, and from a professional and ethical point of view such a guard has committed a crime of both a legal and moral nature.

This is a disgusting and shameful reflection on our state and any who defend the claim that this girl is at fault are aiding a sex offender and promoting a predatory culture in Terrebonne Parish and the prison system of Louisiana.

How sad that a child who has already been let down by us in such a way that she is sentenced to prison, is then further let down by being sexually abused by the very people who are supposed to protect her.

What a joke the term “guard” is.

There is no way to save face in this one, Terrebonne, not for your parish, or for our state as a whole. Call it what it is – rape. You cannot sugarcoat a grown man engaging in sex with a child, no matter what she has done, what she looks like, what she supposedly consented to – the victim blaming must end. Terrebonne Parish – rape is rape. And this man is a pedophile.

My prayers and thoughts are with you, Mary Doe, and please know that your trauma has not gone unnoticed. God bless a girl with the courage to not live in silence. It would behoove this parish to hear her voice, because the rest of the state and country already does.

LB Johnston,

Shreveport, La.