David L. Riegel – 1931-2019…

….	Date: July 07, 2019 I met Dave, twice… …one of the scantly few BoyLovers I’ve actually met, face to face, more than once. I cant speak to the accusations some have made against Dave…and a handful of hours, is a handful of hours…You cant know a lot about someone, based on so little time… …But he did strike me as an entirely genuine person…and a kind person. I do not agree with all of his viewpoints [most especially, those about Girl-Lovers]…but he was still a very important person among us. He did more for the plight of man boy love, than most people ever have…or ever will. Dave was not perfect… …That does not mean, this is not a really hard loss. 01) RIP Dave Riegel 02) Are we making ‘useful idiots’ of ourselves? “David was born in 1931 and came late to boy-love activism after a varied career in which being an airline pilot was perhaps the high point, if you’ll forgive the pun. He was drawn into research and writing in the behavioural sciences when he was approached in 1999 by an editor of the McGraw Hill textbook Taking Sides: Clashing Views on Controversial Issues in Human Sexuality for an essay on the controversy that was then swirling around the famous 1998 Rind et al. analysis, which gave survey data showing that children do not typically suffer psychological trauma from sexual contact with adults, contrary to popular opinion. After that, he became involved in internet-based studies into the psychosexual development of boys and also conducted survey research on boy-lovers’ views and sexuality. In 2005 he gained a degree in psychology. Remarkably, for a newcomer to academic research, and without the benefit of ever having undertaken a supervised Ph.D., he managed to secure the publication of at least 10 of his papers in academic journals. Through his own online SafeHaven Foundation, he published numerous other articles and books. His website was still up and running only a couple of days ago but now appears to have been suspended. The Dave Riegel I will remember was energetic and determined, driven by a fiercely-held belief in ethical boy-love as a power for good. While he was always more of a partisan activist than an objective scholar, he was entirely sincere, in my view, in seeking truth through scientific enquiry. He was as honest as he was cantankerous, and I will remain in his debt for the support he has given me.” – Tom O’Carroll 03) The Safehaven Foundation [My Comments on Tom’s Blog] Dave Riegel: I am heartbroken, about the loss of Dave. I met him twice, and never had a bad experience with him…He struck me as kind and sincere…if stubborn, where it came to his online work. It always pained me, to see the way certain others in our community dragged Dave through the mud… Very few people have stood up for the BoyLove community, like Dave has…and he did so, at great cost to himself. I just found out about his death, maybe an hour ago… I had my gut feelings about this, as he’s been crossing my mind as of late…I was just looking at an old e-mail from him, from four or five years back, last night…and I have an uncanny sense that befalls me, sometimes, when I’m about to encounter news of somebody’s death…and “here” it is. Dave’s SafeHaven Foundation website is no longer online…possibly because it’s no longer being funded. It is archived at the Wayback Machine. See link 03. I urge other archivers to grab a copy, for historical preservation within our community. In the mentioned e-mail, Dave actually responded to my question, regarding wishes for his work in the aftermath of his inability to maintain it online…He expressed a gratitude, to anyone who thought his work was deserving of continued hosting and preservation. For those who can put any hard feelings from past clashes with Dave aside [or who never had any]…I think the contents of his website should be considered open, for respectful incorporation and archival into MAP related projects and websites. Dave’s legacy should absolutely not be abandoned. I am going to go get a more updated copy of Dave’s website…and I’m going to focus on recreating his IBLD website, in the “IBLD History” section of the EQF IBLD website. I’ll probably create a SafeHaven archive, as well…eventually…It’s a lot of work.	….
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