Post by Glenda Gustin on Mar 16, 2020 16:53:49 GMT
The Silence of the Lambs
In 2001 William Harvey Bowen (known as Harvey Bowen to his family and closest friends but known as Bill Bowen to most of the rest of us) created 'silentlambs' a support group for Jehovah's Witnesses, past present and future, who had been sexually abused and silenced by members of (known then as) The Watchtower Bible and Tract Society. Sexual abuse of children does enough harm, but silencing the victims for the benefit of the 'organization' or 'org' causes even more damage. When the children act out, as victims do, they get punished and therefore suffer even more.
The March of the Lambs
The number of known victims grew exponentially as time went by, and the Watchtower dug in its heels and refused to admit there was a problem and of course refused to do anything about it. Bill Bowen organized a protest at the Watchtower headquarters in New York City. As it turned out it was, to this date, the largest protest against Watchtower ever in history.
LambsMarch
The Silentlambs March took a lot of work to pull off. Permits had to be secured, travel arrangements made, lodgings acquired, and many other preparations. Many people donated even if they did not go, and 18 people were able to attend thanks to the hard work and generosity of others. Toward that end, I created a yahoo group called 'Silentlambs March' where a lot of activist minded folks came and shared resources. The March came off very well, with lots of television coverage.
It became obvious that more work was going to be needed, and so 'silentlambs' became a permanent group and website mainly devoted to education and support. In order not to infringe legally and other ways on the hard work that Bill and Sheila Bowen had put into Silentlambs, I changed my group name to LambsMarch and it became activist oriented mainly minimarches, courtroom support, and research. I've never taken donations and have never 'paid advertised' LambsMarch. Silentlambs is, as far as I know, a 501(c) but LambsMarch is not. My group first on Yahoo and then on yuku, ran for 17 years and then was eliminated when another owner took over Yuku. LambsMarch freeforums is the new rebirth of the old group and contains mostly the same material and performs the same functions, although because I am just one person I haven't been able to get everything up so far. It is a work in progress. My many thanks to all the silentlamb heroes and supporters including others who hosted forums and websites which gave survivors many choices to go for knowledge and support.
To the victims and survivors: you will not be forgotten.
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In 2001 William Harvey Bowen (known as Harvey Bowen to his family and closest friends but known as Bill Bowen to most of the rest of us) created 'silentlambs' a support group for Jehovah's Witnesses, past present and future, who had been sexually abused and silenced by members of (known then as) The Watchtower Bible and Tract Society. Sexual abuse of children does enough harm, but silencing the victims for the benefit of the 'organization' or 'org' causes even more damage. When the children act out, as victims do, they get punished and therefore suffer even more.
The March of the Lambs
The number of known victims grew exponentially as time went by, and the Watchtower dug in its heels and refused to admit there was a problem and of course refused to do anything about it. Bill Bowen organized a protest at the Watchtower headquarters in New York City. As it turned out it was, to this date, the largest protest against Watchtower ever in history.
LambsMarch
The Silentlambs March took a lot of work to pull off. Permits had to be secured, travel arrangements made, lodgings acquired, and many other preparations. Many people donated even if they did not go, and 18 people were able to attend thanks to the hard work and generosity of others. Toward that end, I created a yahoo group called 'Silentlambs March' where a lot of activist minded folks came and shared resources. The March came off very well, with lots of television coverage.
It became obvious that more work was going to be needed, and so 'silentlambs' became a permanent group and website mainly devoted to education and support. In order not to infringe legally and other ways on the hard work that Bill and Sheila Bowen had put into Silentlambs, I changed my group name to LambsMarch and it became activist oriented mainly minimarches, courtroom support, and research. I've never taken donations and have never 'paid advertised' LambsMarch. Silentlambs is, as far as I know, a 501(c) but LambsMarch is not. My group first on Yahoo and then on yuku, ran for 17 years and then was eliminated when another owner took over Yuku. LambsMarch freeforums is the new rebirth of the old group and contains mostly the same material and performs the same functions, although because I am just one person I haven't been able to get everything up so far. It is a work in progress. My many thanks to all the silentlamb heroes and supporters including others who hosted forums and websites which gave survivors many choices to go for knowledge and support.
To the victims and survivors: you will not be forgotten.
Welcome to your new ProBoards forum! We have numerous resources available to help you get started.
ProBoards Help Guide
Check out our online help guide for answers to the most common questions. This guide includes details for managing your account, customizing your forum, and much more, all in an easy-to-read format.
Forum Admin Panel
Your forum admin panel helps you control all of your forum's settings. From adding new boards for your visitors to post in to creating member groups, the admin panel has everything you need.
Theme Library
Browse the numerous free themes created by the ProBoards community and install them on your forum with a single click. You can also create one yourself in your forum's admin panel!
Plugin Library
Looking to add a new feature to your forum? Check out the hundreds of free plugins that are available.
Need More Help?
If you need any help getting your forum set up, our team is available to answer your questions over at the ProBoards Support Forum. Let us know how we can help!
Thank you for choosing ProBoards!
The ProBoards Team