Johns Hopkins child abuse centre hires professor who defended 'minor-attracted people'

AP Photo/Ben Finley

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The disgraced transgender academic who resigned from a Virginia university after defending pedophiles has been hired by a Johns Hopkins University centre dedicated to preventing child sexual abuse.

As reported by Rebel News in November, Allyn Walker, a female-to-male transgender academic who referred to pedophiles as “minor-attracted people,” insisted that the term be used to replace “pedophile” to spare the feelings of child sex predators.

Walker suggested using the term because it is “less stigmatizing than other terms like pedophile,” adding that pedophilia is merely another form of sexual attraction and does not deserve to be stigmatized.

“We are excited to share that Allyn Walker, PhD, will be joining the Moore Center as a postdoctoral fellow on May 25,” stated the Moore Center for Prevention of Child Sexual Abuse in Baltimore, Maryland in a tweet on Thursday.

We are excited to share that Allyn Walker, PhD, will be joining the Moore Center as a postdoctoral fellow on May 25.

— Moore Center for Prevention of Child Sexual Abuse (@MooreCenter_JHU) May 12, 2022

News of Walker's hiring comes six months after Old Dominion University announced that the 34-year-old assistant professor of sociology and criminal justice would be stepping down from his position.

Following the controversy over Walker's remarks, which went viral on social media, thanks to the conservative account, Libs of TikTok, the academic was placed on administrative leave on November 16.

“My scholarship aims to prevent child sexual abuse,” Walker said in a statement at the time. “That research was mischaracterized by some in the media and online, partly on the basis of my trans identity. As a result, multiple threats were made against me and the campus community generally.”

“I want to thank Old Dominion University for giving me the opportunity to teach and to conduct my research, and the ODU Department of Public Safety for monitoring the threats against me and the community,” Walker said.

Fox News reports that the Moore Center's decision to recruit Walker faced widespread condemnation from critics, including a University of New South Wales Professor Michael Salter. Salter is the president-elect of the international society for the study of trauma and dissociation.

“To retain its ethical foundation, child sexual abuse prevention work has to be victim-centred. What is victim-centric about the claim that there is nothing wrong with being sexually attracted to children?” Salter said on Twitter.

“Too much prevention work is being driven by researchers and practitioners who work solely with offenders or people sexually attracted to children. What these individuals say in a research encounter or forensic interview does not line up with victim report,” he added.

Luke Malone, a past Washington Post contributor, called Walker’s hire “an incredible end to a troubling chapter,” the New York Post reported.

Walker, who has written a book titled “A Long, Dark Shadow: Minor-Attracted People and Their Pursuit of Dignity,” had earlier acknowledged that the use of the term “minor-attracted persons” suggests to some that it’s OK to be attracted to children.

Old Dominion had faced calls to fire Walker after the educator made the comment while discussing their research in an interview with the Prostasia Foundation, a San Francisco-based child protection organization.

Neither Johns Hopkins University nor the Moore Center immediately responded to Fox News Digital’s request for comment.