US Coaches restricted by SafeSport

[cruzceleste]

John Coughlin was straight.

And this is relevant because?

 

[rachno2]

And this is relevant because?

A previous poster had asked about his orientation.

 

[cruzceleste]

A previous poster had asked about his orientation.

Thank you.

Just to be clear, sexual abuse has nothing to do with sexual orientation.

In case of sexual abuse on minors, the abuser get off more on the abuse and power rather than if it is a boy or a girl.

So, the sexual orientation of a allege abuser means zero in the case of who is the alleged victim.

And also, please don´t post information that helps identify who are the accusers: gender, state, that she/he is gonna arrive with body guards... let´s have a little restrain on the information in order to protect them.

 

[Alegria]

I remember something from the deleted TSL interview. The woman said that John's actions did not happen in a vacuum. He did not act alone. There were people who saw him act, perhaps groom, and because of the culture of US pairs figure skating, and this did not alarm anyone.

Many skaters have written public messages of support. Many have donated money to his GoFundMe. Mervin Tran may know who one of the accusers is. Dave Lease says many figure skating judges know who the accuser is. Professional Skaters Assocation has released a message that publicly supports John. What did people know? Did they turn a blind eye?

We all see coaches with skaters in k&s. We all can see a lot of touches between them. Sometimes it's looks like skaters are not that comfortable with all that touches, sometimes they are obviously dislike them, but most of them looks like they totally ok. But may be not all of them are ok or maybe all, but it's just my imagination. But if not and we all see it and what next?
We all different. And it's not all black and white in communication

 

[Sam-Skwantch]

But it's Brennan, who still thinks it was ok to leak this information. It was her choice to write it.

I’m not going to pretend that I believe this story needed to become national news when it did. Especially considering all of the facts or at least the nature of the allegations weren’t public information. I personally don’t care much for stories like this but I’m also not going to pretend I know all of the facts to determine if others were in danger or if undue pressure was mounting under the surface that needed to be exposed to prevent the accusers or other potential victims from facing further duress. Right now there is only speculation and rumors.

Journalist have to walk this delicate line and as a former journalist major myself I do sympathize with them in general. To your point though I often find myself taking issue with those who leak. In my opinion leaking information about ongoing investigations should only be done in the most extreme cases. When people are in real danger or whistleblower type things. I’m not sure yet where I stand on this case. I think Safe Sport should be very concerned with the outcome of this investigation though and should aim for much higher standards. We need them to be better and that’s OK to say. We need them to do this job.

Predators who are out there right now can’t learn from this that committing suicide will bring the investigation to an end and the facts from coming out. To me....it’s like an additional assault on the victim and creates incentive for accusers to consider this route.

 

[luckyguy]

32.797 $ from 481 persons (Josh Farris, Grant and Caroline Hochstein, Polina Edmunds, Marissa Castelli, Nathan Bartholomay, Amanda Evora, Galit Chait, Anna Cappellini, Ondrej Hotarek, the Weir family, the Cain family, the Scimeca family, the Settlage family, the Petukhov family, .....) for John's family at gofundme with many comments.

Christine Zukowski:
You filled my life at the rink with laughter, smiles, and left a lasting impression on the lives of so many that had the pleasure to know you. I will forever be grateful to have called you my friend. May your soul rest in peace. Lifting up your family and friends in prayer

Kaela Pflumm:
I wish this could bring you back. I love you and miss you

Julia Vlassov:
You smile, your laugh, your everything... we made so many memories together. Love you friend. May you rest knowing the skating community is looking up at you

 

[ancientpeas]

This is such a complicated issue.

People liked him. They are not wrong to have liked him. It sounds like he was a likeable person. They are not wrong to be sad that he is gone.

Two things can be true at the same time: He can be likeable and he can be guilty of these acts. If you were not his target maybe you had a very pleasant and nice relationship with him. That doesn't make you a bad person. People who do these type of things often have dozens (even hundreds of victims) and that doesn't happen because they are easily spotted in a crowd. Everyone wants the child abuser to be the guy in the white van or the stranger with candy but the most likely person to abuse a child is a close friend of the family or relative.

Sometimes the victim even misses the accused if they die. Relationships can be complicated and the closer you are to the person who victimized you the more likely you are to have mixed feelings about them. There is this blanket "I would hate someone who sexually abused me" sentiment but it, at times,is much more complicated than that. The human heart is capable of incredible feats of forgiveness and empathy and love, no matter how it may seem at times, is the most powerful of emotions if it spurs action. You can love your abuser and still want justice done and still want to protect others from them. If only everything is was simple as tv and movies wants us to believe it is.

 

[gsk8]

We know this has been a difficult time for everyone. However, now that folks have had a bit of time to process, this thread will be closed until further information is released. Please refrain from gossip, speculations, rumors etc. in other areas of the board.

Update 1/23/19: While John Coughlin's name has been removed from the U.S. Center for SafeSport of recent interim measures, we will continue to monitor and await any further investigation(s) that may take place.