Geoff do you have kids

Indeed! Two darling little girls.  One of whom you congratulated me on when she was born:

http://www.byrnerobotics.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=25609 &KW=A+Brighter+World&TPN=1

QUOTE: Todd, Are you all honestly saying that if you had a child

"If?" Are you telling me something about that six-year-old in our house that I don't know?  Should I ask my wife about the milkman?

QUOTE:  and an adult man that took a keen interest in spending alone time with your child or any child, you would not be concerned???????

An example such as you give doesn't exist in a vacuum.

Who's the "adult man" we're talking about?  In what context is he "taking a keen interest?"

If we're talking complete and absolute stranger out of the blue, should I not also be concerned about an adult woman taking a keen interest in spending time alone with any child?  If not, why not?After all, if there's no conceivable reason for a childless man to want to spend time with children, there's also no conceivable reason for a childless woman to want to.

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(Refreshed the page before hitting "post reply," and I'm glad I did.  Thank you, Geoff, for putting forth my thoughts on the matter far more eloquently than I would have.)

I agree with Jodi on this one. I'm not saying all adult males wanting to spend time w/ kids not their own have bad intentions. But many do. And parents unfortunately aren't equipped as mind readers. So for the safety of their child, a little "profiling" is unfortunately necessary in the real world.  Doesn't mean I wouldn't let any adult male near my child...just means I'm going to view them with a much healthier dose of suscipicion until they earn my trust. Better safe than sorry.

Understand -- I am not articulating a a disregard for who spends time with children.  You better believe that I make certain that anyone around my daughters is someone my wife and I agree will do them no harm.  I am simply stating that default prejudice against men is unfair and indistinguishable from other kinds of profiling.

Surprising he can put thoughts together with as little sleep as he has to be getting.

I can sleep type.

Kevin:

Agreed.

If we didn't, would that exclude us from having a legitimate opinion in this
debate?

No it wouldn't, but it would make me understand where you are coming from and to be honest until you have kids, you have no idea what it is, to know that there are people, and yes mostly men, that want to harm your child. I will bet that I can go to my local paper right now and find at least one article about an arrest made in connection to a man molesting a child. Does that mean that every man is a shithole molester, no that is NOT what I am saying.  But to say it isn't a real issue and we should guard against the chances of it happening is just plain wrong.

Geoff I agree with a lot of what you are saying, my problem is with the branding of Greg, as a person, that thinks gay couples should not be allowed to adopt children, because he is concerned over unrelated males wanting to spend alone time with a child, something that was said in a thread about molesting priests. I believe his words were twisted to mean something completely different. 

I admire your thoughtful post Geoff