It depends upon what the meaning of the word "gaslighting" is. . .
Yesterday I published a post about UUA Moderator Jim Key brazenly lying about #ChildSexAbuse committed by Unitarian Universalist ministers to my Facebook account. This morning I saw that one of my almost 4000 Facebook friends had posted the following comment while I was getting my beauty sleep last night:
I am so sorry that your experience is being invalidated. Seems like gaslighting. UUA response is abusive.
I responded thusly:
Thanks XXXX. It's not just my experience that is being invalidated. It's the
experience of women and girls, to say nothing of men and boys. . . who
have been sexually exploited, and even sexually abused, by Unitarian
Universalist ministers. I'm not a victim of sexual abuse by a Unitarian
Universalist minister.
As
far as experiences being invalidated and gas lighting goes, Unitarian
Universalist minister Rev. Mack Wallace Mitchell was convicted of
forcibly and repeatedly raping a teenage Tibetan refugee, and Rev. William Alexander McEachern was convicted of molesting pre-teen girls,
but UUA Moderator Jim Key stood at a podium in front of thousands of
Unitarian Universalists during the 2014 General Assembly of the
Unitarian Universalist Association and told them that no children had
been abused by Unitarian Universalist clergy in what was supposed to be
an official apology for clergy sexual misconduct by the UUA Board of
Trustees. That brazen lie about child sex abuse committed by Unitarian
Universalist ministers certainly borders on gaslighting, as does the
false accusation of blasphemous libel that UUA brought against me in a
cease and desist demand letter in 2012. I however am not being
"gaslighted" by the UUA for the simple reason that their distorsions of
the Truth and brazen lies about UUA clergy abuse are not causing me to
question my sanity. Au contraire, the brazen lies about easily provable
and verifiable facts cause me to question the sanity of top-level UUA leaders, UUA clergy, and other Unitarian Universalists who brazenly lie
about clergy sexual misconduct that includes "such despicable crimes as
pedophilia and rape" committed by "certain Unitarian Universalist
ministers".
Yes,
the UUA's response to my legitimate grievances and whistleblowing about
even worse clergy abuse than I experienced is definitely abusive, and
has been abusive since 1996 when the UUA's aptly named Ministerial
*Fellowship* Committee brushed off my complaint about Rev. Ray Drennan's
anti-religious intolerance and bigotry by claiming that "it seemed to us
to be within the appropriate guidelines of ministerial leadership".
Thank
you for publicly sharing your concerns about the UUA's abusive response
and "gaslighting". It is genuinely appreciated. We will see what
happens this year. . .
end quote
Before publishing this post I asked the person who made the above comment if they had any objection to me blogging about it. Here is how they responded to my request in a private Facebook Messenger DM:
Post
my comment however and wherever you like. In my understanding, the
strategy of denial and gaslighting is to discourage you. It is a
delaying action so that decades go by. Then the officials can say that
no one remembers or cares. UUA is playing a very long game, and that
game is destructive, and in my opinion evil.
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