Human Rights Campaign Co-Founder Arrested for Sexual Abuse of a Teen

Terrence Bean was indicted on two felony counts of third-degree sodomy and one misdemeanor count of third-degree sex abuse.

(photo: CNA/Creative Commons via Elizabeth Ziegler, Flickr)

PORTLAND , Ore. — A founder of the Human Rights Campaign, an influential homosexual-advocacy group that has begun targeting Catholic bishops for protests, has been arrested for alleged sexual abuse of a teen boy in Oregon.

Terrence Bean, 66, was indicted on two felony counts of third-degree sodomy and one misdemeanor count of third-degree sex abuse related to an alleged sexual encounter in Eugene, Ore., with a 15-year-old boy in 2013, the newspaper The Oregonian reported.

Kiah Lawson, a 25-year-old reported to be an ex-boyfriend of Bean, was also indicted on the same charges. Both had met the teen through a homosexual dating app, CNN reported.

Lawson had allegedly found that Bean had been surreptitiously videotaping his sexual encounters with Lawson and at least six other men. Lawson and his then-lawyer and demanded about $40,000 in alleged damages in return for screenshots of some of the videos.

Bean went to police alleging that he was being extorted, prompting the investigation that led to charges against both men.

Jeffrey Dickey, who served as Lawson’s lawyer, objected to charges against his client, saying Lawson had helped authorities find the teen.

Kristen Winemiller, Bean’s lawyer, said that her client is cooperating with the investigation and was “the victim of an extortion ring.” The charges against him should not be taken “at face value,” she said.

Detectives in Portland’s Sex Crime Unit are leading the case in cooperation with district attorneys’ offices in Clackamas and Lane Counties.

Bean is a co-founder of the Human Rights Campaign and of the Gay and Lesbian Victory Fund. He has been a major fundraiser for Democratic Party candidates, including President Barack Obama, The Oregonian reported.

The Human Rights Campaign said that Bean is one of 80 board members of the organization and has no daily oversight or responsibility for its programs. He has taken a voluntary leave of absence from the board “until his issues are resolved,” a spokesman told CNN.

In late 2014, the Human Rights Campaign began a publicity effort against eight “outspoken” Catholic bishops in the U.S. in hopes of changing Catholic practice and moral doctrine. The activism was related to the Extraordinary Synod of Bishops on the Family, which the campaign saw as “the opportunity to create a precedent for change.”

The organization has many corporate partners in its homosexual-rights activism. It has lobbied businesses to push for “LGBT equality” in legislation and corporate policy, to recruit self-identified same-sex attracted employees and to give financial support for sympathetic organizations through same-sex specific marketing or advertising and philanthropic support.

Shannon Mullen, Editor-in-Chief of CNA

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A new era has begun at the Catholic News Agency even as the news cycle continues to bring challenging stories both inside the Church and around the world. This week on Register Radio, we get to know Shannon Mullen, the new editor-in-chief of CNA. And then, we are joined by the Register’s Washington Correspondent, Lauretta Brown, to catch up on the latest pro-life news from the nation’s capital.

Shannon Mullen, Editor-in-Chief of Catholic News Agency.

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“As a young newspaper reporter, I drew great inspiration from Pope John Paul II’s annual remarks on World Communications Day,” Mullen said adding, “He emphasized that even those in the secular media could serve as apostles in the cause of human dignity, justice and the pursuit of truth."