Scouting Abuse Survivor Encourages Others to Come Forward and “Speak Up”
After being molested by his scoutmaster as a child, a Scouting abuse survivor from Montana turns his trauma into empowerment for other sexual abuse victims, encouraging others like him to come forward and share their stories. The Billings Gazette tells the testimony of Clayton “Kelly” Seale who was sexually abused by a scouting leader when he was only twelve years old.
“It didn’t really click in my mind that this was going to happen to me or that they were even true,” Seale told the Gazette, recalling the rumors and stories about the abusive scoutmaster other Boy Scouts whispered about behind closed doors. The rumors proved to be true when the scoutmaster molested Seale on a camping trip, fondling him even as Seale tried to protect himself from the abuse.
In 2019 Seale joined with the national movement Abused in Scouting to hold the Boy Scouts of America accountable for failing to protect innocent children from sexual predators in the Scouts.
"Now in 2019 we have to encourage people to come forward and talk about these things," Clayton told the Gazette. "Especially if it’s happening now and they don’t know what to do and are afraid that people won’t believe them. People have to speak up."
To read Seale’s full testimony in the Billings Gazette, click here.