North Dallas Mom Invites Sex Offenders To Tea
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DALLAS (CBS 11 NEWS) - Sex offenders may be the last people you'd invite into your home.
However, a North Dallas woman hosted a sex offender tea for three men on the sex offender registry.
"We have to talk about this in polite society, and what's more polite than tea?" asks Judy Safern.
She also invited friends and neighbors over for the gathering and had plenty of them RSVP with an adamant NO!
"There were people upset and appalled by the fact that I was doing this," she says.
Some of them couldn't stomach the idea of sitting down with sex offenders, she said.
"I did have people say how dare you invite me?"
Others told her they couldn't believe she was creating a forum to bring "honor to perpetrators."
But Safern sees things differently.
"They're not these terrible scary predators. They're people like we are. They're just like we are. They do look like us. They do have families and sit down and have dinner."
Josh Gravens, a registered sex offender agrees.
"The perception you have of people on the registry is wrong."
Gravens must register because of a crime he committed at the age of 13.
He now works as an advocate for the roughly 85 thousand Texans on the registry.
"The stark reality is the only conversation we have about registrants is, 'Oh my gosh, they're down the road. Oh my gosh, they're here to get my children.'"
Over tea, people were encouraged to ask questions and Safern hopes it starts an honest conversation.
"Sometimes they do live across the street and instead of the whisper campaign, 'Oh there's a sex offender in our neighborhood.' Come meet them, find out, hear their story. Be willing to hear their story."
The organizers believe there are people who pose a general threat. But with 85 thousand people on the registry in Texas, many do not and may be unfairly stigmatized.
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