Troels Peter Schmidt

Peter Schmidt, in later life

Troels Peter Windfeld Schmidt (15 June 1942 – 20 September 2019) was a Danish writer and public debater engaged in many forms of activism throughout his life. In the 1970s, he helped edit the magazine Sexual Politics (Seksualpolitik) and founded a Professional Equality Group for Gays and Lesbians. He has dealt with topics as diverse as sexual politics, antipedagogy, the institution of lay judges, South American politics and urban ecology.

Schmidt attracted media attention with his controversial opinions about pedophilia and incest, which he did not believe to be inherently harmful. This led to him several times being called a "pedophile" and/or a "pedophile sympathizer". He denied the accusations, stating that he was instead in favor of self-determination for young people. Schmidt had occasionally attended Ipce meetings, along with individuals who both were, and were not "sympathetic" to pedophiles and MAPs.

Arguments

In the book Whole and FREE children (1992), he argues that a distinction must be made between sexual abuse of minors and voluntary sexuality between minors and adults.

Furthermore, he stated in an interview with BT (Berlin Newspaper, translated) in 1995:

I have a humanist belief that we should help all the weak. There is nothing wrong with being a pedophile. But pedophiles are weak because society hunts them. It worries me that educators have such strong prejudices that they cannot have the thought experiment that children can get something positive out of having sex with an adult.

Peter Schmidt was a long-standing member of the Danish National Association for Gays and Lesbians and co-founder of the Pædofilgruppen (1984) as well as a former member of the main board of the Minority Party. Party chairman Rune Engelbreth Larsen had stated that Peter Schmidt's views on pedophilia and blood libel were no problem for the Minority Party (they opposed legalization of minor-adult sex). However, Schmidt's association with the Party had caused surprise and concern elsewhere; e.g. in Save the Children.

External links

• Danish Wikipedia