We knew it was only a matter of time.

Given the steady encroachment of the Left upon cultural norms and decency, and given its efforts to categorize the atrocities within the Catholic Church and the Boy Scouts of America as sexual abuse rather than homosexual predation, we knew it was only a matter of time before the Left sought to rebrand and de-stigmatize pedophilia.

As our Nate Jackson has pointed out, the empirical evidence in both cases is crystal clear, even if the Left insists that we not talk about it: This sexual abuse is an abomination, and it’s disproportionately perpetrated by men upon boys.

This doesn’t seem to concern one Allyn Walker, a non-binary associate professor at Virginia’s Old Dominion University, who prefers not to use terms such as “pedophile” and “pedophilia,” opting instead to normalize such child sexual predators as just “minor-attracted people.”

Yes, pedophiles are minor-attracted people, just as thieves are property-appropriating people and murderers are demise-hastening people.

“It’s less stigmatizing than other terms like pedophile,” Walker said in an interview with the Prostasia Foundation, a child sexual-abuse protection organization. The interview focused on Walker’s book, A Long Dark Shadow: Minor-Attracted People and Their Pursuit of Dignity, which is described as “a study of non-offending, minor-attracted persons.”

Walker seems to have a novel understanding of a well-understood word: “A lot of people when they hear the term pedophile, they automatically assume that it means a sex offender. And that isn’t true. And it leads to a lot of misconceptions about attractions toward minors.”

🚨🚨🚨This non-binary assistant professor at Old Dominion University is trying to normalize the term MAP (Minor Attracted Persons) pic.twitter.com/riD6TdIt8k

— Libs of Tik Tok (@libsoftiktok) November 12, 2021

We wonder what kind of “misconceptions” Walker is talking about. Is it a misconception, for example, to believe that adults who are sexually attracted to children are depraved, or that child sexual predation is a crime of unspeakable evil?

Old Dominion is a public university — which means that this miscreant is being funded by Virginia taxpayers. But to its credit (if not necessarily to its institutional awareness), Walker’s employer did take swift action. “Old Dominion University has placed Dr. Allyn Walker on administrative leave, effective immediately, from their position as assistant professor of sociology and criminal justice,” said university spokesperson Amber Kennedy Tuesday evening. “Reactions to Dr. Walker’s research and book have led to concerns for their safety and that of the campus. Furthermore, the controversy over Dr. Walker’s research has disrupted the campus and community environment and is interfering with the institution’s mission of teaching and learning.”

University President Brian Hemphill also weighed in. “I want to state in the strongest terms possible that child sexual abuse is morally wrong and has no place in our society,” he said. “This is a challenging time for our university, but I am confident that we will come together and move forward.”

To be fair, Walker calls child sexual abuse “an inexcusable crime.” Fine. But then why try to normalize those who perpetrate it?

Judging from the fairly furious reaction to Walker’s efforts to euphemistically accommodate pedophiles, the mainstreaming of child sexual abuse is still a bridge too far. But the Left will be back. It’s “progressive,” after all, and it never stops “progressing.”