Response to Media Reports on LifeLine Chat

Status update—September 2026: LifeLine has not shut down its website or chat service. The website remains active, and the chat opens whenever a volunteer is available to staff it.

LifeLine is aware of mainstream media coverage following its alleged use by a TV celebrity on an airplane. Since the news broke, we have been overwhelmed with visitors both well-intentioned and otherwise. We make this statement to clarify our purpose and explain the need for such a service.

LifeLine operates a support chat room for people attracted to children and adolescents. We have strict rules against any kind of illicit behavior, including the sharing of criminalized images. Those who violate the rules are swiftly banned and their messages removed as soon as possible.

Many commentators ask why a place like LifeLine even exists. It exists because most people attracted to minors are fully capable of behaving responsibly, yet extremely distressed by the stigmatization of their feelings. They need a place to talk, ensuring better mental health, leading to more positive outcomes for themselves and their local communities.

As a support service, we do not encourage users to feel shame over a sexual orientation that can never be changed. We believe that affirming their feelings, while encouraging responsible and lawful behavior, is the best way forward. To this end, we allow messages that the public may consider “offensive” so long as they do not cross legal boundaries or put anyone at risk of harm. And via this methodology, we have successfully diverted users from making bad decisions that would have endangered themselves or others.

Unfortunately, there is no safe way for minor-attracted people to access professional support in the majority of cases. There is a severe risk of being reported to authorities simply for disclosing one’s feelings. Who would seek therapy under the very real threat of being outed and shunned as a “pedophile”? The metaphorical lynching of the celebrity who allegedly visited our chat illustrates this clearly.

LifeLine exists precisely because the world is so incredibly hateful and punitive that minor-attracted people have no other means of support. This desperately needs to change. Those who would argue otherwise do not have anyone’s best interests in mind.

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