Mom defends bishop's bathtub photo with her granddaughter
theGRIO REPORT - Chicago Bishop Larry Trotter has been under fire recently for a photo posted on his Instagram account that shows himself in the bathtub with his four-year granddaughter...
“I’m not ashamed of what I did. I am ashamed and hurt that it is going out all over the world and people have called me everything from a child molester to a to a nasty old man and how I should get out of the ministry – the vulgarity has been terrible,” Trotter told the John Hannah Morning Show on the radio. “The last couple of days has been a very dark and hurtful time for this family.”
Others contend while the act was seemingly innocent, posting the photo on a social media site, regardless of how it surfaced, was still a poor decision.
“I think it was very irresponsible act,” says clinical psychologist, Jeffrey Gardere, in a phone interview with theGrio. “The fact it’s up there and letting  her identity be known — it’s such a comprising situation and it could harm her reputation in the future.”
Gardere, the author of Smart Parenting for African-Americans, recommends that parents probably should not bathe with their children once they can identify private parts.
“When you look at the situation physically, a mother who bathes a child in a shower…I think it’s different for a male doing that,” he says. “In society the majority of sexual predators are male. There’s too much of stigma of male predators…It’s best that parents of the same sex [such as mother-daughter or father-son] bathe their children.”
While the bishop, who has served at the Sweet Holy Spirit church for the past 30 years, admitted that posting the photo on social media was probably “unwise,” he says that  it’s was not unusual for him to share bathwater with his relatives while growing up.
“It was a totally innocent thing. I know some people never bathe with their kids. I’ve bathed with all of mine,”  he candidly said on the radio show.  “When I was coming up, we shared bath water.”
In his biography on the church’s webpage, Trotter writes that his granddaughter is “the ‘first lady’ of his life.'” and “He covets the time they share together, and is deeply committed to [her] best interests and well being.”
Javon says that her family is currently staying low, praying and trying to move forward from the issue.
Follow Brittany Tom on Twitter @brittanyrtom
