The Leo J. Ryan Education Foundation Conference

On the weekend of October 26-28, 2001, the Leo J. Ryan Education Foundation held their annual conference on cults. The theme for the event was "Cults and Terrorism: Abuse of the Vulnerable."

Members of the LMT attended the event which was held in Cleveland and we brought along some wonderful people to take part in a panel discussion entitled "Growing Up in Scientology."

Stacy Brooks moderated the panel which included Astra and Zoe Woodcraft along with their father Lawerence. The Woodcraft children grew up in Scientology's Sea Org and left the organization only to find themselves cut off from their mother, grandmother and step-brother.

The panel which was presented twice on Saturday morning. Both panels are presented here in RealVideo.

  

Tory Bezazian shared with the audience her experiences as a long time member of Scientology who knew four children who took their own lives, including Philip Gale who jumped from a tower at MIT on L. Ron Hubbard's birthday.

 
 

On Saturday night, awards were presented to individuals who have worked tirelessly to help those abused by such mind control cults as Scientology.

The main award of the evening, the Leo J. Ryan Award, was presented to Bob Minton by Priscilla Coates, who presented the very first Leo J. Ryan Award back in 1981.

 

 

 

See Also Video Footage from the 1999 Conference

Plus Video from the 2000 Conference

 

 

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