From RSOL to NARSOL, but why?

By Robin . . . By now, many of you should have noticed (and a great many of you have been told), that RSOL is now NARSOL. But what exactly does that mean?

First, nothing is going to happen to RSOL’s vision or mission. And nothing will change about our stated goals or assertions. Everything RSOL is doing–or has already done–will continue along as usual. The ONLY thing that has changed is the name.

For years, RSOL’s board of directors struggled over the fact that the words “sex offender” were included in our corporate name. Like many of you, we are sensitive about using the term and preferred a more appropriate nomenclature. Registrants or registered citizens are standard usage now unless it’s absolutely necessary to revert to “sex offenders” to ensure the broader public understands the reference.

In early Fall of 2016, RSOL’s board of directors decided to move the corporation out of California. This was strictly a business decision having mo​stly to do with the burdensome regulatory requirements of being a California corporation. However, ​this move presented a convenient opportunity to change the corporate name. The board seize​d​ the opportunity and began ​deliberating on a new name.

​We felt that whatever name we arrived at ​should retain the ​familiar ​letters R-S-O-L​, b​ut we also wanted to jettison the words “sex offender.​” So began the process of arriving at a new name that would represent the full scope of all the areas of advocacy in which we are involved as an organization. After several proposals were circulated and discussed, National Association for Rational Sexual Offense Laws (or NARSOL, for short) was the prevailing choice. It’s a longer name than what it replaces​, but we’re growing more comfortable with it each and every day. We hope you’ll do the same. As time goes by, here’s hoping that it will eventually be as common and comfortable to say NAR-SOL as it has been to say RSOL.

​Until the new name rolls off your ​tongue as easily and conveniently as the old, don’t worry. We’ll continue to respond to RSOL​. But you’ll pardon us, we hope, if we politely ​remind you to “please call us NARSOL.”