Children of the Exhibition

A while back I criticized some of the child avatar players for their tendency to push their roleplay on others in "neutral areas", writing: "I know that many childhood players are very vocal in their defense, from being under siege and often misunderstood. Know that I'll be there on the barricades with you, defending your right to fantasize. But please let me choose when I want to participate in that fantasy."

It seems the time has come to make good on that promise.
Second Life’s 5th birthday party is upcoming, and supposedly in response to the aggressive (if rather fact-challenged) attacks by Mark Kirk and his faction, Linden Lab has taken a tighter control over who gets to showcase what in the celebratory, themed "culture" exhibition.
And this includes preemptively denying the traditionally active and popular subculture of child avatars an exhibition spot. (As reported by Massively and SecondLifeChildren)

This could have been a perfect opportunity to show how the child avatars have fun, and battle some of the misconceptions and allegations of child pornography and general sleaziness which is regularly leveled against them. Instead LL chooses to stir those embers by signaling that child avatars is something they would rather not be associated with. -Quite a message to send at a party billed as "celebrating the cultural diversity of Second Life", urging people to showcase their subculture.
This is, by his own words, one of the reasons SignpostMarv Martin quit his position as organizer of the event, and obviously, the discussion is raging on the forum.

This is a huge blow to "our world, our imagination”, and if Linden Lab does not reverse their stance on this, I seriously suggest that everybody who has an avatar which is not a true-to-life representation of their player pull their support from the event, and host a parallel event, possibly a little before or after.

I am sure many better offers would quickly show up, but I am currently managing an Openspace sim under construction and I would be happy to temporarily pack up what’s there and offer the area for such an event.

UPDATE: Various subcultures with a sexual element are no longer welcome, either. Also, another organizer, Ariel Otafuku, has stepped down.

UPDATE: A Jira issue has been filed for "Missing Cultures & Communities from SL5B". I urge you to vote for this issue, to get it fixed.

UPDATE: LL has changed their policies - and indeed, the exhibition, somewhat - and some of the previously rejected builds by child avatars have now been accepted.