For a few weeks now, the Religious Right has been shamelessly co-opting the Penn State child rape tragedies to spark further hatred of the gay community. As discussed here last week, one organization went so far as to raise money with their incoherent linking of being gay to the Penn State incidents.
Well, I’ve had enough. After reading an utterly embarrassing piece of writing in the DC morning ‘Examiner‘ which grasped at straws by trying to link the relationship of Kurt and Blaine on ‘Glee’ to Penn State, I cannot stay quiet about it. And tonight, I discovered an equally horrific piece at World Net Daily which continues along the ridiculous and completely unsubstantiated link between being gay and being a pedophile.
The long and short of it: Being a pedophile has zero to do with being gay.
Dr. Carole Jenny of Denver Children’s Hospital put together an exhaustive study on this very topic. She took 352 children who were referred to a clinic for potential sexual abuse. 35 of these children were ruled out of the study as abuse seemed unlikely in these cases.
Of the remaining 317 cases…
- 74 children were abused by other children or teens under the age of 18.
- 9 children could not identify their abuser.
- 2 children were abused by someone identified as gay or lesbian.
- 232 children were sexually abused by the heterosexual partner of a close relative.
- 37 were abused by a man in a straight relationship with a relative.
- 3 were molested by their mother or grandmother.
- 5 were molested by both parents.
- 3 were molested by a male family friend who had no history of sex with men.
- 1 was molested by an uncle, also with no history of sex with men.
- 1 was molested by a man who was possibly, but not definitely a gay man.
This is outlined beautifully by blogger Rob Tisinai in a video I will include at the end of the post, which you should all pass around as much as you can.
The vast majority of men who abuse boys are either not attracted to adults of either gender or are straight men who are emotionally disturbed, frequently only involved because of the power they may have over a young boy. Additionally, the reason so many boys are molested by men is that men have greater access to boys than they do to girls.
Several studies have concluded that only a fraction of pedophiles have ever shown an attraction to other adult men – a fraction that is far below the ratio of openly gay men in society.
As Rob Tisinai says in the video:
“When our opponents demonize openly gay men and falsely shine the spotlight on us, they’re letting the real abusers hide in the darkness…and continue their abuse.”
It has become clear through every actual fact that can be found, that what is more important to Peter LaBarbera, WorldNetDaily, Cal Thomas at the Washington Examiner and every other anti-gay activist, is that gays and lesbians be denied equality. They are continually putting their own anti-gay agenda ahead of the lives and abuses of children.
With every one of these articles, they are extending the myth that openly gay men are the ones to watch when it comes to the sexual abuse of children. And for every minute they spend penning an article like these, a real predator is getting away with these horrific acts. Peter LaBarbera, Cal Thomas, and WorldNetDaily have all made the conscious decision to prioritize their own anti-gay agendas over the lives and well-being of children.
It is up to us to spread the truth and combat the lies and fear with scientifically-proven facts. This is not about defending our honor, this is about really protecting our children.