It was bound to happen. I was hoping that it wouldn’t but in hindsight, I shouldn’t have been surprised.
Someone from the religious right is now blaming gay men for the Penn State tragedy, where Jerry Sandusky, the former Penn State assistant coach is charged with 40 counts of child sexual abuse.
Peter LaBarbera of the hate group Americans for Truth had this to say:
. . . how many boy victims of homosexual predator Sandusky will end up believing that being homosexual (“gay”) is “who they are”? How many will struggle with sexual identity issues? And how many will be told by LGBT advocates and liberal-minded people just to “accept being gay” as “who they are” because they were “born that way”?
. . . There IS a long history connecting homosexuality to pederasty, and a disproportionate link between homosexuality and pedophilia: why else would so many child molestation victims be boys when only 1-3 percent of the population is homosexual?
LaBarbera has a long history of demonizing gay men for even the most trivial of things, but today is probably the lowest he has ever stooped.
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Now some may ask why am I publicizing LaBarbera’s comments. He obviously wants some type of attention and now I am giving it to him.
This is true. But what LaBarbera said warrants attention. Some of us may scoff at his words but we would be wise to remember one thing. In a subtler form, the slanderous notion that gay men want to harm children has been used by organizations – i.e. the National Organization for Marriage – in efforts stop marriage equality.
In a less subtle form, this lie formed the building blocks of fear and hatred which led to that awful bill in Uganda and subsequently the brutal murder of activist David Kato. His murderer was recently sentenced to 30 years in prison.
So yes, LaBarbera’s word warrant attention, but not in the way he desires. LaBarbera’s words deserves attention as a shining example of hatred and ignorance encased in a mindset so blind that it refuses to acknowledge truth. A mindset masked in religious demagoguery and extremism in its most nauseating form.
To whit, there is no link between homosexuality and pedophilia. None whatsoever.
And this is backed by the American Psychological Association, the National Association of Social Workers, the American Academy of Child Psychiatrists and the Child Welfare League of America.
LaBarbera, on the other hand, has no expertise in this area. He has no degrees and has done no research.
He doesn’t even cite any studies.
In layman’s terms, LaBarbera is talking out of his pudgy ass.
What LaBarbera seems to be doing is speaking from an internal pathological need to smear gay men.
The scandal at Penn State is volatile and out-of-control and that is highly understandable. Children have been harmed, quite possibly psychologically scarred for life.
What we all need to do here is pray for them as well as guard our own children against those who would prey on their innocence.
What we don’t need to do allow ourselves to be exploited by someone who doesn’t give a damn about anyone or anything but his own personal prejudices.
