Editorial: Penguins & Perverts

Brody Levesque is senior corespondent & Washington Bureau Chief for LGBTQ Nation magazine.

WASHINGTON D. C. -- I think that the one constant in my life these days is knowing that no matter what an LGBTQ person does, in any fashion, you can be certain that a member of corporate christianity will find a way to make it as demonic, sinful, and dehumanising as possible. Of course, failing that, the spokes bigots will resort to plain mockery of LGBTQ people in general.

This week has yet again been a classic example of such vitriolic nonsense. Like most of you reading this column, I have been following the unfolding tragedy that occurred at Penn State with its legendary football coach Joe Paterno and the university's athletic department. Penn State's retired assistant coach Jerry Sandusky, was arrested and charged with 40 counts of sexual abuse involving eight boys over a 15-year period.

I am certain that most of you are appalled that this horrific abuse of children was allowed to continue on for such a lengthy period of time unchecked and unchallenged by a number of persons in the university's professional community. For the record, I think that the actions taken by the university's board of trustees in sacking Coach Paterno and the university's president this past week was a just and appropriate response to this tragedy. I too also realise that sports fans everywhere are taken aback and dismayed by this mess- but I need to point out that this ugliness has yet again brought a topic to the forefront of the national consciousness, that needs addressing and in my not so humble opinion, have the metaphorical stake driven through its heart. That is plainly put, the myth that homosexuals are all child molesters.

I have spoken to numerous experts whose specialty is the subject of paedophilia and without exception the message they've conveyed is that the vast majority of persons who commit these acts against children are not homosexual in orientation. In fact, according to the folks at the Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, the majority would be considered heterosexual. These adults fall into the category that is clearly defined by the classification/definition of the word paedophile to wit:

As a medical diagnosis, pedophilia (or paedophilia) is defined as a psychiatric disorder in adults or late adolescents (persons age 16 or older) typically characterized by a primary or exclusive sexual interest in prepubescent children (generally age 13 years or younger, though onset of puberty may vary). Research suggests that pedophilia may be correlated with several different neurological abnormalities, and often co-exists with other personality disorders and psychological pathologies.

The experts have also confirmed that although mostly documented in men, there are also women who exhibit the disorder.

Not that corporate christianity and its allies pay much attention to verifiable facts and established medical research. A shining example of this was a radio broadcast by the American Family Association's noted homophobe, Bryan Fischer, who utilised the publicity surrounding Toronto's famed "gay" penguins as a representative example of "the fluidity" of sexual orientation.

First he mocked the LGBTQ Equality Rights movement in a bizarre way in a 'compare & contrast' scenario with the penguins before launching into a rant regarding the Penn State tragedy stating:

"It's a simple, stubborn fact that homosexuals molest children at much higher rates than the heterosexual population," Fischer said. "This is one of the reasons the Boy Scouts have every right to keep homosexuals from becoming Boy Scout leaders."

WATCH:

Of course, Fischer was not the only member of the corporate christian opposition to LGBTQ equality, actually make that human rights, to sound off. The Family Research Council's Jerry Cox appearing on National Public radio here in Washington told the host of NPR's news and analysis show "To The Point;"

"I find it interesting that we talk about the Penn State situation, and then when we talk about people who claim to have these rights to adopt or foster; in both cases, the children's rights get put in second place," Cox told host Warren Olney, after a gay parent from L.A. spoke about the stringent adoption process to which he and his partner were subjected. "If those are the only two choices -- a child be institutionalized or in a same-sex home -- I would like to challenge this and say, maybe the state can do better than that. I blame the state for that. These children need a place to recover." ( Interview here.)

To his credit, Mr. Olney quickly issued a statement via the Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD) apologising for the show's contents. "We apologize for any confusion about today’s 'To the Point,' which dealt with both the Penn State child-sex scandal and the issue of same-sex couples as foster or adoptive parents," he wrote. "The connection we intended to make was this: a suspected paedophile backed by a powerful institution was allowed to have foster children, while same-sex couples, who can provide loving families, are often denied that opportunity."

The problem I have with all of this is that I am not hearing a forceful and loud national conversation commencing, that once and forever puts to rest this disgusting, misleading, untruthful, and unjust accusation that these family groups from corporate christianity not to mention some religious leaders, deploy as weaponry to create a state of disaffection in the populace against LGBTQ people.

The ludicrous penguins & perverts comparison by Fischer should give any reasonable adult offence. But more so- it is past time to bury this mythology, after all should Fischer or his ilk bother to really conduct some honest research they would find what the experts have, the trend for molestation and putting children at real risk is actually higher in their community than it is ours.