Re: Granny's post of Nov.1, 2006 "Gay Bashing"

WA: The homosexual/pedophile connection made by the apologists for allowing Foley to continue his abuse has a fundie background. The fundies maintain a strong presence and influence in Washington. Below is an email news letter from one of their organizations:
( Red *** are my inclusions to the texts to emphasize certain words or phrases)_____________________________________________________
E-newsletter from Tony Perkins, president of Dobson's fundie organization:
From:
"Family Research Council"
To:
(deleted)
Date:
Mon, 02 Oct 2006 17:10:03 EST
Subject:
Pro-Homosexual Political Correctness Sowed Seeds for Foley Scandal
Refer a Friend October 2, 2006
Pro-Homosexual Political Correctness Sowed Seeds for Foley Scandal
Democrats seeking to exploit the resignation of Rep. Mark Foley (R-FL) are right to criticize the slow response of Republican congressional leaders to his communications with male pages. But neither party seems likely to address the real issue, which is the ***link between homosexuality and child sexual abuse. Foley, an unmarried 52-year-old representative, had always refused to answer questions about his sexual orientation. Now that his emails and messages to teenage male pages have been revealed, it appears clear that Foley is a **homosexual with a particular attraction to underage boys. While pro-homosexual activists like to claim that pedophilia is a completely distinct orientation from homosexuality, evidence shows a disproportionate overlap between the two. Although almost all child molesters are male and less than 3% of men are homosexual, about a** third of all child sex abuse cases involve men molesting boys--and in one study, 86% of such men identified themselves as homosexual or bisexual. Ignoring this reality got the** Catholic Church into trouble over abusive priests, and now it is doing the same to the House GOP leadership. They discounted or downplayed earlier reports concerning Foley's behavior--probably because they did not want to appear "homophobic." The Foley scandal shows what happens when political correctness is put ahead of protecting children. Additional Resources ABC News: Foley's Behavior No Secret on Capitol Hill Homosexuality and Child Sexual Abuse
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WA: I researched the homosexual/pedophilia link and found a large number of sites who asserted that child molesters were primarily homosexual. It was interesting to note that nearly all quoted the exact same stats, apparently from the same source, and most were also affiliated with religious groups (fundies). Some of the psychiatrist reports that parroted the 34% homosexual/pedophile statistics also proved to be affiliated with religious groups, which caused me to suspect their objectivity.
It required accessing many sites in order to find unbiased reports.
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Excerpted from http://www.angelfire.com/mi/collateral/article3.html

Pedophiles remain very much a mystery, research says
By Heather Ibbotson
Lasting solutions to the problem of sexual abuse of children may be a long way off, experts say. Diagnosis and treatment of pedophiles is a **young science, backed by barely 20 years of documented studies, said Dr.Howard Barbaree of the Clarke Institute of Psychiatry in Toronto, who has spent **18 years assessing and treating sex offenders at Warkworth Penitentiary near Kingston and at the Clarke.
There is still much "we just don't know" about these offenders, he said. What is known is that they usually fall into one of three categories: The true pedophile; the opportunistic child molester; or the incest offender. Neither the incest offender nor the opportunistic child molester are true pedophiles, Dr. Barbaree said, in that they are also sexually attracted to adults of one or both sexes. Crimes committed by these offenders are crimes of convenience; if a potential victim is near and the opportunity presents itself, the offender seizes the opportunity.
On the other hand,* true pedophiles are those whose sexual interest focuses solely on children -- often children of a certain sex and specific age range. These offenders actively seek situations which put them in close proximity to children, Dr. Barbaree said. They obtain positions' as teachers, choir masters, clergy and volunteers in organizations catering to children's needs or hobbies, he said.
Between 30 and 40 per cent of child molesters were abused as youngsters -- and a significant minority of male offenders were **molested by women, Dr. Barbaree said.
Research appears to have *refuted one common myth about sex offenders, he said. ****No evidence exists that homosexuals are more likely to be molesters than are heterosexuals.
A recent study by researchers at the University of Colorado found that a child's risk of being molested*** by a heterosexual may be more than ***100 times greater than the risk of being abused by a homosexual. The finding was based on a U.S. study of 269 child abuse cases, in which only two involved gay or bisexual offenders. Homosexual pedophiles, however, are far more likely to reoffend than heterosexual pedophiles, according to Canadian studies.
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WA:Because of the scandal in the Catholic Church of priests molesting children, the Church initiated intensive research into the causes of such crimes. Below is an excerpt of one article relative to their findings.
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Excerpted from The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops: http://www.usccb.org/comm/blanchette.shtml

Studies in the area of sexuality and psychosexual development have demonstrated that there are five basic sexual orientations:
1.A heterosexual possesses a primary sexual desire toward persons of the opposite sex.
2.A homosexual possesses a primary sexual desire toward persons of the same sex.
3.A bisexual possesses a generally indiscriminate sexual desire toward persons of both sexes.
4.A fixated pedophile possesses a primary sexual desire toward children between 1 and 13, with the victim being at least five years younger than the perpetrator.
5.A fixated ephebophile possesses a primary sexual desire toward children between 14 and 17, with the adolescent victim being at least five years younger than the perpetrator. This category becomes especially complicated when the victim is a 14- to 17-year-old boy, and the adult male's attraction might be one of homosexuality rather than ephebophilia.The fixated pedophile's and the ephebophile's sexual desire is intense and recurrent and represents a serious psychological and developmental impairment.

By way of contrast, a regressed pedophile or ephebophile is usually a heterosexual, who under extreme stress regresses to developmentally impaired behavior and engages in sex with children——for example, a man whose wife is sexually unavailable turns to his daughter for sex.

These distinctions should help to clarify the definition of a pedophile and ephebophile and to show that a pedophile or ephebophile is normally ***not a homosexual, as he or she has no interest in adult sexual relations. Statistical data would be helpful in order to understand the prevalence of pedophilia and ephebophilia in American culture and to know the percentage of priests with these orientations as compared to the male population in general. But research limitations presently make this knowledge impossible. Some distinct points for further clarification are useful.First, no single explanation can account for all the different pathways leading to pedophilia and ephebophilia. Any theory must be multifaceted and account for a wide range of behaviors, fantasies and organic factors that may play a role in the development of this disorder.
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WA: My limited research on this subject is certainly not a comprehensive, scientific work, but what I have read indicates that Tony Perkins' assertions are based on faulty data and probably from religious bias. My own experience with homosexual friends and co-workers showed that they held much the same views toward child molesters as did my heterosexual friends and family. They considered such activities as crimes and reprehensible behavior. Back in the day they had a derogatory term for men who molested children; they called them "chicken hawks," as predators who preyed on the innocent and helpless. I do not know what term they use today to describe this type of pervert but I am sure it is equally derogatory and that decent, moral homosexuals continue to deplore these crimes.