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Name-calling only reveals ignorance, not truth

By HOWARD TROXLER
Published March 8, 2005

Well, this goes without saying. But a lot of things that go without saying need to keep getting said over and over anyway.

Being gay is not the same thing as being a pedophile.

Frankly, it feels kind of silly to have to say it.

It's like having to say: "People from Poland are not any dumber than anybody else."

Or: "Jewish people are not greedy money-lovers who control the media."

Or: "Plenty of white people can jump as high as black people."

This is 2005, and we ought to be past this. And yet, some people go out of their way to keep the confusion going.

I am sure that my clumsy definitions will offend somebody, but ...

Being gay is remarkably like being straight, except you pursue your life's interests with consenting partners of the same gender. And there's more prejudice.

Being gay is fairly common and therefore in my book normal. Whether people are born that way, formed by their surroundings, or even (although I do not believe this happens much) gay by choice, they are entitled to the same rights as I am.

Maybe you disagree. People do.

On the other hand ...

Pedophilia is a fixation on pursing relations with physically immature children that can involve either straight or gay people.

So: Is a gay person more likely to be a pedophile than a straight person?

There is no proof it it.

The claim certainly exists. One much-quoted Web site alleges that 35 percent of pedophiles are gay. If 10 percent of the population is gay, that makes gay people more than three times more likely than straights to be pedophiles. However, 35 percent is based on a misrepresentation of earlier studies that said no such thing.

A 2002 article in America, a journal published by the Jesuits of the United States and Canada, summarizes research on the topic by concluding a pedophile "is normally not a homosexual, as he or she has no interest in adult sexual relations."

And yet, some (not all, but some) gay-rights opponents try to work "homosexual" and "pedophile" into the same sentence.

Hence a 2002 speech by the then-president of the Southern Baptists condemning "the pornographer, the adulterer, the homosexual, the pedophile, the abortionist."

Likewise, an article on same-sex marriage in this newspaper last July 21 quotes local decency advocate David Caton as saying that soon, pedophiles will petition to marry youngsters, brothers to marry sisters and consenting adults to marry three or four other adults.

The scandal over sexual relations between priests of the Catholic Church and minors has confused the issue too - even in the Vatican's own statements.

Astute readers already know the most recent example, from this Monday's newspaper. Cecilia Burke, appointed by Gov. Jeb Bush to the Pinellas Juvenile Welfare Board, objects to the board's association with two gay-support groups, on the grounds that they encourage "unhealthy sexual practices" and sexual relations between adult and underage youths.

One of the groups is Parents, Families and Friends of Lesbians and Gays, better known as PFLAG. The idea of PFLAG being a deviant group is laughable - it is closer to being the PTA. It is made up of loving, supportive, everyday folks who found out that someone close to them was gay. The other group is the Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network.

I suppose our society's debate over same-sex marriage, human rights laws and homosexuality will continue for some time. Plenty of people who consider themselves open-minded and reasonable still believe homosexuality to be an immoral choice. My hope is that they will change their view in time, just as we white folks - many of whom clung with equal fervor to the Bible to justify segregation - changed our views in time on civil rights.

But as for this constant attempt to equate all gay people with child molesters: At the very best, it is based in lack of knowledge; at the worst, something much darker. Decent people, even those who believe homosexuality is a sin , ought to speak out against it.

[Last modified March 8, 2005, 16:52:55]