[1]NASHVILLE, Tenn. (BP)–The assertions sound rational. But they do not prove true.
The assertion, as phrased by a Wichita, Kan., resident’s letter to the editor: “Statistically, there are more pedophiles who are married with families.”
A stance by Terry Fox, pastor of Immanuel Baptist Church, against homosexual Big Brothers and Big Sisters working with children and youth, stirred another area resident to write: “The typical pedophile is a white, middle-aged male who did poorly in high school, probably did not go to college and likely lives with a blood relative. They are not homosexual in orientation. They do not prefer same-sex relationships; they prefer sex with children.
“Being gay does not make you a pedophile — the statistics just don’t show that to be true,” the writer asserted.
“I have been in the homes of, invited into my home, and talked with many gay men and women, and I can say no homosexual desires or tendencies have been magically transferred to me — I am still straight,” the writer continued. “I have not known any of them to display any pedophilic behavior or desire. I would encourage people to get facts rather than rely on their prejudices before condemning others.”
Research, however, confounds the easy-to-make claims.
[2]While a homosexual cannot automatically be considered a child molester, nevertheless there is cause for concern, Judith Reisman, president of the Institute for Media Education in suburban Louisville, Ky., and a social researcher who has studied sexual behavior for 25 years, stated in a May 2001 article in Baptist Press.
Reisman noted, first, that 17-24 percent of boys are abused by age 18, nearly as many as the 25 percent of girls. Then, she noted, since heterosexuals outnumber the homosexual population about 44 to 1, as a group the incidence of homosexuals molesting children is up to 40 times greater than heterosexuals.
“You’re looking at a much higher rate of abuse,” said Reisman, a former university research professor who had completed a study titled, “Crafting Gay Children.” Department of Justice data at the time showed the rate of abuse by homosexuals as “off the charts,” she said.
An extensive analysis titled “Homosexuality and Child Sexual Abuse” by Timothy J. Dailey, Ph.D., senior fellow for culture studies at the Family Research Council in Washington, is available on the Internet at www.frc.org/get/is02e3.cfm.
Dailey, in his study spanning 13 pages and 76 footnotes, wrote, “Homosexual apologists admit that some homosexuals sexually molest children, but they deny that homosexuals are more likely to commit such offense. After all, they argue, the majority of child molestation cases are heterosexual in nature. While this is correct in terms of absolute numbers, this argument ignores the fact that homosexuals comprise only a very small percentage of the population.”
Referencing “the 10 percent fallacy,” Dailey noted, “Studies indicate that, contrary to the inaccurate but widely accepted claims of sex researcher Alfred Kinsey, homosexuals comprise between 1 to 3 percent of the population.” Among such studies, Dailey wrote, are those in the journal Demography in May 2000, in the journal Family Planning Perspectives in March/April 1993 and the journal Archives of Sexual Behavior in 1993.
Thus, Dailey wrote, “The evidence indicates that homosexual men molest boys at rates grossly disproportionate to the rates at which heterosexual men molest girls.”
Dailey concluded his article by noting: “For too many boys it is already too late to protect them from those who took advantage of their need for love and attention. All too many later perpetrate the abuse by themselves engaging in the sexual abuse of boys. Only by exposing the lies, insincere denials, and deceptions — including those wrapped in scholastic garb — of those who prey sexually on children, can we hope to build a wall of protection around the helpless children among us.”
Yet the erroneous assertions abound. In a story that aired on CBS’ “60 Minutes” in April 2001, for example, correspondent Lesley Stahl asserted that the FBI and several clinical studies published in reputable journals report that homosexual men are not more likely to sexually abuse boys.
“In fact,” Stahl asserted, “the largest database of child molesters in the country shows that those who molest boys are over three times more likely to be heterosexual in their adult relationships than homosexual.”
But Reisman, in the Baptist Press article, pointed to figures from a 1991 population study by the U.S. Department of Commerce. The study showed that 8 million girls were abused by age 18 by heterosexual men, a ratio of 1 victim to 11 adult men — while 6 million to 8 million boys were abused by age 18 by 1 million to 2 million adult homosexuals, a ratio of 3 to 5 victims for every gay adult.
Questioned about Reisman’s claims, however, CBS stuck by its story.
Spokesman Kevin Tedesco said “60 Minutes” staffers spoke with leading sources of information on child molestation, including the FBI, American Psychological Association and several clinical researchers.
The database was assembled by psychologist Gene Able, director of the Behavioral Sciences Institute in Atlanta, Tedesco added.
However, Reisman also cited a past study by Able that found that 150 boys are abused on average by a male homosexual offender, compared to 19.8 girls per heterosexual offender.
In a study published in 1987 in the Journal of Interpersonal Violence, Able said homosexuals sexually molest young boys with an incidence five times greater than the molestation of girls.
Dailey, in an interview in the Baptist Press story, questioned 60 Minutes’ claim that adults who molest boys can even be called heterosexual. “If a man is married and has sexual relations with boys, he’s obviously a combination. To say he’s heterosexual is an outrage. Overall he’s a pedophile. Whether you call it omni-sexual or pan-sexual, he’s indiscriminate … in relationships.”
Among the reasons Dailey cited for being concerned about the potential for homosexual molestation of boys:
— Even homosexual activists don’t try to hide the connection with pedophilia. In “The Gay Report” — a book published back in 1979 — authors Karla Jay and Allen Young found that 73 percent of those surveyed had had sexual relations with males 16 to 19 or younger.
— A 1999 article in the Journal of Homosexuality by Helmut Graupner argued that same-sex relations with minors should be considered a gay rights issue. The article argued that children wouldn’t necessarily be harmed by sexual contact with adults.
“We looked at the leading gay travel guide,” Reisman also said of her research. “Forty-seven percent of the 139 nations they talked about identified places to find boys. The average heterosexual travel guide is not concerned with finding children.”
Bill Maier, a child and family psychologist who serves as psychologist in residence at Focus on the Family in Colorado Springs, Colo., recounted in an article in July:
“Children who are involved in [Big Brothers Big Sisters] programs are primarily from single-parent homes. Many of these kids are emotionally fragile and desperate for attention and affirmation from an adult of their own gender. Yet the national board of directors of BBBSA (at the urging of local agencies in New York and New Jersey) has determined that these same boys and girls should be paired with homosexual mentors.
“In light of the ongoing sex scandal involving Catholic priests, the new policy of ‘inclusion’ by Big Brothers Big Sisters appears reckless and irresponsible,” Maier wrote. “Many of the priests charged with sexually abusing children and adolescents have admitted they are homosexuals. They used their position of authority to sexually violate those who trusted them the most. BBBSA’s decision to match fatherless boys, starving for male attention, with gay men is a recipe for disaster.”
Maier continued, “While gay activists insist there is no connection between homosexuality and the sexual abuse of children, the evidence indicates that a substantial number of gay men seek adolescent males or boys as sexual partners,” in findings from the Archives of Sexual Behavior.
“It is also important to note that many pedophiles consider themselves to be homosexual,” Maier wrote. “A study of 229 convicted child molesters found that 86 percent of offenders who molested boys described themselves as homosexual or bisexual.
“Themes of adult-child sex are common in gay publications,” Maier also noted. “The nation’s largest gay publisher, Alyson Publications, which distributes ‘Daddy’ s Roommate’ and other books that promote homosexuality to children, also publishes books advocating man-boy sex, or pedophilia, including:
— “‘The Radical Case,’ which contains detailed information on how to engage in sexual relations with young boys, and
— “The Age Taboo,’ which claims ‘Boy-lovers … are not child molesters. The child abusers are … parents who force their staid morality onto the young people in their custody.'”
Dailey, of the Family Research Council, wrote in his analysis that researchers “have long been aware that pedophiles exhibit a wide variety of sexual attractions and behavior — often to draw attention away from their primary lust for boys.” Dailey cited a study on sex offenders in the International Journal of Offender Therapy and Comparative Criminology, for example, which noted that “the reason child sexual abusers are successful at remaining undetected is because they do not fit a stereotype.”
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