Predatory Priests, and All That. I haven't waded in much on the big gay-related (or is it?) news story dominating the media -- the exposure of the Catholic Church's years of covering up child molestation cases involving priests who repeatedly target young boys. This horror has been well reported and commented upon (see, for example, "The Catholic Pedophile Factory").
But here's my two cents. Attempts by church leaders to blame gay men in the priesthood, or the "homosexual atmosphere" created by a society tolerant of gay people, is certainly backfiring. No one is buying it. The church's refusal to take the blame for putting church PR over the safety of children is so self-evident that attempts to fire up homophobia in order to divert attention from their own sins is only making matters worse for themselves.
Here's a sidebar. The National Lesbian and Gay Journalists
Association (NLGJA) issued a
letter to the media on April 26 criticizing a lack of quotes
from gay spokespersons in stories about the Catholic hierarchy's
gay-blaming. That's a good point. But the letter oddly devolves
into a discussion of pedophilia versus ephebophilia. Writes NLGJA
President Robert Dodge:
"Additional reporting may have revealed that the Catholic Church does not have a problem with pedophiles. Instead, it may be one of ephebophiles, or individuals exclusively attracted to adolescents. More reporting might have turned up Dr. Fred S. Berlin, associate professor of psychiatry at Johns Hopkins University. In a statement that offered substantial balance and context, Dr. Berlin recently educated The New York Times readers that: "...We should make it clear that homosexuals are no more risk to children than heterosexuals. In terms of the bigger picture, there are every bit as many heterosexual men giving into sexual temptation with female adolescents.""
Perhaps pressuring 15-year-olds into sex is less horrific than pressuring pre-pubescent 8-year-olds, but I don't really see that this should be an issue to raise about media reporting. I mean, just what point is the NLGJA trying to make here? If they believe some of the teenage/priest sex was consensual, they should have the courage of their convictions and say so (although I haven't seen evidence of any teenagers having positive comments about their encounters with priestly predators). Moreover, the second part of the above quote, which claims that "as many heterosexual men" are prying on female adolescents, is surely not suggesting that there are as many homosexual abuse cases as heterosexual cases, given that under the most liberal theories gays are only 10% of the population (and, in fact, perhaps half that number)? Some advocacy!
Glass Half Full? According to a new study, the number of anti-gay hate crimes reported to a coalition of organizations around the country dropped 12% in 2001. Good news, right? But the gay and lesbian (and bisexual and transgender) anti-violence activists who issued the study were quick to say that the numbers meant only a decline in tracking, not violence. "Absolutely, unequivocally, it does not reflect that violence is down," Richard Haymes, executive director of the New York Gay & Lesbian Anti-Violence Project and a board member of the National Coalition of Anti-Violence Programs (NCAVP), told the Washington Blade. Haymes and Clarence Patton, author of the NCAVP report, emphasized repeatedly that the decrease was certainly due to a lack of participation in reporting, not to a lack of crimes to report.
And what is the cause for this drop in crime reporting? Insufficient funding for NCAVP member projects, the activists say. Well, maybe. But it couldn't be that a flat-out positive report just wouldn't be in the interest of those who specialize in raising funds to counter bias-related crime, could it?
Despite the overall drop in reports of anti-gay hate crimes, the activists note that their study does show a rise in crimes targeting transgendered people and gay Latinos.