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09/28/2006
'Americans for Truth' continue to invalidate their name's direct object
Longtime anti-gay activist Peter LaBarbera describes his queer-countering "Americans For Truth" group in this way:
Exclusively about the so-called "homosexual activist agenda," huh? Then why is is that the lead story currently running on AFT's website is:
Eichenwald's article is solely dedicated to the problem of pedohilia. While both adult male/young boy and adult male/young girl incidents are detailed, the issue being discussed is adult/children sex! The article doesn't contain even one mention of gay, lesbian, homosexual, or even NAMBLA. The problem discussed is pedophilia, the likes of which is a HUMAN problem that has nothing more to do with "homosexual activism" than it does "heterosexual activism."
So Peter, if you want to form "a national organization devoted exclusively to exposing and countering the pedophile activist agenda," then go right ahead. We might even support you in that endeavor. But don't, for the sake of your campaigns of stigma, say you are dedicated solely to countering gay rights if you are going to post an entry (which you even have the gall to tag "homosexual pedophilia") dealing with this unrelated societal problem.
After all, we know you wouldn't want your readers to get confused and just blindly link the two. Right?
On the Web, Pedophiles Extend Their Reach [NY Times]
**UPDATE: Peter has now update the article so that the headline reads Oprah Exposes NAMBLA: Homosexual Pedophiles Online, and he has added the text:
"You can read a detailed description of Oprah’s show on her website. I hope you agree with me that the most outrageous element of this story is the pathetically paltry jail sentences these child molestors are receiving. (Personally, I’m open to the idea of castration as a penalty.) Hopefully, with the lobbying efforts of Oprah and thousands of others across the country, that will change. –Peter LaBarbera, AFT"
But as the Oprah show's topic was on the pedophilia problem in this country as a whole, the new headline would seem to be an even more blatant attempt to link pedophilia to homosexuality in general.
**UPDATE2: In an email alerting those on AFT's mailing list to his entry, LaBarbera makes these additional comments:
Oh really, Peter? You, someone who studies and challenges the gay rights movement as a career, hasn't seen any information on this topic? Well then, here's the ACLU's tackling of the topic (with references to the journals Pediatrics and Adolescence), which pretty much sums up mainstream professional thought on this matter:
There is no connection between homosexuality and pedophilia. All of the legitimate scientific evidence shows that. Sexual orientation, whether heterosexual or homosexual, is an adult sexual attraction to others. Pedophilia, on the other hand, is an adult sexual attraction to children. Ninety percent of child abuse is committed by heterosexual men. In one study of 269 cases of child sexual abuse, only two offenders were gay or lesbian. Of the cases studied involving molestation of a boy by a man, 74 percent of the men were or had been in a heterosexual relationship with the boy's mother or another female relative. The study concluded that "a child's risk of being molested by his or her relative's heterosexual partner is over 100 times greater than by someone who might be identifiable as being homosexual, lesbian, or bisexual."
Psychotherapist Joe Kort and Dr. Gregory Herek also have detailed articles on this matter, if you care to read further.
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