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Marie
My question was not in reference to same-sex abuse. My question was, were the priests who abused males homosexuals? In other words, I know a man who abused teenage boys. This man was not gay, he was straight, but he had an opportunity to abuse boys so he did. Just like sometimes gay men marry women and have sex with them – that does not make the gay man straight.

Francis -
You ask: “Returning to the Catholic priest scandal, for example, were most of the perpetrators gay or straight?”
From the John Jay Report on clergy sexual abuse in the United States (http://www.usccb.org/nrb/johnjaystudy/):
“Unlike in the general population, more males than females were allegedly [abused]. In fact, there was a significant difference between genders, with four out of five alleged victims being male.”
IOW: 4 out of 5 priest-abusers were homosexual. When you take into account that the vast majority of priests are heterosexual (like the vast majority of men), the difference is even more striking.

The Jay report also says:
“Whatever the motivation of men to sexually abuse children, the abuse is less likely to occur if there are fewer opportunities for the abuse to happen.”

I’m just glad that the Boy Scouts still run the Boy Scouts.

Josh
Is there any evidence at all that gay men molest boys at a rate higher than heterosexual men? Returning to the Catholic priest scandal, for example, were most of the perpetrators gay or straight? What if a gay man came to a Scout meeting but did not camp out with them? Would that be o.k.? What if a gay man had a special skill to share with the boys, like rock climbing or wood work or archery – could he be invited as a guest speaker, or would his being gay bother people too much? What if a gay man went on a camp out, but all the straight men held a secret meeting so they could make plans to “keep an eye” on the gay man?

What if we had gay priests who were celibate and did not molest anyone? Would they be good enough to be priests, or would the fact that they were gay preclude them from being ordained?

Your post seems to suggest that we should be very cautious of gay men around teenage boys. You are certainly entitled to your opinions, but some evidence to support your opinion would be helpful.

How about this: I know three gay men who got married in their early 20’s and had families. Once their children were grown, they came out to their wives and got divorced. In all three cases, the gay men were fathers of teenage boys who were in the Scouts. In all three cases, the gay fathers went on campouts with the Scouts. None of the three gay men molested anyone. In fact, no one knew that they were gay until years later. How can any organization prevent gay men from participating? They are only able to prevent OPENLY gay men from participating.

[...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by . said: [...]

It is discrimination, but it is JUST discrimination.

I don’t think homosexual men going on trips with teenage boys is anymore or less dangerous than heterosexual men going. Just like I don’t think that the reason a few unfaithful priests molested kids was because they were gay or celibate. Sexuality or lack thereof has nothing to do with someone wanting to do something sick and depraved, like molest young kids. I think the Boy Scouts have a right to limit their membership, if they chose, but not for that reason.

I heard about this case earlier. Thanks for sharing the good news.

Hi, Joshua!

You mean the Scouts don’t allow homosexual adult leaders, right?? (Boys with SSA may be Scouts?)