I received this message over the weekend:
From: Nina & Buzz
Sent: Saturday, November 06, 2004 7:38 AM
To: editor@exgaywatch.com
Subject: Your statement requested.
Dear Editor,
Child sex abuse, as you may be aware, is increasing in America.Why don’t homosexual writers and activists make a statement about it?
It is a natural "public image" makeover for your contribution to society.
Let me know if I’m off here. Only trying to help bridge the hurts on both sides.
My mom was a bi-sexual and then a lesbian. Really miss her. (She passed on in 1998.)
Best regards,
Nina
Joe Kort’s article had already answered Nina’s question. So had ReligiousTolerance.org. And the Human Rights Campaign. And the American Psychological Association. And countless rape-crisis centers.
Quite simply, gay and gay-tolerant writers and activists do condemn child sex abuse, despite the absence of a connection between homosexuality and pedophilia.
Since I answered the question, I think it’s fair to ask some of my own:
Why do antigay political organizations refuse to address the overwhelming majority of child sex abuse cases, which involve opposite-gender offender and victim/survivor?
Why do these organizations oppose comprehensive sex-education programs to teach children how to prevent and report abuse?
This seems to be a standard right wing MO. Ask a question. One that has been stated hundreds of times. Get us to run in circles putting up the data. A good response would be to ask if she has any evidence that gay writers don’t do this; beyond her unfamiliarity with them. Do not feed the trolls, it simply encourages them.
Why would gay writers/journalists have any added obligation to cover child sexual abuse anyway? As the vast majority of child sexual abusers are straight, and often married men, why are they not asking straight male writers whether they condemn ALL child sex abuse?
And for that matter, as straight men are the leading criminal element in our society, why are they not asking straight, married men to condemn spousal abuse, or date rape, or petty/grand larceny, or murder?
And, so just who are these Nina & Buzz people?