This morning I was scrolling though Twitter and found a number of conservative pundits I once respected, and many who long ago lost all respect, peddling the theory that the issue in the Catholic Church is a homosexuality issue. So, a thread: (1/x)
I was not sexually abused, but someone in my life was a victim of long-term abuse. So I knew about the stats, the treatment, the PTSD, the power dynamics, the counseling, and heard stories from survivors throughout my life. (2/x)
So, this is a subject I’m passionate about, thus the thread from the random Twitterer. The idea that homosexuality is linked to child molestation has been debunked time and time again, & the only “studies” correlating the two assume that all (3/x)
men who molest boys are gay, and this simply isn’t true. A sexual act does not make a sexual orientation. Are all heterosexual adults who engage in homosexual activity in prison suddenly homosexuals? No. BEYOND that: Pedophilia and Hebephilia = an attraction to children. (4/x)
Claiming that this isn’t a pedophile issue, but instead a homosexuality issue also doesn’t address that the 1 out of 5 girls sexually abused is apparently not the result of a pedophile issue, but instead a heterosexual issue, right?
Your rules. (5/x)
Your rules. (5/x)
However, the fact remains that abuse of a child is more about access, power, and control over another human being than it is about sexual gratification, and most child sexual abuse survivors will tell you “it was all about power. He loved the control he had over me.” (6/x)
Many lack any attraction to adults of either sex, and many men who abuse boys are married to women, or have adult relationships with women. As explained – w/information from various studies - here: (7/x) psychology.ucdavis.edu/rainbow/html/f… 
(8/x) And also here: gundersenhealth.org/ncptc/jacob-we…
So it really comes down to the fact that a lot of grown adults are trying to “blame the gays” so that they can get out of addressing the real issues at hand:
Access and power (10/x)
Access and power (10/x)
Just as law enforcement jobs have the sad side effect of sometimes attracting individuals with a God complex who crave control, the priesthood sometimes has the devastating side effect of attracting men who prey upon children. (11/x)
And not just *any* children, either, but children who’ve been taught to treat priests almost as an extension of God, a person to trust over all other persons. It is the optimal job for an individual who is attracted to children and wants to be trusted alone with them. (12/x)
Additionally, priests are far more likely to be alone w/boys. It’s. About. Access. And before you go all “NOT ALL PRIESTS” on me. I know. But the fact remains that it’s a scary percentage of priests, and it needs to be addressed. It needed to be addressed a long time ago. (13/x)
Another thing all of these “it’s about homosexuality please look the other way it’s not about the church” preachers fail to point out is that the non-abusing side of the church has a history of protecting the abusers. (14/x)
The church sent sexual predators to “treatment facilities” before they were, quite often, shipped off to a new batch of victims who would have their lives destroyed so that the Church could avoid another scandal. Weird, I'm not hearing cries about the "rule of law." (15/x)
Then the people who wanted the abusers to pay for their crimes were shut down, bribed, and/or smeared. It’s about Catholics in law enforcement sometimes looking the other way, it’s about Catholic politicians looking the other way. (16/x)
The rot is deep, and it’s much deeper than anyone wants to admit. However, the first step is acknowledging and confronting the depth of the issue, not pulling out your handy dandy “blame the gays” card. (17/x)
Pushing the unsubstantiated argument that homosexuals are a danger to the most vulnerable to deflect from addressing the systematic abuse of children - & the protection of abusers - isn’t just cowardly, it’s fueling ideas that will prevent needed change and emboldens abusers. fin
