Family Research Council co-founder hired a gay prostitute.

[CarsonPalmer]

Yeah, I think that's it too. The Vatican seems to think that homosexuality and pedophilia are interchangeable, but the reality here is that the lifestyle of a priest attracts pedophiles the way shit attracts flies. The line of reasoning probably goes something like this, "you mean I'll become an authority figure with almost unlimited access to kids, and the Church will protect me from getting caught?" I think the attraction there is pretty obvious.

There's only one reason I don't believe that, and that's the time delay involved. It takes about seven years to get ordained as a regular priest, more if you're joining an order (and some of the abusers were members of an order). The first time the scandal really hit publicly as "Something seriously wrong is going on in the Catholic priesthood" was in the 1990's (the bishops knew what was going on before that, but it wasn't all over the papers, except for a few highly publicized cases scattered about that everyone [except the bishops and other priests, who knew better] thought were isolated cases). Even then, it didn't really lock on publicly totally until 2002, when the Boston Globe ran their story. If that's the case, then there ought to have been a spike in abuse cases taking place either at the turn of the millennium or about now. And it wouldn't explain why so many priests ordained a very long time ago were abusers. Doubtless it was going on when those priests were children in the 1920's and 1930's, but I don't think anybody in the Catholic world breathed a word of it then.

[Liberty]

Wait - you guys are talking like being gay and being a pedophile are comparable in that both are genetically hardwired into someone. Are people born pedophiles? Or how do they get that way? I'm confused!

[Superman]

Wait - you guys are talking like being gay and being a pedophile are comparable in that both are genetically hardwired into someone.

I don't think either of us alluded to that by a long shot. Pedophilia is usually explained as a sexual compulsion to victimize kids. The typical pedophile was also sexually abused as a child, so it's probably more about victimization and abuse than any genetic wiring.

[hongi]

If you talk with my travel assistant that the story called “Lucien,” you will find I spent a great deal of time sharing scientific information on the desirability of abandoning homosexual intercourse and I shared the Gospel of Jesus Christ with him in great detail.

Oh, I don't doubt that he spent a great deal of time discussing homosexual intercourse...and maybe there was even some righteous preaching while he unf-unfing his friend 'Lucien'. I have a feeling he's into that sort of thing.

[Liberty]

Wait - you guys are talking like being gay and being a pedophile are comparable in that both are genetically hardwired into someone.

I don't think either of us alluded to that by a long shot. Pedophilia is usually explained as a sexual compulsion to victimize kids. The typical pedophile was also sexually abused as a child, so it's probably more about victimization and abuse than any genetic wiring.

I'm sorry, I should have been more clear. I didn't mean that you were actually calling them the same at all. They're not. I suppose I was mostly referring to the following post:

It's been suggested and heavily accepted in certain Catholic circles that one of the reasons why gay and and pedophiles enter the Catholic Church is in them trying to repress their urges. One of the biggest reasons why people don't like becoming Priest is the whole no sex, no marriage thing. If you're gay or a pedophile and believe that these things are against God's will then you don't plan on getting married and having sex in the first place, so one of the biggest barriers is eliminated kind of a "Well I don't plan on getting married or having sex either way, so I might as well devote my life to a good cause", another part is they probably believe that by entering the Church, their religious surrounding and life of devotion will help repress what they consider to be immoral desires.

This post seems to infer that pedophiles are only sexually attracted to children (see bolded section), and that some therefore decide to go into the priesthood, realizing that marriage is not an option for them. But if pedophiles were only attracted to children, would they really be able to get that just from being abused as a child? Does that seriously rewire you that much?

Wondering just what does make someone a pedophile, I did some quick online research. Feel free to correct me if any of this is wrong. The wiki article on pedophilia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pedophilia)says:

Exclusive pedophiles are attracted to children, and children only. They show little erotic interest in adults their own age and in some cases, can only become aroused while fantasizing or being in the presence of prepubescent children. Nonexclusive pedophiles are attracted to both children and adults, and can be sexually aroused by both. According to a U.S. study on 2429 adult male pedophile sex offenders, only 7% identified themselves as exclusive; indicating that many or most pedophiles fall into the nonexclusive category.[7]

So while some pedophiles are only sexual attracted to children, almost all are also attracted to adults.

Biological associations

Beginning in 2002, researchers began reporting a series of findings linking pedophilia with brain structure and function: Pedophilic (and hebephilic) men have lower IQs,[2][31][32] poorer scores on memory tests,[31] greater rates of non-right-handedness,[2][31][33][34] greater rates of school grade failure over and above the IQ differences,[35] lesser physical height,[36] greater probability of having suffered childhood head injuries resulting in unconsciousness,[37][38] and several differences in MRI-detected brain structures.[39][40][41] They report that their findings suggest that there are one or more neurological characteristics present at birth that cause or increase the likelihood of being pedophilic. Evidence of familial transmittability "suggests, but does not prove that genetic factors are responsible" for the development of pedophilia.[42]

Another study, using structural MRI, shows that male pedophiles have a lower volume of white matter than a control group.[39]

Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) has shown that child molesters diagnosed with pedophilia have reduced activation of the hypothalamus as compared with non-pedophilic persons when viewing sexually arousing pictures of adults.[43] A 2008 functional neuroimaging study notes that central processing of sexual stimuli in heterosexual "paedophile forensic inpatients" may be altered by a disturbance in the prefrontal networks, which "may be associated with stimulus-controlled behaviours, such as sexual compulsive behaviours." The findings may also suggest "a dysfunction at the cognitive stage of sexual arousal processing."[44]

Blanchard, Cantor, and Robichaud (2006) reviewed the research that attempted to identify hormonal aspects of pedophiles.[45] They concluded that there is some evidence that pedophilic men have less testosterone than controls, but that the research is of poor quality and that it is difficult to draw any firm conclusion from it.

So...there are biological factors that predispose people to be pedophiles?

Another article (http://pn.psychiatryonline.org/content/41/10/37.1.full)stated this:

Pedophiles Often Victims. On the basis of his research over the years, Abel has found that some 30 percent of pedophiles were sexually abused themselves as children. In their studies, Galynker and Cohen have come up with an even higher percentage—60 percent—versus only 4 percent of controls. Also, Cohen pointed out, “Of those who had been sexually abused as children, 30 percent reported having been sexually abused by women, which was interesting.”

So does this mean that there are some biological factors that predispose one to be a pedophile, and that being abused as a child often triggers it? Or is the wiki article wrong? Also, not everyone who is abused as a child becomes a pedophile while not everyone who is a pedophile was abused (according to that article). Weird.

[Patrick Degan]

If you talk with my travel assistant that the story called “Lucien,” you will find I spent a great deal of time sharing scientific information on the desirability of abandoning homosexual intercourse and I shared the Gospel of Jesus Christ with him in great detail.

Oh, I don't doubt that he spent a great deal of time discussing homosexual intercourse...and maybe there was even some righteous preaching while he unf-unfing his friend 'Lucien'. I have a feeling he's into that sort of thing.

Rev. Rekers no doubt told "Lucien" to take literally the verse: "Thy Rod and Thy Staff will Comfort Me".

[Raxmei]

If you talk with my travel assistant that the story called “Lucien,” you will find I spent a great deal of time sharing scientific information on the desirability of abandoning homosexual intercourse and I shared the Gospel of Jesus Christ with him in great detail.

The funny thing is they then went to talk to Lucien.

The male escort hired by anti-gay activist George Alan Rekers has told Miami New Times the Baptist minister is a homosexual who paid him to provide body rubs once a day in the nude, during their ten-day vacation in Europe.

Rekers allegedly named his favorite maneuver the "long stroke" -- a complicated caress "across his penis, thigh... and his anus over the butt cheeks," as the escort puts it. "Rekers liked to be rubbed down there," he says.

More behind the link. Words can not describe how completely and utterly shocked I am at these revelations that an escort was hired for sexual purposes.

[Junghalli]

Wait - you guys are talking like being gay and being a pedophile are comparable in that both are genetically hardwired into someone.

There's evidence that it at least some pedophilia may have a biological component.

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/20 ... 120203.htm

Height may point to a biological basis for pedophilia, according to new research released by the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH). The study found that pedophilic males were shorter on average than males without a sexual attraction to children.

The study, published in Sexual Abuse: A Journal of Research and Treatment, suggests that pedophiles may have been exposed to pre-birth conditions that affected their physical development. The researchers observed this height difference by analyzing the files of over 1,000 men who were assessed for pedophilia or other sexual disorders between 1995 and 2006 at the Kurt Freund Laboratory in Toronto, Canada.

A difference in average height is a trait found in other illnesses with biological links. The average difference in height was two centimeters, which is similar to the shorter height associated with schizophrenia or Alzheimer's disease.

Further research is necessary, but this finding re-enforces evidence that pedophilia has a biological cause, possibly related to brain development before birth.

"This research does not mean that pedophiles are not criminally responsible for their behavior," said Dr. James Cantor, CAMH Psychologist and lead researcher on the study, "but the discovery of biological markers for pedophilia has important implications for future study and possibly treatment."

This study adds to previous research from this team that found pedophiles have lower IQs, are three times more likely to be left-handed, failed school grades significantly more frequently, and suffered more head injuries as children.

There's also one case of it apparently having been induced by a drug and another of it being induced by a brain tumor.

[Einzige]

Huh-on.

The male escort hired by anti-gay activist George Alan Rekers has told Miami New Times the Baptist minister is a homosexual who paid him to provide body rubs once a day in the nude, during their ten-day vacation in Europe.

Rekers allegedly named his favorite maneuver the "long stroke" -- a complicated caress "across his penis, thigh... and his anus over the butt cheeks," as the escort puts it. "Rekers liked to be rubbed down there," he says.

In his first interview since New Times broke the story Tuesday, the 20-year-old escort, who prefers to go by the name Lucien, contradicts Rekers's contentions that he hired the escort to help carry his luggage and that he was trying to save the soul of a lost sinner.

Although Rekers does have physical ailments that make it difficult for him to haul suitcases, Lucien wasn't hired to carry luggage on their European vacation, the escort says.

"It's a situation where he's going against homosexuality when he is a homosexual," Lucien says. (When New Times called seeking comment, Rekers had turned his phone off. An email was not returned. He has termed the New Times article "slanderous" on his website.)

The rod and the staff comforted him a little too much, it seems.

From a comment on that site:

Where did George Rekers adopt his son? If he did it if Florida he would have signed on a legal form that he is not a homosexual. If he signed and turns out he is a homosexual then he committed fraud. This needs to be investigated.

Is this so?

[ShadowDragon8685]

Ha-hahah-haahahahaaha-hahahahahahaaahaaaahaaaah!

Mwa-hahahaha, bwaa-haaa, et cetera.

Honestly, this is just awesome. Just deserts, indeed. I'm so very, very glad to see yet another of these assholes get caught up in their lies, and the boy-toy is just "yeah, he wanted to screw" or whatever. No backing the jackasses' play or anything, just stark, frank honesty, shining the spotlight on the squrimly little gobshite.

[hongi]

I feel sorry for Lucien.

"Sometimes I feel like I should just tell (the press) what happened on the trip."

"No," said Rekers quickly, "Please don't do that. Please don't let them pressure you into it."

"But I'm getting pressured out of the gay community!" Lucien was fairly screaming now. "If I ever wanted to be with someone -- it wouldn't work out! This is my fucking name!"

After some cross-talk, Rekers tried to calm Lucien down: "I've been through things like this in the past --"

Lucien cut him off: "Well I haven't! I'm 20 years old! If you've been through this, you shouldn't have gone to that website, you shouldn't have hired me -- why did you make so many choices [for me] without giving [indecipherable]."

[Molyneux]

PZ Myers has mentioned this before, and I'm inclined to believe him - a lot of the "Gay is bad!" activists act like homosexuality is a temptation for everyone. They talk about how seductive it is, how powerful the urges can be, and assume that every man wants to have sex with other men - they're generalizing from their own (closeted) urges to everyone else!

[Serafina]

PZ Myers has mentioned this before, and I'm inclined to believe him - a lot of the "Gay is bad!" activists act like homosexuality is a temptation for everyone. They talk about how seductive it is, how powerful the urges can be, and assume that every man wants to have sex with other men - they're generalizing from their own (closeted) urges to everyone else!

That actually makes a lot of sense.

Of course, the whole concept of sexual orientation is that you are attracted to one gender (well, or both if you are bi).
Heterosexuals are not tempted by homosexual sex - and homosexuals not by heterosexual sex.

Of course, christianity often views ANY sexual attraction as evil or bad.
So a homosexual christian would see "i don't have any evil urges towards women, propably because i can controll them".
"But i DO have attractions to men - which is even worse! They must therefore be more tempting. But i can't be homosexual, so it must be more tempting to everyone!".
Of course, that fits right into their credo that sexual orientation is a choice.

[Liberty]

PZ Myers has mentioned this before, and I'm inclined to believe him - a lot of the "Gay is bad!" activists act like homosexuality is a temptation for everyone. They talk about how seductive it is, how powerful the urges can be, and assume that every man wants to have sex with other men - they're generalizing from their own (closeted) urges to everyone else!

That actually makes a lot of sense.

Of course, the whole concept of sexual orientation is that you are attracted to one gender (well, or both if you are bi).
Heterosexuals are not tempted by homosexual sex - and homosexuals not by heterosexual sex.

Of course, christianity often views ANY sexual attraction as evil or bad.
So a homosexual christian would see "i don't have any evil urges towards women, propably because i can controll them".
"But i DO have attractions to men - which is even worse! They must therefore be more tempting. But i can't be homosexual, so it must be more tempting to everyone!".
Of course, that fits right into their credo that sexual orientation is a choice.

Also - and I think this is important (and it has been mentioned but bears repeating) - closeted gay Christian leaders have to defend the idea that homosexuality is a choice rather than biological because if they admit it is biological they are admitting that they are stuck that way. However, if they can push the idea that it is a choice, that helps support their "choice" not to act on their impulses and to live as heterosexuals instead. If it is, however, biological, their entire lives have been a lie, and they know that.

[Einzige]

Frankly, I find this notion that there are any sexual identities set completely in stone as absurd. That may be my own inclinations talking: I'm attracted to effeminate women, effeminate men, and effeminate transsexuals. I am not attracted to masculine women, masculine men, and masculine transsexuals. What does that make me? A selective omnisexual?

[Simon_Jester]

There are, for example, men who are attracted to "effeminate" women... but also to women who are not especially feminine, so long as they are biological women and have at least some of the distinguishing features of such. They may be attracted to an effeminate man, only to react with shock and disgust when they get more information, because they mistook the man for a woman.

And don't get me started on the issue of attraction to transgender people, because that's complicated enough that if I actually knew enough about the issue to have a right to an opinion, I'd be up all night explaining it to you.

But think about the above case- a man who is attracted only to women or individuals he believes to be women. And whose attractions can suddenly be reversed into disgust or shock if he suddenly learns that the individual in question is not a woman (by his definition).

That's a pretty much fixed sexual orientation. If that man ends up attracted to a man, it's because he's wrong about a fact (thinking that the man is a woman), not because it is true in any real sense that he is "attracted to men." And, again, don't get me started on the issue of attraction to transgender people.

It happens, even if it doesn't happen to you.

[Serafina]

Turns out our definitions of sexual attraction are quite narrow.

However, it really isn't that complicated. People are simply attracted to certain features. Often, these features (both physial and psychical ones) can be found mostly on one gender or are exclusive to one biological sex. Other's aren't.
Some people are attracted to features that can be found equally on both sexes and genders (intelligence, as an example) and are thus attracted to both. Or they are attraced to seperate features on both sexes/genders (one thing attracts them in males, another one in females).

Oh, and Einzige - transsexuals are no third gender/sex like you seem to be implying.
No offense taking, just pointing it out.

[fuzzymillipede]

Here is a video on CNN showing part of an interview with Lucien.

[The Yosemite Bear]

once again more adventures in narnia

[Molyneux]

once again more adventures in narnia

...what?

[Crossroads Inc.]

once again more adventures in narnia

...what?

Its the latest laugh line

"This guy is so far in the closet hes having adventures in Narnia!!!"

[John Chris]

Personally, I think the top leaders in the anti gay movements have all that passion and energy to fight against gay folks for a reason. I don't find it too surprising that these guys are actually gay themselves. Arguing with the penis is futile.

You know, it appears to me that it's the exact definition of that trope known as Foe Yay. Great, now I'll never get that image out of my head...

Got any Super-Brain Bleach handy?

Reached by New Times before a trip to Bermuda, Rekers said he learned Lucien was a prostitute only midway through their vacation.

I'm more amused by the fact that the fundamentalist guy took the rent boy to Bermuda than by the fact that he turned out to be gay. Mainly because I lived in Bermuda for a while, and I can tell you, it really is a nice place to take someone out for a lark.