Turning a Horrible Tragedy into Just as Horrible Hate Speech
Cross posted from “Replace the Lies With Truth“
I often see anti-gay advocates make tragedies even more tragic when they turn them into hate speech against gays. Ex-gay minister, Stephen Bennett is very good at this. In his latest blog post, he carefully, and skillfully chooses words that try to link homosexuality to child molestation. What is tragic for all of us is the misinformation puts more kids at risk. What is tragic is that this type of distortion perpetuates the myth that gay men are more often child molesters than straight men. It is nothing more than taking a sad and tragic event and making it even more tragic by using it as hate speech.
Stephen Bennett writes on his site:
“Read the story and weep. Weep for the young, innocent little boy whose life was taken in the most heinous of ways, because of two demented and evil homosexuals, a father and son, and a perverted wife and mother. The two homosexual men took turns brutally molesting and sodomizing the child before choking the little boy to death.”
The distortion us subtle, but it is there. Stephen is turning the focus of this tragic story to something that doesn’t even exist in the story. There is no evidence these men were homosexual, in fact the evidence points to them being heterosexual. This older man did not identify as a homosexual man. He was married to the women in this story. It is also not clear from this story if the younger man identified as homosexual. Stephen is calling them “homosexual” men because it fits with his distortion that gay men molest at a higher rate. The distortion gets worse when we realize that when a man molests a little girl, Stephen does not refer to them as heterosexual molesters. Men who are attracted to children are just that, attracted to children. Studies show that those who are attracted to children tend not to care as much about the gender of the child but the availability of the child. It all comes down to the language.
Dr. Gregory Herek explains:
“Another problem related to terminology arises because sexual abuse of male children by adult men2 is often referred to as “homosexual molestation.” The adjective “homosexual” (or “heterosexual” when a man abuses a female child) refers to the victim’s gender in relation to that of the perpetrator. Unfortunately, people sometimes mistakenly interpret it as referring to the perpetrator’s sexual orientation.”
Stephen Bennett continues this distortion by changing the wording in the Fox News Story. Again, the changes are subtle but just enough for the reader to make a false link to homosexuality and child molestation.
The original wording of the story said:
The indictment charges all three family members with murder and child molestation in the slaying of Christopher, whose body was found March 15 inside a trash bag dumped by a roadside.
Stephen changed the wording to read:
The indictment charges all three family members with murder and homosexual child molestation in the slaying of Christopher, whose body was found March 15 inside a trash bag dumped by a roadside.
Notice how Stephen added the word “homosexual” to the charges. There is no such criminal charge as “homosexual child molestation”. This is a distortion of the truth, not the truth. Stephen added these words because he wants you to think that homosexuality is associated with the child molestation but as I have pointed out already, neither of these men appear to have had same sex adult attractions. The older man was married to a women. His adult attractions were not to men. The younger man appears by reading the story not to have had adult attractions but attractions to children.
This story is sad and disgusting. It amazes me that anyone could do that to a child, but I am sickened just as much to see Stephen Bennett try to twist the truth of this story into hate speech against gays. Stephen should post a clarification to clear this up, but we know he will not do that. Mr. Bennett’s actions are immoral and wrong. He has taken this horrible event and turned it into a event about a subject that is not link to it. He also tries to link children being gay because they were molested which is another fact not supported by the science. Mr. Bennett may mean well, but such distortions of the information are more dangerous to children. Society needs real facts to protect children, not made up science from Mr. Bennett. I would ask Stephen to back up his facts, but the truth is…he can’t, so he won’t.
Here are some resources to clarify what the research on child molestation says by the experts. Once you see what child advocates and researchers say about the subject, you will further see how Mr. Bennett is distorting the language to match his hate of homosexuals and his goal of making homosexuality about things to which it is not.
Religious Propaganda of just plain ole hate
The Child Molestation Research and Prevention Institute
Are gays a threat to our children?
Crisis Center (Myths about child molestation)
Penguins, Pedophiles, and Paul Cameron
Facts About Homosexuality and Child Molestation
RSS 26. March 2007 (15:15)Filed under: Cross-Posted, Ex-Gay Issues, Hate Speech, Lies, Stephen Bennett, Uncategorized
