Most Americans
would agree that the life of a child is precious and worthy of extra protection
through rule of law. Stories of violent abuse against children tend to conjure
up rage for many of us as we struggle to understand the complexities involved
that drive, someone, to commit violent acts against kids. Whether it is
neglectful parenting that may lead to the death or serious injury of a child,
or it is a willful attempt to injure by battery, child abuse could be one of the nation’s biggest stigmas. As disturbing as these incidents are there is another
form of abuse we are familiar with that is likely to do nothing less than leave
a gaping hole in the hearts of those who experience any aspect of it, child
sexual abuse. This can range from all-out sexual intercourse with a child to
fondling, making sexual comments or exposing them to explicit sexual acts such
as making them watch pornography. The thoughts of children having to experience
this type of abuse whether it is from a relative or a stranger is appalling to
most of us and is likely to have our stomachs twisting in knots. Unfortunately, there is not an easy explanation for child sexual abuse and there are even
those who advocate for the right to freely engage in sexual activity with
children. These groups believe that age of consent laws should be repealed,
young boys should be free to engage in sex with men, and that it is beneficial
to them. They are involved in trying to turn this issue into something that can
be viewed as normal. While we do not want to categorize the entire “gay”
community, we cannot ignore this either.
One of these
groups advocating for the repeal of age-of-consent laws is known as NAMBLA, or
the North American Man Boy Love Association. For decades NAMBLA has sought to
get acceptance from mainstream society on their radical views concerning sex
and children. They believe that young adolescent boys should have the right to
express sexual freedom and that they should be free to choose their own sexual
partners, (Thorstad 1990), which is also a key underpinning of the gay rights
movement in which NAMBLA is a part of. (Thornstad) NAMBLA has sought to have
laws concerning the legal age of consent repealed because they believe that
today’s societal norms concerning sexuality are out of date and irrelevant
(Thorstad). This attempt to lower this age of consent has been successful in
other parts of the world such as the Netherlands where the age of consent
between two same-sex partners has been dropped to 16. (Thornstad) If NAMBLA is
successful in its advocacy for repealing age of consent in the U.S. how would
it change our legal structure, and how would it change the way we view child
sexual abuse? Would it become something that is accepted simply because some
radical group claims it as part of their culture? This paper will try to answer
why this is occurring and who is behind the effort as well as the possible
consequences for overlooking it.
In social work it
is well understood that we are here to serve the underserved community who are
often times suffering from discrimination or some form of income inequality. It
could be argued that in terms of equality issues like the right to marry and the
benefits associated with it, the homosexual community falls under the category of
an underserved or underprivileged population. It is also understood that bias
on the part of the social worker is just not tolerated and we should not be
letting our personal opinions get in the way of the manner in which we serve
our clients. If your main clients are children however then there are certain
things that should not be ignored. There has to be a balance where a skilled
worker understands that not everything is viewed from a collective lens and that things should be pursued on a case-by-case basis. With this being said it is
safe to argue that the homosexual community has made tremendous strides in
gaining a more “accepted by the mainstream” foothold in our society. Many
churches have subsided their preaching of the view that homosexuality is wrong
(Baldwin 2002)so one would be pretty hard-pressed to say that our society is
not making concessions in an effort to be a little more tolerant of something
many find difficult to understand.
There is a growing
body of evidence to suggest that radical elements of the homosexual community
such as NAMBLA are actively targeting children for not only sexual pleasure but
for recruitment into their ranks as a means to grow their movement. (Baldwin) If this evidence proves to be
credible does this mean it applies to all homosexuals? Of course not, it would
be bigoted and biased to make such an assumption. When it comes to our children, however, the evidence should definitely be taken seriously or else 20 years
from now what we find to be a horrific act of child molestation, something like
the recent Sandusky incident for example may be viewed by the mainstream as
something completely normal and those questioning the validity of such an
ascertain would be considered the radicals. Just food thought as we move on to view
some of the evidence.
The family
research institute has concluded an interesting study in which they set out to
determine the proportionality of homosexual vs. heterosexual molestation of
children. It is indeed something that occurs among both populations of people.
Using the fact the homosexual population of the U.S. is roughly 2% (Cameron et,
al 1989)) this research concluded that seven percent of gay males have admitted
to having sex with boys that were younger than 13 years old. (Cameron et, al)
The percentage of same-sex molesters compared to the percentage of the
population is huge, nearly 40% of all molestations are same-sex molestations, and given the fact that over 90% of molesters are adult males (Cameron et, al)
it appears a great many of them may be homosexual. Somehow, groups like NAMBLA
have been able to detract attention away from themselves and convince people
that same-sex molestation is a heterosexual issue. (Baldwin 2002). How does
that make sense? Another study was concluded by a Dr. Gene Able concerning the
rates of child abuse perpetrated by homosexual males. His findings are
supportive of the previous study. He compared the rates at which pederasts
(homosexual pedophiles) were molesting young boys to the rates at which young
girls were being molested by heterosexual molesters. Dr. Able has concluded
that out of 153 pederasts they had a total of 22, 981 victims! That means that
each member had admitted to molesting a total of 150 victims per offender. The
rate at which young girls were molested was much lower, only 19 per offender.
(Sheldon) Again, those serious about alleviating child sexual abuse must at
least take these findings into consideration. It also should be remembered that
the intent here is not to prove all gay people want to have sex with children,
rather that there is an element within this community that wishes to see age of
consent laws repealed.
There is another
phenomenon occurring across the country that has parents outraged. Once again
the political pressures of the issues force one to step back and evaluate
which way the topic will be described. It should be noted that public schools
should be a place where all people regardless of ethnicity, religious belief,
sexual orientation or any other stigma that could be attached can be free of
harassment. There is no doubt that social workers as well as society as a
whole have an important role in ensuring that this is the case. Unfortunately, there seems to be an overlooked issue here. It is one thing to actually teach
tolerance for people who are genuinely gay and are coming to this conclusion of
their own free will, however, there seems to be an effort by those same people
interested in repealing the age of consent to teach kids “how” to be gay. (Sheldon)
Gerald Hannon is one of these people. Who is Gerald Hannon? He is an individual
heavily involved in turning the issue of “age of consent” into a human rights
struggle and has expressed some pretty interesting ideas of how to bring the
issue to children in public schools. (Sheldon) In fact, Hannon can be quoted as
saying that there are not enough children involved in the homosexual movement, and attracting young people to it should be the movement’s next big challenge.
(Sheldon) This should be concerning to all of us. Once again a person genuinely
coming to the conclusion that they are gay is different than being pushed into
exploring the possibility. Many activists argue that bringing awareness of
homosexuality to our schools is necessary to alleviate the discrimination faced
by homosexual students. (Sheldon) While most people can agree on this statement
because nobody wants any children to face harassment in a learning environment,
there again seems to be some misleading things going on here. One of the issues
concerning homosexual youth and the need to raise awareness is the rate that so-called homosexual youth commit suicide. Using the issue of suicide and school
safety, a paper written by Paul Gibson entitled “Gay male and lesbian youth
suicide” falsely cited the number of homosexual teen suicides to keep critics
quiet of the methods used to teach homosexuality to children. (Sheldon)He put
the number at about 3000 for the year 1985. Specializing in teen suicide Dr.
David Schaffer, a psychiatrist for Columbia University was able to debunk that
number because the total number of teen suicides alone was less than 2000.
(Sheldon) Even the head of the National Lesbian and Gay Health Organization does
not recognize the research cited by Gibson because she admits that the
connection between teen suicides and homosexuality remains unknown. (Sheldon) It
is not untrue that teens of a homosexual orientation commit suicide, however, it
appears it is not because of harassment but because of sexual confusion
resulting from a “self-identified” homosexuality too early in their
development. (Sheldon) Dr. Gary Remafedi has discovered that there is an
inherent danger in children self-identifying as homosexual too early.
(Nicolosi,1993) According to Remafedi of the University of Minnesota, there are
several contributing factors that lead to suicide among homosexual teens, two
of which are gender non-conformity and early childhood sexual experience. (Nicolosi)
He concludes by saying that teens that are turned on to homosexuality at an
early age end up with the belief that they are born that way and it becomes
increasingly difficult to change their behavior. According to Remafadi the internal conflicts these teens face as
they explore homosexuality without being ready to explore sexuality at all are
the real reason why gay teens commit suicide. (Nicolosi)
Another alarming
issue surrounding the controversy of teaching homosexuality in our public
schools is the explicit nature of the actual curriculum. Again the point must
be stressed that there is a difference between teaching children the importance
of values such as being tolerant or accepting of those that are different and
some of the things that are occurring across the country. For instance, in a
public school in Montana parents were a little alarmed to find out that the
issue of homosexuality was actually being introduced to school children as
early as the first grade. Remember the study cited above about children self-identifying as homosexual too early? If the intent is not as the age of consent
advocate Gerald Hannon suggests to introduce young people to the homosexual
movement because there are not enough children involved, then what is the
intent of teaching first graders that two people of the same sex can love one
another? (Lindevaldsen, 2011) If the findings of Dr. Remafadi are accurate then
could this not be considered unsafe activity and potential abuse, or neglect?
Furthermore, in the same school in Montana, this curriculum progresses through
each grade in elementary school with fifth grade concluding with detailed
descriptions of explicit sexual positions, anal and oral sex and explanations
of benefits of swallowing certain bodily fluids. (Lindevaldsen) That is
inappropriate no matter what the circumstances. Children should be taught
factual biological aspects of sexual reproduction, period. This description of
teachings in this elementary school in the opinion of this author backs the
findings of Dr. Remafedi concerning his suicide study. First graders are not
mentally capable of understanding the complexities of same-sex relationships,
period. It would almost be acceptable to introduce them to the idea that some
people are gay if they weren’t following with the inappropriate education on
the physical acts of homosexual sex and the other issues discussed.
Another example of
groups claiming to be teaching homosexual awareness but using their platform to
actually recruit kids to the movement was when the Gay Lesbian and Straight
Educational Alliance held their conference at Tufts University in March of
2000. (Sheldon) This conference was intended for youth aged 14-21 and covered
the topic of “fisting.” (Sheldon) This is a great example of many occurrences
across the country where inappropriate sexual information is given to young
children. This conference actually was
designed for the purpose of teaching this explicit homosexual act of fisting.
The details of this act will be spared the reader for obvious reasons. Again,
the age group targeted here goes along with the belief that organizations such
as NAMBLA have toward young males. It should be noted that all the teachers of
this conference were certified AIDS awareness instructors for the state and
held this conference under the guise of teaching AIDS awareness. (Sheldon) What is even more disturbing about some of
this is some of the other names that are associated with the Gay Lesbian and
Straight Educational Alliance. For instance many people have never heard of
Kevin Jennings, however other Americans recognize Kevin Jennings as an advocate
for repealing of age of consent laws and an appointee by The Obama
administration to the position of safe school czar. (Lindevaldsen) Jennings was
quoted as admitting that they were able to put their opponents on the defensive
by using terms such as homophobia and using the false suicide statistics that
were cited by Paul Gibson earlier in the paper. (Sheldon) Sheldon also
indicates that Jennings advocated the same methods be used to introduce
homosexuality to other public schools as were used in the conference at Tufts
University. Just to show where his mindset is.
Thus far the focus
has been on the people and the techniques employed in introducing radical sex
education to schools in the name of promoting safe school environments. The
issue has revolved around the idea that no one wants to think of our public
schools where there are children being discriminated against or being pushed to
commit suicide. The traditional belief has been that gay teens are committing
suicide at extremely high rates because of school harassment. The research conducted for this paper shows
that there are other, legitimate explanations that paint an entirely different
picture. It has been suggested that it is the introduction to and
experimentation with homosexuality that is indeed creating internal conflict
that is causing these suicides. We have seen admissions from people in powerful
positions of advocacy for the movement where less than honest methods were
employed for the purpose of introducing young kids to homosexuality, and most
importantly we have seen that some people believe there are not enough children
involved in the homosexual movement and that recruiting them should be the
next big challenge. None of this was
cited for the purpose of attempting to paint all homosexuals as being dangerous
child predators, because that is not true, nor would it be professional to
categorize in such a way. The intent is simply to show that the idea of
repealing the age of consent is a dangerous one and is being implemented by a
radical element of the homosexual movement who seems intent on turning sex with
children into a human rights issue. It cannot be stopped if attention is not
drawn to it, or if it continues to be ignored for the sake of being politically
correct. Gay rights groups would do themselves well by discrediting groups like
NAMBLA and GLSEA, unfortunately however NAMBLA openly admits to providing
financial assistance to other groups fighting for so-called sexual liberation
(Baldwin) and regrettably for those who are innocent of such charges The
Archives of Sexual Behavior has concluded that 86% of pedophiles have
identified as being homosexual. (Erickson et,al 1988). These are alarming
statistics for a world where there is an intense push for homosexuals to be
considered a normal part of society. No one is advocating in this paper that
gay people should not be free to live their lives, however, the law is the law and we
are talking about the safety of our children. It is one thing for a child of
his own free will to decide they are gay and to ensure that they can be free of
undue harassment, and it is quite another for a group like GLSEA to publish and
distribute material that labels heterosexuality as merely a presumption
that promotes the idea that a gender role system based on birth-assigned sex is
actually normal and desirable, which is something this organization is known
for doing. (Lindevaldsen, 2011) It is one thing to teach kids to be tolerant of
those that are different than them, and it is another to force kids to
participate in activities promoting the homosexual lifestyle as GLSEA has
been noted as doing earlier in this paper.
If all of this is
not alarming enough, rest assured there is more. There is an effort by age of
consent advocates that child sexual abuse should be defined in different ways
and that the term should only be used if the child has experienced some
negative outcome of the encounter (Rind et, al 1998) or did not engage freely
in the act. (Rind et,al) Otherwise, sex between adults and children should be
considered just that, adult-child sex. (Rind et, al) Furthermore, Rind and his
colleagues suggest that the term child sexual abuse not be used at all when
dealing with adolescent children because they are more likely to be interested
in sex, and should be free to choose their own sexual partner they point to the
idea that sex between adults and children has been frequent throughout many cultures and should not be considered
un-normal human sexual behavior. This goes along with the earlier stated idea
that today’s societal norms are out of date and irrelevant. Bruce Rind and his
colleagues seem to think that sexual abuse is not harmful to the child at all,
only if they are already predisposed to having emotional problems because of
some other familial issues or if they have determined that they were not
participating freely. In other words, Bruce Rind and his associates are
suggesting that adolescent children freely engaging in sexual activity with
adults can yield more positive results if the child is educated on sex and
engages in this behavior of his own free will. These findings are being
published by prominent organizations such as the American Psychological
Association. It should be noted that the research conducted by Rind and
associates was used for a legal argument for the legalization of sex with
children. (Sorotzkin, 2002)
This move to
legalize sex with children has got to be stopped somehow because if it does not it
is only a matter of time before sex with children is legalized for the purpose
of recognizing what one group of people consider to be their “human right.” No
matter how ridiculous this statement sounds let’s remember the statements made
earlier about the great strides the homosexual movement has made and how
several churches for the purpose of tolerance have revised their teachings on
homosexuality. Homosexuality is certainly more accepted now than 20 years ago.
In fact, it can be argued that many things, incrementally, become more accepted
over time. Some things of course should be because what two adults do in the
privacy of their own homes and their own lives is one thing, but what is being demonstrated
here is something entirely different. Nobody has the right to influence what
type of sexual decisions children will choose for themselves as they get older.
Nobody has the right to expose our children to things that would be considered
explicit and inappropriate in any sexual context except the parents. There is a
huge difference between teaching children of an appropriate age the biological
functions of sex and encouraging them to engage in sexual activity. According
to the sources used for this paper it does seem possible that a group of people
have hijacked the moral narrative and are hiding behind issues such as school
safety and Aids education to infiltrate and expose children to their lifestyle
for the purpose of trying to normalize what they have to know can never be,
child sexual abuse. We have read admissions by people seeking to get young
people involved in their movement, and people using false statistics and labels
such as homophobia to silence opposition and we have witnessed what type things
they are actually seeking to teach children. “Fisting” and describing oral and
anal sex to 5th graders is enough to outrage any parent. We have
explored some alternative explanations of what may actually be causing gay
teens to commit suicide and finally, we have shown that there are people
attempting to validate research that actually suggests sexual abuse can be
beneficial to some kids under certain circumstances. It seems reasonable to
argue from the perspective of this research that the methods being employed
here are in and of themselves harmful enough to be considered child abuse and
any school administrator needs to sit down and evaluate all evidence available
concerning this issue and tailor a program that explicitly focuses on teaching
tolerance for those that are different while leaving opinions, agendas, sexual
positions, techniques, and experiences behind. The goal of education should be
to develop a thinking individual, not influence their sexual desires.
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