Here’s Richard Land, former Southern Baptist Convention leader, speaking on Tony Perkins’ radio show: “I know that the dirty little secret that nobody wants to talk about is that a high percentage of adult male homosexuals in America were sexually molested when they were children. … Anybody who’s a counselor…will tell you that.”
No, Richard, anybody who’s a counselor will tell you that that is not true. It’s an old myth, thoroughly debunked, an absurd stereotype as dangerous as saying that Jews steal babies and black teenagers are probably in rape gangs. It’s not just offensive, it has the potential to incite people to violence.
After all, a claim like this will no doubt come as a surprise to the millions upon millions of us who are happily homosexual, never molested or abused or seriously traumatized. Or to the many heterosexuals who endured childhood abuse and yet somehow, miraculously, did not magically turn gay. Or to just about every mental health professional in the country, whose experience runs counter to Richard’s evil falsehoods. Richard’s babbling is kind of impressive in that it is offensive to LGBTs, to the victims of childhood sexual abuse, and to the medical professionals who’ve dedicated their careers to helping them.
What’s terrifying about this is that Richard Land is not some fringe nutcase. People listen to this guy. People believe him when he lies. President Bush appointed him to a commission on religious freedom, for crying out loud. He’s president of a seminary, which means he’s putting these lies into the minds of younger people. He’s the executive editor of the Christian Post.
How about we take this to the next level?
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Our question is this: surely, with all those religious people he works with, at least some of them must have a conscience. Some of them must know that he’s not telling the truth. What will it take for his colleagues to denounce this objectively false, completely unprovable claim? Why are they letting him get away with out-and-out lies?
LubbockGayMale
So, is he admitting he’s been a molester, or that he’s gay? How would he know if he wasn’t one or the other? Stupid!
abuelo
Imagine! A Christian minister who knowingly lies to propagate hate and possible violence. Seems about right to me. What would jesus say?
Harley
@abuelo: Jesus would say “Easter is 4/20–Blaze it and Praise it. Truly, He is resin”.
Geoff B
Too bad he said “high percentage” and not “all”. Any parent of a gay child could sue for defamation. This makes me so angry. I was blessed with not only great parents, step-parents, but also great future in-laws. I find it very hard to believe I’m in the minority here.
Ogre Magi
and christians are worse vermin than rats
money718
This is just so dumb. I came nowhere close to being molested and had fantastic parents. I mean wow…
demetreus
IF WHAT HE IS SAID IS TRUE, THEN WHY WOULD “HIS” GOD ALLOW SOMETHING LIKE THAT TO HAPPEN TO A CHILD???
jazz4108
Its fascinating that after all these years I don’t remember my abuser that turned me gay. Maybe I need to see one of those pillow talkers. /S
DickieJohnson
Penises and handsome males have been on my mind since I was four years old, and I was never molested. However, I was raised a Southern Baptist, and for THAT, I’m still in recovery! Thank God for Episcopalians.
gaym50ish
It doesn’t help that guys like Rev. Ted Haggard use the “abuse excuse” to rationalize their homosexual liaisons. They have a vested interest in appearing to be straight. The abuse may indeed have occurred and may have caused some mental anguish, but it never made anyone gay.
Peterson Toscano, author of “Doin’ Time in the Homo No Mo Halfway House,” says he was sexually abused at the age of seven by an older boy, and he somewhat enjoyed it. But he knew before then that he liked boys, and the only real consequence of the abuse was that it filled him with guilt and shame. Feeling dirty, evil and unlovable, he was a perfect target for the evangelical Christians who persuaded him that he could change.
Here’s a question I have pondered: If girls who are abused or raped by men become lesbian man-haters, why would boys who suffer abuse by men would become ATTRACTED to men as a consequence of the abuse?
gaym50ish
In Ted Haggard’s case, after he blamed his sexual “experimentation” (monthly prostitute visits for at least three years) on childhood abuse, Rev. H. B. London and two other pastors prescribed a rigorous “restoration plan” of Bible study, prayer and soul-baring talks with his mentors. After a few months, they made a public announcement claiming that Haggard was completely heterosexual.
Yeah, right! What he has never admitted is that his real mistake was violation of the 11th commandment: “Thou shalt not get caught.”
Billysees
It’s unwise to make these kinds of assertions, because there could be a witch hunt of sorts to figure out who did it and then suspicions about family members, relatives, friends and others will never end.
jonjct
okay, i was molested and i don’t remember being gay before that. seriously. i’m not sayin’ this is a rule, just sayin’ in my case probably true.
jonjct
@Ogre Magiand christians are worse vermin than rats: take this offensive, hateful post down.
Maude
I have said this before on these pages….
I was “molested” repeatedly during my childhood by the same man that raised me. He was my guardian. I loved him, and frankly, I enjoyed every minute of it.
I never had cause to deny it, because no-one ever asked.
…and if in fact, he ‘turned me gay’, I will be forever thankful to him.
If however, I had been subjected to religious propaganda, I probably would have become an obscene screaming faggot, or a potential suicide…or both.
FYI….I believe in God, and He believes in me.
I belong to no organized religion.
I served my country in the USMC.
I think am well adjusted. (whatever that means)
Kevin Wotipka
Don’t see how—my childhood was G-rated. ~^