The Penn State Gay Sex Scandal -WTF!!!!

[Cin]

In an article on Counter Punch today, Alexander Cockburn wrote these words:

“Cain’s final bit of bad luck has been to have his harassment charges sitting cheek to cheek on the front pages and in the newscasts with gross details of the gay sex scandal at Penn State.”

I sent an email telling him how offensive and disturbing it was to read that he is equating child sexual abuse with gay sex.

Just some background: Alexander Cockburn, together with Jeffrey St. Clair, edits the political newsletter CounterPunch. Cockburn also writes the "Beat the Devil" column for The Nation and a weekly syndicated column for the Los Angeles Times as well as for The First Post.

His email is alexandercockburn@asis.com if anyone would like to explain the difference between pedophilia and gay sex.

Here is a link to the article which was, by the way, not at all about the child sexual abuse scandal at Penn State.

http://www.counterpunch.org/2011/11/...-bill-clinton/

[Cin]

Penn State Scandal: Jerry Sandusky Cited As Case Against Same-Sex Parenting By Anti-Gay Speakers

The Penn State debacle that erupted following football coach Joe Paterno's dismissal continues to rankle sports fans. Now, two high-profile voices are now linking the child sex abuse charges facing Paterno's former assistant with the LGBT community -- in particular, citing the case as evidence against gay parenting and same-sex adoption.

First to speak out was Bryan Fischer of the American Family Association, who used the much-publicized breakup of Toronto's famed "gay" penguins as evidence of "the fluidity" of sexual orientation before turning his attention to Penn State's retired assistant coach Jerry Sandusky, who has been arrested and charged with 40 counts of sexual abuse involving eight boys over a 15-year period. "It's a simple, stubborn fact that homosexuals molest children at much higher rates than the heterosexual population," Fischer said. "This is one of the reasons the Boy Scouts have every right to keep homosexuals from becoming Boy Scout leaders."

Echoing those sentiments was the Family Research Council's Jerry Cox, who appeared on the NPR news and analysis show "To The Point" via a California-based affiliate and used Sandusky's case as an argument against same-sex adoption. "I find it interesting that we talk about the Penn State situation, and then when we talk about people who claim to have these rights to adopt or foster; in both cases, the children's rights get put in second place," Cox told host Warren Olney, after a gay parent from L.A. spoke about the stringent adoption process to which he and his partner were subjected. "If those are the only two choices -- a child be institutionalized or in a same-sex home -- I would like to challenge this and say, maybe the state can do better than that. I blame the state for that. These children need a place to recover."

Olney quickly issued a statement via the Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD) apologizing for the incident. "We apologize for any confusion about today’s 'To the Point,' which dealt with both the Penn State child-sex scandal and the issue of same-sex couples as foster or adoptive parents," Olney wrote, noting he planned to clarify the error on Monday's show. "The connection we intended to make was this: a suspected pedophile backed by a powerful institution was allowed to have foster children, while same-sex couples, who can provide loving families, are often denied that opportunity."



I want to smash this guy over the head so hard that he will literally be talking out of his asshole rather than just figuratively. How can he just make up statistics like that and report them as though they were fact?

Statistically female children are abused at much higher percentages than male children and by heterosexual men. I’m actually too angry to really get into to talking about pedophiles and sexual preference. This stuff is always upsetting.

But not to worry because apparently To The Point host Warren Olney wants to apologize for any confusion the show might have caused. "We apologize for any confusion about today’s 'To the Point,' which dealt with both the Penn State child-sex scandal and the issue of same-sex couples as foster or adoptive parents," Olney wrote, noting he planned to clarify the error on Monday's show. "The connection we intended to make was this: a suspected pedophile backed by a powerful institution was allowed to have foster children, while same-sex couples, who can provide loving families, are often denied that opportunity."

Well if that is the connection he planned to make he certainly went about it in a very strange way. I hope if I’m ever drowning that I don’t need to depend on this guy to help me out. I can imagine him pouring water on me. Then explaining how he meant to throw me a life preserver, as I disappear under the waves.

[Toughy]

Every adult who knew about this should go to prison.....starting with McQueery.

Do some research folks.........Penn St (and probably the NCAA) has known about this for YEARS.......they told the pedophile coach to not bring anymore kids on campus way back in the late 90's/early 2000....I think he was fired and then rehired cuz well

Football is GOD.......doncha know

[Queerasfck]

Sandusky was on campus as recently as LAST WEEK--quote-unquote "working out"........

[Cin]

My point was that this horrendous child sex abuse scandal is, as all child sex abuse scandals targeting boys, being used to speak out against same sex parenting. Calling it a "gay sex scandal" is offensive, disturbing and inaccurate. Sexual abuse inflicted on a child by a pedophile has nothing to do with adult concepts like sexual/gender preference.

"children lack the secondary sex characteristics which distinguish mature males and females – body hair and muscles in men, breasts in women – pedophiles are often attracted to both male and female children.

Explaining the apparent contradiction of straight men abusing young boys - They really are straight – they’re responding to the feminine qualities of pre-pubescent boys.

Part of the confusion between homosexuality and the molestation of young boys comes from the terminology used by researchers themselves. If an adult male molests a young boy, that type of molestation is typically called a “homosexual molestation”. But when described this way, the term “homosexual” is used as an adjective in its most literal sense — the victim and perpetrator are of the same sex. It doesn’t refer to the sexual orientation of either the victim or the perpetrator."

http://www.internationalorder.org/scandal_response.html

[SoNotHer]

I hadn't thought about this effect. But I'm sure some who did nothing did.

Penn State Sexual Abuse May Spur $1 Billion Debt Downgrade

6:47 pm, November 11th | by Hillary Reinsberg

Moody’s is considering downgrading the university’s rating in the wake of the sexual abuse allegations. The ratings agency Moody’s is looking into the increased risk of Penn State’s finances, stemming from the sexual abuse allegations and firings of multiple school administrators and football coaches, according to Bloomberg. Moody’s plans to evaluate the risks in terms of reputation and overall finances. A downgrade would put around $1 billion of debt at risk.

It won’t happen right away — Moody’s will investigate for a few months to see what the ramifications are. An array of potential problems — from more lawsuits to decreased enrollment, could have a very negative effect on the school’s financial standing. Of all the concerns surrounding the ordeal, the financial ones are far from being the most disturbing. But it’s pretty remarkable to see how those disturbing behaviors and the follow-up response can have massive financial ramifications.

[SoNotHer]

Penn State Debt May Be Cut by Moody’s on Child Sex-Abuse Scandal
November 11, 2011, 6:44 PM EST

More From Businessweek

By Brian Chappatta and Greg Chang

Nov. 11 (Bloomberg) -- Penn State University had its Aa1 revenue-bond rating placed on review for possible downgrade by Moody’s Investors Service amid the investigation into a child sex-abuse scandal.

Moody’s said it will examine the reputational and financial risk arising from the probe, after the Penn State football team’s former defensive coordinator, Jerry Sandusky, was charged with sexually assaulting eight boys from 1994 to 2009.

About $1 billion of rated debt would be affected by a downgrade, according to the statement. The company said it will take several months to monitor events, including possible lawsuits, weaker student demand, decreased philanthropic support, changes in its relationship with the state and management moves. Aa1 is Moody’s second-highest rating. "While the full impact of these increased risks will only unfold over a period of years, we will also assess the degree of near- and medium-term risks to determine whether to downgrade,” Moody’s said in the statement.

A Penn State revenue bond maturing in March 2030 traded Nov. 9 at an average yield of 3.65 percent, down from 4.15 percent in a trade about a month earlier, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. Penn State, with 96,000 students and more than 500,000 alumni, raised $195.3 million last year, up from $82 million in 1995, when former President Graham B. Spanier was appointed, according to the Council for Aid to Education, which tracks gifts. Spanier and football coach Joe Paterno were fired this week.

--Editor: Mark Schoifet, Mark Tannenbaum

[Toughy]

Miss Tick..........

You are so right about equating homosexuals with pedophiles. It is a notion that comes from the Catholic Church and they continue to perpetuate that myth. That fundamentalist religious monotheists are continuing is a given as they have also been doing it for years.

Any activity, group, organization, position, ________ that targets children and adolescents ALWAYS brings out the pedophiles.

The only thing we can do is continue to speak out every time pedophile=homosexual is presented. I do think a growing (perhaps majority) number of folks know better and don't pay attention to it. In the US I figure it's somewhere between 20-30% of folks who are fundamentalist, hateful, and ignorant in their belief systems.

What bugs me to no end is the corporate media continuing to give those folks a platform to spew hate and ignorance.

[Cin]

Originally Posted by Toughy

You are so right about equating homosexuals with pedophiles.

What bugs me to no end is the corporate media continuing to give those folks a platform to spew hate and ignorance.

I agree. That NPR debacle is inexcusable.

The fact that a married heterosexual man can sexually abuse male children for years with the help and support of a plethora of heterosexuals and it will become fodder for the religious Right to condemn homosexuality, gay marriage, adoption and foster care rights for homosexuals and even the very idea of any gay person engaging in any activity or employment where they come in contact with children is the height of hypocrisy.

Not to mention it shows a deeply entrenched and disturbingly blatant disregard for the truth. Doesn’t god demand the truth from believers and religious practitioners? Or is their god Machiavellian in its nature and believes the end will justify the means no matter how unfair and untrue?

And dangerous, because as most of us who have ever been little girls, and female children are abused more frequently than male children to the tune of at least 6 to 1, can tell you, the overwhelming majority of pedophiles are heterosexual men. So while they are so busy keeping homosexuals away from their children, the married heterosexual father of 3 who lives next door is diddling their little darling. And despite their belief to the contrary he is not a gay man hiding in the closest no matter the sex of his victims. Does the truth of who are the perpetrators of child sexual abuse even matter to them? Or does the joy of homosexual hunting far outweigh their interest in the safety of their own children?

For the record, and especially in case someone should wonder at the odd phraseology of this thread title, I do not believe what happened at Penn State should be called a gay sex abuse scandal. The WTF I added to the title was not because I am appalled and disgusted by what happened, although I am, it was an expression of how confused and disturbed I am by the idea that people are calling pedophilia perpetrated on male children as gay sex.