World National
©World National / Roger-Luc Chayer

Priests paint the wrong picture

Nothing makes better headlines than sex. Now add the clerical collar of a Roman Catholic priest and dozens of little altar boys and you have the recipe for a major scandal that will hold vast audiences in thrall. This is what is happening with the sexual molestation scandal that began in Boston and is spreading to archdioceses around the U.S.

It is also nothing new. In the 19th Century English writer Matthew Lewis described priestly debauchery in his bestseller "The Monk." Also in the 19th Century French writer Honore de Balzac portrayed lecherous monks and high-ranking clergy frequenting rich prostitutes and paying them from the alms for the poor.

The difference -- and this makes all the difference -- is that the adjective "pedophile" comes before the noun "priest" in this latest Roman Catholic Church scandal.

And, unfortunately, that adjective has certain connotations that have already done some serious harm to the innocent gay community in the U.S. and in Boston The reason? Because of the age-old definition of a "pederast," which is, at least in French, "pederaste," meaning quite literally "homosexual." So in this case the connotation becomes the denotation, and the denotation becomes yet another excuse for the straight community to vent its insecurities about anyone with a different sexual orientation.

Gays and straights alike are shocked at the scope and cruelty of the acts of these priests (one Boston priest alone had over 80 child victims). However, it is only gays that are concerned about the growing distrust the public has of the loving, honest, mature homosexuals in our places of worship, schools, Boy Scout troops, social services, mental hospitals, and homes.

After all, the public's attitude seems to be that it is better to be safe than sorry. Efforts such as that by Roger-Luc Chayer of Montreal, the editor-in-chief of The World Nation and the Web-based Le National, to have the Canadian government change the official definition of "pederaste" to what it should be -- a child molester and not a gay man -- have been successful.

Let's do everything we can to prevent a rollback of social morals to the days gay men were denied jobs as teachers, clergymen, and other kinds of youth leaders. There are millions of boys who are homosexual, but do not have any role models among the sanctioned role models of society: family, church, school and state.

Maybe it is because society excludes positive gay role models from the mainstream that real criminals have such an easy time masquerading as people parents can trust with their children.