Does this story about gay foster parents abusing their children offend you?

Question

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml;jsessionid=1HPIU2I1TOFF5QFIQMFSFFOAVCBQ0IV0?xml=/news/2006/06/23/ufoster.xml&sSheet=/news/2006/06/23/ixnews.html

Does it seem odd you never encounter a story like this in the traditional television media. To me it seems as if every story involving gay people in telelvision media is a positive one. Yes or no?

Answer 1

95% of abuse cases are by heterosexuals and you think its odd you don't hear about a lot of homosexual cases?

Answer 2

The article is horrific, but should be printed. So the printing doesn't offend me. The content is as I said horrific. These men should be emasculated and have their limbs (all of them) removed so they can never do any thing like this again to any one, nor can they protect themselves from being assaulted.

It offends me that the agency that placed the boys with those men didn't seem to use their brains. If they felt it safe to place a child, how about a female since they obviously had no proclivity towards females.

However, I do not think the sentence strong enough and I do hope the agents that placed the boys are held accountable as well. What were they thinking.

Also these men will be held accountable to the Lord and wish they were back in prison if they don't repent and get right with God:

The Word says:

Matt 18:6 - 7 But whoso shall offend one of these little ones which believe in me, it were better for him that a millstone were hanged about his neck, and [that] he were drowned in the depth of the sea.

Woe unto the world because of offences! for it must needs be that offences come; but woe to that man by whom the offence cometh!

These men are in grave danger for eternity. The children need our prayers as well because these men have probably ruined their ability to trust where they should have been safe, they will never trust "the system" again and of course there is the obivious sexual assualt that they suffered and what if they precious children become gay as a result of the assult comitted against them?!?!?!

No I have to go an repent for what I said should be done to the men in the first paragraph and pray for their salvation.

Answer 3

I'm not sure when it happened, but, at some point, being gay became inexorably tied with being a pedophile. The truth is that most gay men and women aren't the ones you see on CNN, who are activists and make enough noise to get a television camera to notice them at a gay pride event. No, most gay men and women are just people who want to live their lives, be happy and pay their bills ... just like everyone else. Activism has it's place to be sure, but it should not be confused as a way of life that the majority of gay men and women live their lives.
All this to say that foster parenting, in my opinion, is providing a safe harbor in an otherwise stormy life of an abused or neglected child. Who made the rule that only heterosexual men and women are capable of providing that kind of love and affection?

Answer 4

Gay or straight, one wonders if foster parents are more likely to abuse than biological parents. Are abusers drawn to fostering as a source of victims? Are they drawn to teaching, coaching, child care, religion, and the like for the same reasons?

We get the news we are willing to watch which means that, in the U.S., it probably deals with a threat we can't do anything about, something novel or shocking, weight loss (or lack thereof), safety, or something that makes the U.S. look like a great place to live (and buy products) rather than a fair and balanced look at the way things are.

The most likely reason why we don't hear about gay couples molesting is statistical:
a much larger percentage of couples are hetero, to begin with;
gay couples are less likely to apply to foster; and
prejudice prevents many gay couples from even being considered.
On the NBC show that lured internet predators, there were a smaller number of gay men who showed up expecting boys than the percentages of gays in the population would suggest, so maybe (have you considered this?) gay couples are less likely to molest.

The stories in general may be positive because gays have, for so long, been suppressed, repressed, invisible, or reviled, and the media are portraying the advances. And for the less positive stories, maybe they just aren't there.

Rather than look at the orientation of the couple, perhaps this case and the many others with hetero couples can serve as lessons for improving the system.

Answer 5

Okay, how did the kids get in foster care? A gay couple didn't make the kid!

I was an abused child. I was also a foster kid. I was severely neglected in my foster home. The foster parents were straight.

Gay/Straight...doesn't matter. Every group can have an abuser. Most abuse cases come from straight homes and that is a fact. I think it is important for Gay couples to have the right to foster children since there are not enough homes to go around! I was in a foster home with nearly 20 other girls! That is not right, bottom line.

Any abused child story hurts me to the very core. I just don't think it is right to blame a whole group on one couple.

Answer 6

No it doesn't seem odd that you don't encounter a story like this in traditional media, because it doesn't happen as often ( fact is more heterosexuals foster as well as abuse). The fact is many gay parents are willing to foster/adopt children that many heterosexual couples won't ( of another race, mentally/physically challanged etc).Gays are rarely portrayed in a total positie light on televesion, if you take the popular T.V shows such as Queer as Folk, Will and Grace etc there is always some gay stereotype that is being pushed forward ( covertly and in the open).

Answer 7

I tried to click on the link but couldn't get anything. However it seems to me that whenever you read a story about someone abusing a child it never reads "heterosexual foster parents abuse children"
As I said I didn't get a chance to read the article but just because someone is gay doesn't mean they are any more or less prone to abuse children than a hetero couple.
Why does someones personal sexual preference matter?
Pedophiles are pedophiles, it doesn't have anything at all to do with being gay or straight, it has to do with perversion. There are gay and straight pedophiles.

Answer 8

I think any story about abuse should offend, whether it's gay or straight people doing the abusing. It's an atrocity of our society that these people work and live amongst those of us trying to raise families, just so they can have easy access to our children. Yes, it seems that most stories on television regarding gays and lesbians are given a positive spin. I don't believe anything is wrong with their lifestyle, but any sexual predator is just that, a predator.

Answer 9

I was a Journalism major, and I think if the journalists were reporting the facts of child abuse, and it is newsworthy because it's not just any foster parents, it's gay foster parents...well then it's right for the news to report that because it isn't everyday I hear of that kind of abuse in the news.

What is sad is all the abuse that happens so commonly it never gets in the news because it's not "newsworthy".

It is odd it doesn't get into traditional media-I suspect it's because of lobbyists, activists, and alot of gay journalists being in charge of the gatekeeping in TV news.

What offends me is child abuse, period, whether it's by gay or other foster parents...
What does not offend me is journalists being aware enough to publish a newsworthy story that even gay foster parents
can abuse a child.

Answer 10

Child abuse and pedophilia have nothing to do with being gay or straight. Any story of a child being abused is offensive. It is interesting how you asked the question. Are we to comment on being offended by 1) the story of abuse, or 2) the fact that the abuser's were homosexual, or 3) that the story would appear to negatively reflect on homosexuals? The subtext of your question seems to suggest that your real question is "Why don't we see more stories that portray gays as being the deviants they are?" If that's the case, I'm sure your cable company carries the 700 Club. You can watch it while leg pressing Yugos.

Answer 11

Um, I read the news story you inserted, so in fact, it WAS reported in the news. It may not have been reported in the U.S., but let's look at some things:

Gay "couples" are no different from "straight couples" in many ways. There are people that will abuse children in their care no matter what the circumstances or status of their relationships or sexual preference is.

I am not gay, I am straight and took in a young child for more than a year as a foster child many years ago. He was abused by his own mother, not by us. So, as flawed as it is, the foster care system is a stop-gap measure to remove a child from a bad situation. Now and again, their new situation turns out to be worse. When it does, the "mainstream" or "traditional" press does report it.

Remember, the media tends to be more liberal in nature, but "good news" isn't necessarily the objective ... bad news or hard news sells. Stories about Gay Couples or Gay activities that are "positive" in nature are usually created by and offered to the media by representatives of that group.

In every population, there are good people, bad people, etc. And, oh, by the way, some of them are straight, and some of them are gay.

As to your original question: Does the story about gay foster parents abusing their children offend me ... of course it does. But I think it's a sad commentary on the inability of the foster care system to adequately screen applicants than it is a negative view of Gays in general.