Homophobia And Sexism Run Amuck

I got this email from my sister yesterday with a Chicago Tribune article about a guy arrested for child porn in the Chicago suburb where we used to live. Well, child porn and explicitly chatting with someone he thought was a fifteen year old girl. You can see where that's going. It was a cop not a fifteen year old girl. But the reason this is supposed to be of interest to my sister and me is that the guy is a coach/teacher at our old high school, and was when we were there. My wife actually remembers him well and she had him for driver's ed (and was often with him in a car, just her and another 15 or 16 year old girl, ewww). She couldn't really stand the guy, found him somewhat creepy, and didn't seem surprised that he got busted for something like that. I have only a vague memory of him, since I only went there my senior year.

I was talking on the phone to my brother last night about it. He didn't go the school at all, since we moved there after he graduated. When I told him about what the guy did, including that he was trying to get busy with who he thought was a fifteen year old girl, my brother said, "Well at least it was a girl instead of a guy, so it's a little less creepy."

In one short sentence my brother managed to say something both sexist and homophobic at the same time.

The sad part is, this isn't just some stupid comment by my idiotic Republican brother, I really think this is how a lot of men in America think. "Well, he's a child molester, but at least he's not a gay child molester." As if a 59 year old man who seeks out teenage girls is less perverted than one who seeks out teenage boys.

Somehow, in the mind of straight, white male America, a straight rapist is more normal than a gay rapist.

Makes me sick.

And my brother has kids. Three girls and a boy. What, he's going to be less upset if something like that were to happen to one of his daughters compared to it happening to his son?

Unfortunately, I think I know the answer to that question.

Anti-gay hatred and misogyny continue to thrive in America, even affecting our attitudes toward sexual predators.