ABSTRACT
This chapter addresses the potential correlation between homosexuality and sexual abuse, since there is a move within the Catholic Church to blame the scandal on homosexual priests. In autumn 2005, it was reported that the Vatican would issue a ban on gays in the priesthood, declaring even celibate homosexual men inherently unfit for priesthood. Leslie Lothstein insisted that the sexually active gay priests he treated had sex with age-appropriate men and that even priests who abused minor males were, in fact, mostly heterosexual. Psychosexually mature, adult homosexual men have consensual sex with other adult men much as psychosexually mature, adult heterosexual men have consensual sex with adult women. According to the John Jay study, in all geographic regions, between 3" and 6" of priests were credibly accused of sexually violating minors. To a large extent, victim gender selection by priests also reflected opportunity rather than sexual orientation.
