Stop Trying to Make Pedophilia and Homosexuality The Same

Kevin Spacey thought a single admission of coming out as gay would overshadow allegations of him inappropriately making sexual advances towards a then 14-year-old boy. Given that we are now seemingly entering a new climate in which powerful men can no longer get away with predatory behavior (well, not all of them), Spacey knew those allegationsleveled by fellow actor Anthony Rappcould cause irreparable damage to his career.

So the notoriously private Spacey suddenly wanted to be more open with the public not for the sake of transparency but for a sole sordid purpose.

Spacey should have known better. As many have already pointed out, being a homosexual has nothing to do with being accused of being a pedophile. Not to mention, as we are learning with the likes of Bill Cosby, Roger Ailes, Bill O’Reilly, and Harvey Weinstein that once one accuser steps forward, others will follow.

Such is the case for Spacey, who finds himself being accused of having a sexual relationship with another 14-year-old boy, accused of sexually harassing younger employees on the set of House of Cards, and is now being investigated for sexual assault by the British police.

Rapp says that he “wanted to shine a light” on Spacey and that light has now dimmed the Oscar-winner’s career. House of Cards has suspended production indefinitely. Both his publicist and talent agency have dropped him. Not only has his special Emmy award been withdrawn, but Spacey’sOscar campaign for Ridley Scott’s All the Money in the World has been shelved.

In short, the entire industry is pushing the pervert the hell out. Unfortunately, his exile will not negate the baleful impact of him trying to sweep allegations of engaging in pedophiliac behavior under the rug by essentially saying: I was drunk and oh yeah, I’m “choosing” to be gay, y’all. No, for many who sadly still conflate homosexuality with pedophilia, Spacey’s reprehensible statement will not be so easily die.

In fact, those who liken gay men to perverts have already piled onto the controversyall thanks to Spacey.

Folks such as Scott Lively, the evangelical pastor who promoted a “Kill the Gays” bill in Africa, wrote a column for World Net Daily entitled: “Will Spacey Scandal Expose ‘Gay’ Male Obsession with Young Teens?” In it, Lively argues that Spacey’s coming out lends credence to the longstanding myth that there is a “pedophile core” to gay culture.

After prefacing his stance with a bevy of bullshit that loosely translates to “I ain’t saying all you gays, but like 99.987 percent of y’all or whatever,” Lively gets to his point: “What I am saying is that male homosexuality identity (from the days when the ancient Spartan military routinely drafted pre-teen boys and paired them with adult homosexual men) has always been oriented toward youth, and it is this man/boy sexual culture that not only spawned the modern ‘gay’ movement but remains the largely hiddenin fact, politically protected and shieldedcore of ‘gay’ male society today.”

And he doesn’t stop there.

“The American public has only once been allowed a glimpse of the pederast underworldthe Catholic priest scandalwhich was exposed only because the left’s smoldering hatred of the Catholic Church briefly overwhelmed its protectiveness of ‘gay’ society,” Lively continues, “but even they all conspired to falsely characterize the priests’ pederasty as ‘pedophilia’ to obscure the homosexual connection.”

Now, it’s easy to dismiss these as the rantings of a lunatic who has no idea of what he speaks instead of worrying about him, I should go back to praying that Beyoncé blesses The Lion King remake soundtrack with all of those Fela Kuti-inspired tracks she has locked in her vault.
Sadly, I cannot because there are plenty of crazies roaming the Earth. ome, like Lively,wield real influence.

Lively’s effort to export hate to Uganda failed, but he claims to have played a role in the 2013 passage of Russia’s “anti-gay propaganda law.” The right-wing bigot and those like him are relishing in Spacey giving them more ammunition to spread the false rumor that preying upon teenage boys is an “all-too-common aspect of homosexual orientation.”

There are LGBTQ people all over the world in danger because of people like Lively and the false conflations he spreads. There are plenty of people in this country who still think of gay men as pervertswhich is why in spite of marriage equality being the law of the land, there’s a Supreme Court case looming that may give people the right to discriminate against us in the name of “religious freedom.”

Thirty states make it perfectly legal for people to fire LGBTQ folks for no other reason than our sexual orientation or gender identity. Gay adoption rights remain a struggle in states across the country.

And while I am irritated by those of Lively’s ilk, the consequences were unsurprising. What was almost as frustrating was that multiple mainstream outlets fell right in line with the narrative Spacey intended to create, fixating more on his statement about being gay than tying the story to what it was truly about: sexual assault of a minor. Those who reside on the fringe are easy to make out, but those working in more reputable organizations are no less irresponsible.

One can’t help but think Spacey played on the lingering prejudices about gay men to slither away from the consequences of his heinous actions. After all, a man who says he “chooses” to live as a gay man has an old, warped view of how sexuality works to begin with. Regardless, he threw the gay community under the bus in a selfish act of desperation. He was going down anyway.Why did he have to try and take us down with him?

Thankfully, his stunt didn’t work. His career as he knows it is over. His name will now be synonymous with the other monsters being called out. He will get the fate he deserves.

Still, it must be said: F*ck you forever, Kevin Spacey.