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FIRST-PERSON: Pedophilia, Italy … & us?


ALEXANDRIA, La. (BP) -– The conviction of a 60-year-old man for having sex with a pre-teen girl was overturned by Italy’s highest court last fall according to a report by Agence France-Presse. Social worker Pietro Lamberti was sent to prison for five years for his relationship with an 11-year-old girl.

The original conviction in 2011 was upheld by an appellate court but now has been overturned by the Italian Supreme Court, which ruled the original court had failed to consider the consensual nature of the relationship, according to AFP. The court ordered a retrial.

The high court said consideration should have been given to the “existence of an amorous relationship, the absence of physical force, the girl’s feelings of love,” AFP reported. Russia Today reported that one Supreme Court justice said the sexagenarian and the pre-teen “shared a genuine emotional bond that could justify the carnal union between the two.”

It seems the Italian Supreme Court has joined a growing number who are more than willing to acquiesce to the prevailing winds of perversity in regard to adult depravity and child sexuality.

Two respected publications have subtly promoted the idea in the past year that adults having sex with pre-teen children perhaps should not be viewed as taboo.

The British national newspaper The Guardian published an article titled “Pedophilia: bringing dark desires to the light” in January 2013. While it was a news-type report, a preponderance of the quotes were sympathetic to the idea of pedophilia.

Consider the following from The Guardian report:

“But there is growing conviction, notably in Canada, that pedophilia should probably be classified as a distinct sexual orientation, like heterosexuality or homosexuality. Two eminent researchers testified to that effect to a Canadian parliamentary commission last year, and the Harvard Mental Letter of July 2010 stated baldly that pedophilia ‘is a sexual orientation’ and therefore ‘unlikely to change.’

“A Dutch study published in 1987 found that a sample of boys in pedophilic relationships felt positively about them. And a major if still controversial 1998-2000 meta-study suggests — as Michael Bailey of Northwestern University, Chicago, says — that such relationships, entered into voluntarily, are ‘nearly uncorrelated with undesirable outcomes.'”

The Atlantic, in its August issue, ran two articles wholly sympathetic to pedophilia.

In the article “I, Pedophile” Canandian journalist David Goldberg recounted his arrest in 2012 for possessing child pornography. A question-and-answer piece titled “What Can Be Done About Pedophilia” featured James Cantor, associate professor of psychiatry at the University of Toronto who is regarded as an international expert on pedophilia.

Commenting in the aftermath of his arrest, Goldberg wrote, “The main query that I am convinced will always be without an answer is why I am a pedophile. It is the equivalent of trying to determine why someone is heterosexual or gay. We don’t choose our sexual orientations. If we could, believe me no one would choose mine.

“The most important thing I’ve discovered in the 15 months since my arrest isn’t the why,” Goldberg wrote, “but rather what can be done to change the preconceptions and misconceptions that society has when it comes to pedophiles.”

In the Q&A, Cantor makes clear he believes pedophilia is a matter of birth and not of choice. “No one chooses to be sexually attracted to children, although people do choose whether they act on their sexual attractions,” Cantor said.

“The best current evidence suggests that pedophilia results from atypical wiring in the brain,” Cantor said. He went on to repeatedly indicate that he believes pedophilia is innate.

It should be noted that neither Goldberg nor Cantor in any way suggested adults having sex with children should be advocated. However, it seems the Italian justices have taken their arguments to their logical conclusion.

If a person is born a pedophile and it is illegal to have sex with minor children, how does he or she find sexual expression? As long as pedophilia is against the law, the pedophile will be a frustrated outcast.

If pedophilia is indeed innate, then age of consent laws become the issue of debate. Does a pre-teen have the capacity to make a rational decision to have sex with an adult? The Italian Supreme Court has said yes. Hence, the age of consent laws in Italy will now have to be reconsidered.

What does this all mean for America? Already in the United States adults are allowing children to decide what sex they should be, judging from a handful of cases of children as young as 5 and 6 being allowed to pursue a transgendered existence.

If you believe a child as young as 5 has the capacity to rationally decide that he or she was born the wrong sex, then your logic would have to dictate they have the same ability to decide whether to have sex with an adult.

In the same way homosexual and transgendered activists have fought successfully to have laws changed so they can pursue their lifestyles, expect pedophile activists to follow suit.

The reality is children, especially pre-teens, do not have the cognitive ability to even know what is best for them. They certainly do not have the ability to rationally decide about having sex with an adult, much less that they are transgender.

Society should do everything in its power to protect children from those who would rob them of their innocence, particularly from perverts whose only desire is to satisfy their depraved desires, a concept it seems the Italian Supreme Court is unable to grasp.
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Kelly Boggs is a weekly columnist for Baptist Press, director of the Louisiana Baptist Convention’s office of public affairs, and editor of the Baptist Message (www.baptistmessage.com), newsjournal of the Louisiana Baptist Convention. Get Baptist Press headlines and breaking news on Twitter (@BaptistPress), Facebook (Facebook.com/BaptistPress) and in your email (baptistpress.com/SubscribeBP.asp).

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  • Kelly Boggs