Column Links Gay Parents to Porn

Gay Catholic activists are upset over a column that ran in the Boston Catholic archdiocese's newspaper, The Pilot, listing reasons children of same-sex couples should not attend parochial schools -- among them, the danger that these children would bring pornography to school.

Michael Pakaluk (pictured), a philosophy professor, wrote in the June 4 column that when his son was in first grade in a Catholic school with the son of a gay male couple, he saw "a real danger" that the latter boy "would bring to school something obscene or pornographic, or refer to such things in conversation, as they go along with the same-sex lifestyle, which -- as not being related to procreation -- is inherently eroticized and pornographic."

Pakaluk also wrote that he feared that a gay parent participating in school activities would "be an advocate for his lifestyle, implicitly if not explicitly." He referred to children of gays as being "in the custody" of same-sex couples, remarking, "one cannot say, 'children of.'" He noted that his concerns apply primarily to very young children, "who should be innocent of sexual matters," and likely would not be the same for middle school or high school students.

Marianne Duddy-Burke, executive director of the gay Catholic group DignityUSA, told The Boston Globe she found the column "absolutely appalling," adding, "I think it's incredibly irresponsible for a Catholic newspaper to allow such hateful and insupportable claims to be made in their paper." Jarrett Barrios, president of the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation and a former Massachusetts state senator, also spoke to the Globe, calling the column "void of the love, compassion, and inclusiveness that so many proud practicing Catholics, myself included, have grown up with."

Pilot editor Antonio M. Enrique issued a statement Wednesday saying, "The tone of the piece was strong, and we apologize if anyone felt offended by it." He said the column reflected Pakaluk's personal opinion and not necessarily that of the archdiocese, and that readers were accustomed to being exposed to a variety of opinions.

Pakaluk told the Globe he stood by the column in general, although he probably would not make the argument about pornography again.

Controversies over admission of gay couples' children to Catholic schools have made news recently in the Boston area and elsewhere. In Hingham, Mass., which is covered by the Boston archdiocese, a Catholic school last month rescinded its admission of the child of a lesbian couple. In response, the archdiocese has begun formulating a policy on acceptance of same-sex couples' children.