Alleged gay advance cited in rape

Cicero | Male suspect accused of sodomizing man with broomstick

December 28, 2007 – Eric Herman

A Cicero man angry about an alleged homosexual advance raped the man he claimed propositioned him, and then sodomized him with a broomstick, officials said.

Felipe Rivera, 43, is charged with a hate crime as well as aggravated criminal sexual assault and other offenses, said a spokesman for the Cook County state's attorney's office. If convicted, he could face more than 30 years in prison, a source said.

According to a spokesman for Cicero police, Rivera and the victim encountered each other at a party Friday night in the 1200 block of South 50th Avenue.

"Mr. Rivera got upset apparently because he believed the victim, No. 1, didn't respond to a female and then, No. 2, somehow winked at him -- made what he perceived as a sexual advance," said Cicero police spokesman Dan Proft.

30 years possible

Rivera then punched the victim in the face, Proft said, and was asked to leave the party. He allegedly waited outside for the victim. According to Rivera, the victim, 37, then propositioned Rivera for a sex act -- a claim the victim denies, Proft said.

Rivera followed the victim to the outer staircase of a basement apartment, where he removed the victim's pants and raped him, authorities said. Afterward, Rivera punched the victim in the head, leaving him semi-conscious, then inserted a metal broom handle in the victim's rectum, sources said.

Rivera gave police these details in a videotaped statement, according to Proft. When asked why he did it, Rivera allegedly said it was "because he hates f - - - - - s, and this is what they get," according to Proft.

A spokesman for the state's attorney said Rivera also shouted "sexually oriented derogatory comments" during the rape.

After the alleged attack, Rivera went to his mother's residence nearby. Because she has an order of protection against him, she called the police, Proft said.

At a Maywood court appearance Thursday, Judge Paula Dalio set Rivera's bond at $350,000, and added $50,000 for a probation violation.

Rivera, of the 1200 block of South 49th Avenue, could get up to 30 years for the sexual assault. The hate crime carries a possible sentence of one to five years.

What is the take of some homosexuals on this?  Here is an example from Jim Burroway:

What LaBarbera doesn’t seem to understand however is that 1) we don’t know whether Rivera really made the offer, 2) we don’t know Rivera’s sexual orientation (was the offer real or a taunt?), and 2) Rivera’s orientation has no bearing on whether this is a hate crime or not. If a Black man who holds White supremacist views (and believe it or not, a very few of them exist) attacks an African-American solely because of his race, then it’s a hate crime.

LOL!  Rivera’s allegation may or may not be true, but he raped the man with his penis!  Erection is not under voluntary control, and Rivera has to be a homosexual or bisexual.  Rivera may not identify as a nonheterosexual, and like some homosexuals/bisexuals, he may dislike same-sex attraction, but he cannot be a heterosexual.  There are examples of men raping women because the women declined the offer for sex, but these are not charged as hate crimes regardless of whether the men involved have a low opinion of or dislike for women in general, and yet the Rivera case is being regarded as an anti-homosexual hate crime.

Burroway’s example of an African-American man holding white supremacist views is laughable since this person’s views delineated in the article do not endorse any belief of African-American inferiority.

Rivera’s case is of a sexual and physical assault combined.  Physical assault is typically motivated by a dislike or hatred of the victim, but most such assaults are not prosecuted as hate crimes.  Hate crimes laws make some victims special, which is just one of many reasons why they need to be scrapped.

During the trial, it turned out that Fortunato was a homosexual himself:

DiChiara said his client has been arranging sexual rendezvous with men through the Internet since he was 17. Investigators recovered a cache of homoerotic images and messages from his computer.

The prosecutor, Anna-Sigga Nicolazzi, said the plot was hatched by Fortunato, who told his friends, "You could always get a gay guy to meet you," and trolled a chat room called "Brooklyn Man 4 Man" for a victim. Fortunato boasted he had ripped off a gay man he had lured to a motel in Sheepshead Bay, Brooklyn, she said.

So it should be clear that the quartet had nothing against Sandy’s homosexuality.  They just picked him because of the convenience factor, yet all four were convicted of a hate crime! 

Shurov got 17-1/2 years, Fortunato 7-21 years, Fox 13-21 years and Timmons 4 years (plea deal, in exchange for testifying against Fox and Fortunato) in prison.

Most “hate crimes” against homosexuals comprise of verbal harassment.  And then we have crimes like Sandy’s death classified as hate crimes.  I have even come across reports of sexual assault of men who have sex with men classified as hate crimes.  Again, when is it easy for a rapist to get a potential victim to accompany him to a desired place?  When the rapist happens to be a male homosexual.  A plausible hate crime sexual assault against a male homosexual would comprise of a homosexual-hating heterosexual man stripping a male homosexual and forcibly inserting an artificial object into his rectum, but this is an unlikely scenario because the haters would typically prefer to beat up homosexuals.

Priest charged in rest stop sex sting pleads not guilty

Brian Howard – The Journal News (Nov. 9, 2007)

The Catholic priest charged along with 20 other men in a rest-stop sex sting off Interstate 684 pleaded not guilty yesterday and is due back in Bedford Town Court next month.

The Rev. Gary Meade, wearing a gray suit and accompanied by his attorney, kept his head down and made no comment during the brief court appearance.

Judge Charles Banks had threatened to issue a bench warrant after Mead failed to appear last week. Others charged in the sting entered guilty pleas at that time.

Attorney Andrew Quinn of White Plains last night maintained Mead's innocence. He said he would review the specific allegations filed against Mead, who is due in court Dec. 13.

The Catholic priest from Millwood, who is assigned to St. Gregory Barbarigo parish in Garnerville, was charged with one violation count of loitering and with forcible touching, a misdemeanor.

Police say Mead, 44, tried to touch an undercover officer during the sting operation in the woods behind the rest stop.

Mead has denied being in the woods. He says he stopped at the service area on his way home from visiting friends in the town of Kent.

The sting, which also netted a local Rotary Club president and a 72-year-old man, was prompted by a complaint from a man who had stopped to use the rest area with his 10-year-old son, police said.

Most of the men were charged with loitering or trespass violations. One was charged with forcible touching, a misdemeanor. Four were charged with exposing themselves and two with public lewdness, all violations.

What is the solution to this problem?  Use hidden cameras!

Camera catches men having sex in toilets

Wirral globe (Nov. 21, 2007)

MORE than 120 men have been identified as taking part in sexual activity in a public toilet, after a covert police sting in Wirral.

Hidden cameras were installed in the men's lavatories in Harrison Drive, New Brighton, following complaints that men were meeting for anonymous gay sex.

On Monday, three men appeared before Wirral magistrates after they were caught engaging in public sexual activity.

A police sergeant based in Liverpool was also caught and was fined 13 days' pay.

As part of undercover Operation Winchester, two tiny cameras were installed in the toilets at waist and head height and evidence was recorded on DVD. And after the three-month blitz, 32 people were cautioned and six people were charged under the Sexual Offences Act.

Cases are still being brought through the courts.

On Monday, Patrick Kevin Gallagher, from Meadowcroft Road, Meols, was fined £400 after he was caught on camera on three separate occasions.

Defending the 51-year-old married father-of-two, Chris Murphy said: "Mr Gallagher is a man of good character and he is very ashamed that he is in court.

"This has been very devastating to his life and things are not going to get any easier for him in due course.

"He has a good job and is a family man - he knows that what he did was wrong."

Magistrates ordered Gallagher to pay a fine totalling £400 including costs.

Shaun Murphy, 40 from Brighton Street, Wallasey, was given unconditional bail and will appear again before magistrates on December 17. And James John Clarke, 51 from Bloomfield Green, Liverpool, will return to court on December 10 while "all options open reports" are prepared.

A Merseyside Police spokesman said the operation had been a success despite criticism from the lesbian and gay community that officers used "strong arm tactics."

She said: "The integrity of the operation is not under question but the consultation period with local groups could have been better."

Latvia Pride Trashed, Mobs Throw Human Excrement

by Rex Wockner
2006-08-02

The second effort to stage a gay pride parade in Riga, Latvia, was an unmitigated disaster July 22.

The City Council and a court banned the parade, claiming police would not be able to protect marchers from marauding homophobic mobs. So, activists instead staged a religious service at a church and meetings at a hotel.

But the homophobes were not deterred by the change in plans. Scores of anti-gay protesters gathered outside the Anglican church and flung human excrement, eggs and rotten food at gays and lesbians as they left the building.

“I was hit with a bag full of shit and had to go wash up,” said the Rev. Maris Sants. “Protesters threw human excrement on us,” said the Rev. Juris Calitis. “I was covered with it from head to foot. It was quite smelly.”

“Worshippers were pelted with shit and rotten fruit,” said British participant Peter Tatchell. “Despite previously requesting police protection, no police were present to protect the congregation.”

Activists meeting later in the day at the four-star Reval Hotel met a similar fate, attracting hundreds of anti-gay demonstrators. “ [ We were ] under siege all day by protesters from the anti-gay ‘No Pride’ movement—a highly organized alliance of Christian fundamentalists, ultra-nationalists and neo-Nazis,” said Tatchell. “They roamed the streets outside the hotel looking for gays and lesbians to attack. Anyone who looked gay was liable to abuse and assault, even passing tourists. The police seemed to stand back and let them terrorize people with impunity.”

Blogging live from the site, Russian participant Nikolai Alekseev reported: “As the speeches of local politicians and foreign politicians are coming to an end ... in a room where 100 gays and lesbians came to celebrate what should have been Riga’s 2nd Gay Pride, protesters started to attack those going out of the hotel.

“The first taxi that was trying to take one of the organizers was attacked by the protesters who pushed the cars [ and ] threw eggs under the eyes of the police. Journalists were also attacked with eggs and water—on them and on their cameras. Protesters are targeting anyone going out of the hotel.

“Today, Latvia does not show the face of a modern and democratic country,” Alekseev said. “Instead, Riga is showing the face of homophobic fascism. ... It feels like [ this year’s ] Moscow [ pride ] all over again. Homophobic mobs are roaming the streets of Riga with apparent impunity.”

Reports said 14 protesters were arrested during the various confrontations.

Latvia’s prime minister, Aigars Kalvitis, and president, Vaira Vike-Freiberga, disagreed with the City Council and the Regional Administrative Court, and had urged that the parade be permitted.

“It lies at the very foundations of the Constitution of Latvia that human rights shall be respected in Latvia without any discrimination, which means that nobody can be restricted in his/her activities based on his/her religious beliefs, ethnic background, sexual orientation, gender or belonging to some other group,” Vike-Freiberga said. “Furthermore, the Constitution guarantees to the residents of Latvia the right to the freedom of speech and assembly.”

On July 24, the pride organizing group, Mozaika, announced plans to “sue the City of Riga in the European Court of Human Rights for banning the march.”

“The presidency of the European Union is now held by Finland, which will put the Riga Pride events at the top of a list of discussions at a meeting of European Ministers of Justice next week,” the group’s cofounder, Laris Grava, said in a press release. “We expect severe condemnation of the government of Latvia from other European governments.”

Last year, gays were allowed to stage Riga’s first pride parade. The approximately 150 marchers were heavily outnumbered by around 1,000 anti-gay protesters who hurled insults, bottles and rotten eggs; blocked the streets; and forced the parade to be rerouted. The protesters chanted “No sodomy” and “Gays fuck the nation.”

Prime Minister Kalvitis opposed last year’s march, denouncing it as “a parade of sexual minorities [ taking ] place in the middle of our capital city next to the Dom [ Cathedral ] . This is not acceptable,” he said. “Latvia is a state based on Christian values. We cannot promote things that are unacceptable to a large part of society.”

But Kalvitis later had an apparent change of heart, saying: “There were attempts to link my statements with expressions of homophobic views and hate in the society. This is not true.

“Latvia is a democratic country that wishes and is able to ensure human rights of every person living here. [ T ] he government of Latvia is clearly against discrimination of any kind. It is worth noting that not long before the parade the Cabinet of Ministers adopted decisions preventing discrimination of sexual minorities in [ the ] labor market.”

At Moscow’s first gay pride parade May 27, which Alekseev co-organized, marchers attempted to lay flowers at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier and then walk a few blocks for a rally across from City Hall. They were attacked repeatedly by neo-fascists, skinheads, militant Christians and riot police. Several marchers were injured.

Mayor Yuri Luzhkov had banned that march, saying Russia’s “morals are cleaner” than those of “the West.” He called the attempt to lay flowers a “desecration ... a provocation [ and ] a contamination. People burst through and of course they beat them up,” he said.

Comment: Protest in this form is obviously socially unacceptable. However, when the tables are turned, i.e., critiquing/protesting homosexuality is a criminal offense, then we observe the following during gay pride events.

Some pictures from the 2004 Toronto dyke and gay pride parades are shown below.

A picture from a 2004 Gay pride event in Amsterdam, Netherlands is shown below; you can see the video at nopride.lv.

An approach in between these extremes is required, whereby people opposed to homosexual behavior can peacefully protest, and homosexual and bisexual individuals participate in a public parade that avoids nudity, simulated sex acts and actual sexual activity. However, this balance is easier wished for than achieved.

Gays accused of discrimination in resort town

By Jason Szep
Fri Jul 21, 8:34 AM ET

PROVINCETOWN, Massachusetts (Reuters) - Provincetown, New England's summer gay capital, is facing a rise in harassment and discrimination. But this time it's straight people who say they are being ridiculed as "breeders" and "baby makers."

Less than a decade after a successful campaign to end violent paroxysms of "gay bashing" in the beach town at the tip of Cape Cod in Massachusetts, police and town officials report a resurgence in tension between gays and straight people.

Police Chief Ted Meyer said straight people complained of being called "breeders" over the July Fourth holiday weekend, and that in one serious incident a man was charged with assaulting a woman who signed a petition to ban same-sex marriage in Massachusetts, the only state where it is legal.

Equally troubling, he said, Jamaican workers in Provincetown say they have been the target of racial slurs.

"It's been a series of issues," Meyer said.

The flare-ups in a town that overflows in summer with a colorful mix of gay couples often openly holding hands or kissing, cross-dressers and flocks of curious tourists coincide with a planned vote this year in the state Legislature on an amendment to ban gay marriage -- a measure that has rallied activists on both sides of the issue.

Gay-marriage advocates have set up a Web site -- www.knowthyneighbor.org -- that publishes the names of people who have signed the petition, including at least two locals in Provincetown who say they have been singled out and verbally abused by gays since their names appeared on the Web site.

Town officials said the town is struggling to strike a balance between protecting the right to freedom of expression for petition signers, and ensuring its gay majority contain their anger at what many see as an assault on their hard-won right to marriage.

Police would not classify the slurs and name-calling as "hate crimes." But a town meeting was called last Friday to discuss whether social attitudes were changing in the gay resort village with a population of 3,431 that swells to 60,000 in summer and includes a large number of Jamaicans.

"We have business that we haven't talked about as a family," Town Manager Keith Bergman said. "The impact of the same sex marriage petition is high on that list."

Some gays expressed shock at being accused of discrimination after years of suffering harassment.

"There are still a lot of straight people who treat gays badly," said Steve Bowersock, 35, an artist who owns the Bowersock Gallery on the town's main Commercial Street.

Bowersock, who was once married to a woman, said he moved to Provincetown in 2004 with his partner because it gives gays a political voice. He admits he sometimes discriminates against straight people he finds offensive

"If there's a straight couple and I hear them in the background going 'oh fags', I'm like 'hello, where the hell do you think you are?' So in turn I get mad," he said.

"If I see someone nervous like a big butch guy, and you can just tell he's a redneck, I'll grab my partner and I'll kiss him. It's not being mean, but 'hello you're in our town'."

The Rev. Henry J. Dahl, pastor at St. Peter's Church, said several of his parishioners had complained to him of being singled out and verbally abused after signing the petition.

"I don't think it's totally unexpected that there would be some reaction to people who signed the petition," he said. "Let's just hope we can have civil discourse."

Joe Solmonese, president of gay rights group Human Rights Campaign, said the petition signers invited trouble by taking a position that says "loud and clear that you believe that gays and lesbians should be treated as second class citizens."

GEORGE'S SEX SHAME (images at link)

By Neville Thurlbeck (23^rd July, 2006)

MEGA-RICH pop superstar George Michael this week sank to new levels of depravity—trawling for illegal gay sex thrills in a London park.

News of the World investigators caught the singer red-handed and red-faced as he emerged from the bushes after cavorting with a pot-bellied, 58-year-old, jobless van driver.

When challenged George, 43, was wild-eyed and trembling. Trying to hide his face under a baseball cap, he screamed:

"I don't believe it! F*** off! If you put those pictures in the paper I'll sue!"

Minutes earlier the one-time heart-throb had been lurking in the shadows at the notorious homosexual pick-up spot on Hampstead Heath.

George is a man with the world at his feet. He's on the brink of a lucrative 50-concert comeback tour, which sold out in half an hour.

Yet he ignored all the risks and dangers to pull seedy Norman Kirtland.

The pair kissed and groped each other before going even further. It was all in a public place and totally illegal — just like the day in 1998 when George flashed at an undercover cop in a California park toilet.

After the shock of being confronted by us, George stumbled to his flash Mercedes coupe, retrieved his keys from their hiding place on top of the rear wheel and roared off into the night — back to his world of showbiz, celebs and glitz.

Meanwhile his new buddy Kirtland crept from the undergrowth looking sheepish and rushed to his Ford Transit van. As he opened the door a grubby, stained mattress was clearly visible in the back.

We later tracked him to his home 60 miles away—a squalid flat in Brighton, East Sussex.

Looking gross and dishevelled, Kirtland answered the door naked — pulling on grimy shorts as he invited us in.

The contrast with George Michael's opulent, high-roller rock lifestyle was stark.

George, whose family is Greek-Cypriot, has amassed a £70million fortune from sales of records including I Want Your Sex and Careless Whisper. He owns a £5million London town house and a £4million Beverly Hills mansion.

Kirtland's dingy place just off Brighton seafront, was littered with rubbish, dirty crockery and filthy laundry. His only companion is a 20-year-old cat.

He told us: "I don't even like George Michael. And I didn't recognise him immediately.

"He sort of came up and got close. He looked kind of brown so I said to him, ‘You're not totally English, are you?'

"I told him I'd come all the way up from Brighton and he said, ‘What? Isn't Brighton good enough for this sort of thing?'

"I told him it's highly dangerous at 2am. You'd get your throat cut.

"He told me I could contact him on the Gaydar website and we just started kissing.

"He did it very well. That was one of his major points. Then it was fondling and mutual pleasuring. It wasn't full sex but it was fantastic."

Kirtland's confession then took a bizarre twist as he bragged: "There's a secret that I have which no one knows about. It's a personal thing.

"Most people pull away from it. But George actually seemed to respond.

"When we'd finished he said, ‘I've got to go. I've got to go somewhere and chill out.' And that was that.

"OK, I admit I was there for sex. But I'm astonished a man as famous as George should even think about doing it. It's potentially so dangerous."

George's night of shame began just after midnight on Tuesday when he took a short drive from his Highgate house to the Hampstead home of long-term lover Kenny Goss.

Five minutes later he drove to the nearby heath and spent two hours prowling around before hooking up with Kirtland.

When confronted by our team, a shaken George desperately tried to justify his sordid secret quest for cheap, risky thrills, which friends fear is spiralling out of control and threatening his destruction.

In a sweat, the ashen-faced singer declared: "Are you gay? No? Then f*** off! This is my culture!"

Then he claimed: "I'm not doing anything illegal. The police don't even come up here any more.

"I'm a free man, I can do whatever I want. I'm not harming anyone."

But George's worried pals say the former Wham! frontman is the one being harmed.

After the California cottaging scandal, George escaped a six-month jail term but was sentenced to community service plus sex therapy to curb his habits.

It obviously hasn't worked. In February this year he was cautioned by police for possessing cannabis after being found slumped in his car by London's Hyde Park Corner at 1.50am.

Weeks later we snapped him driving erratically and he appeared to fall asleep at traffic lights.

One friend said last night: "We're really concerned. It's long been known he's a heavy cannabis user but we're beginning to fear the pot may have affected his mind. He's lost his judgment. He must seek professional help or things could end very badly for him.

"He's just asking for serious trouble. One day he'll be attacked in one of these dodgy late-night encounters.

"It's so sad to see a talented guy wasting himself like this."

To address whether the negative correlates of nonheterosexuality are explicable in terms of stigma and discrimination, Cameron compared African-Americans with whites to see whether the differences between these two ethnic groups parallel the differences between “homosexuals” and “nonhomosexuals,” but such parallels were found for only some of the variables assessed, whereas the reverse or no ethnic differences were found for some other variables, suggesting that stigma and discrimination do not readily explain the negative correlates of nonheterosexuality. One possible objection here is that the African-American vs. white issue is not the best comparison since nonheterosexual individuals could be more sensitive to stigma and discrimination than African-Americans, perhaps due to their later acquisition of sexual orientation identity compared to the acquisition of ethnic identity by African-Americans and also the fact that unlike African-Americans, nonheterosexual individuals are typically not born into a family environment that is affirming and nurturing [with respect to nonheterosexuality for nonheterosexuals and ethnicity for African-Americans]. However, the latter is speculation, and given the study design, Cameron did the best that he could with the available data.

On the other hand, there is a great deal of evidence that increased psychiatric morbidity among homosexual and bisexual individuals is largely unrelated to stigma, prejudice, discrimination and victimization; some of this evidence is documented here and more can be found in a book. The parsimonious explanation of increased psychiatric morbidity and criminality among homosexual and bisexual individuals is the developmental instability model, diagrammed here.

A brief background leading to this paper is pertinent. Paul Cameron is notorious for publicizing the most unflattering correlates of homosexuality, and he has been doing this for decades. He believes that homosexuality is a chosen lifestyle. As far as Cameron is concerned, since society attempts to diminish drug abuse and prostitution given that these behaviors are accompanied by multiple negative outcomes for the practitioners as well as others, it behooves society to also attempt to diminish the number of people adopting the “homosexual lifestyle.” Therefore, Cameron’s strong interest in extensively documenting the negative correlates of homosexuality can be understood. Data from random and population-based surveys, as in the 1996 NHSDA survey, are a goldmine for Cameron, and Cameron is one of the few academics who will dare to dig up and publicize unflattering data.

On the other hand, Cameron’s beliefs regarding homosexuality need to be separated from the 1996 NHSDA data or else one could buy into the ad hominem that this paper needs to be dismissed given Cameron’s beliefs and attitude toward homosexuality. Of chief interest are the data at hand and their broad consistency across time, place and the work of researchers approaching the issue from diverse perspectives.

The article can be downloaded here (pdf); this is a 3.02 MB file and will take a while to download for users that have a slow internet connection.

References:

1. Cameron, P., Landess, T., and Cameron, K., Homosexual sex as harmful as drug abuse, prostitution, or smoking, Psychol Rep, 96, 915 (2005).
   

A 27-year-old unemployed young man presented with lower abdominal discomfort following injection of a liquid adhesive per rectum 5 hours previously. He injected the viscous liquids into his rectum via a dual-chambered glue gun, resulting in an instantaneous exothermic reaction that caused the mixture to solidify and become fixed internally. He had no previous history of bowel disorder or psychiatric disturbance. The patient admitted he had done this for anal erotic enjoyment. The apparatus was examined carefully, but apart from a company name and a product code number, there was no clue as to what chemical had been present in the dual-chambered gun. A general Internet search using just the company name and the product code number was performed. This led us to an exact photograph of the glue gun and a precise description of the adhesive. The product contained 330 ml of epoxyacrylate resin. The resin was supplied as a dual cartridge, which, in addition contained dibenzoyl peroxide and styrene. Final mixing of the chemicals occurs in the nozzle upon squeezing the applicator gun trigger, discharging both chambers simultaneously. It is meant for use in the building and construction trade as a masonry adhesive.

“On rectal examination, a rock-solid foreign body was both visible and palpable just inside the anal sphincter.  A plain abdominal x-ray showed a radiopaque foreign object following the exact contour of the rectum stretching from the anal canal to the rectosigmoid junction,” a distance of 16 cm.  See the X-ray below.

Fig 1. X-ray showing the hardened resin.

The surgeons tried to remove the hardened resin by using an oily enema and their fingers, but it had molded itself so well to the contours of the rectum that there was no option other than to go for a laparotomy (a surgical incision into the abdominal cavity).  “With gentle manipulation of the rectosigmoid junction, it was possible to deliver the rock-hard material through the anus along with copious mucus discharge and a small amount of blood.”  Fortunately, the rectal wall was intact, though inflamed and swollen.  “Bearing in mind the possibility of full thickness “burn” of the rectal wall and potential risk of later perforation, a loop sigmoid colostomy was raised in the left iliac fossa and the abdomen was closed.”

A loop sigmoid colostomy is a colostomy at the S-shaped part of the colon, and involves bringing a loop of bowel through an incision in the abdominal wall, utilizing a plastic rod to hold the loop in place, and then making an incision into the bowel to allow the passage of stool through the loop colostomy.  The patient had to live like this for a few weeks till tests revealed that his rectum was fine, allowing the surgeons to put back the extracted portion of the bowel and close the abdominal opening.

The photo of the extracted object is shown below.

Fig 2. The hardened resin removed from the rectum; 16 cm and 300 g. 

The surgeons offered psychiatric counseling to the patient, but as one would guess, the patient declined. 

References:

1. Hemandas, A. K., Muller, G. W., and Ahmed, I., Rectal impaction with epoxy resin: a case report, J Gastrointest Surg, 9, 747 (2005).

• Firstly, it has been shown that male homosexual/bisexual pedophiles are also more likely to have older brothers than male heterosexual pedophiles.  Therefore, it appears that some developmental events are common to male sexual interest in adult men and male sexual interest in pre-pubescent boys, i.e., unlike some who would insist that pedophilia and homosexuality are completely unrelated, the evidence speaks otherwise.
• In general samples of rapists, men who are sexually aroused by violence(2, 3) as well as sex-offending men(4) are more likely to have older brothers than controls.
• Men with mental retardation(5-7) and boys who wish to be girls(8) are also more likely than men with normal IQs and men comfortable with being male, respectively, to have older brothers. 
• Men with older brothers manifest elevated fluctuating asymmetry, and the number of older sisters, younger sisters, and younger brothers is not related to fluctuating asymmetry.(9)  Fluctuating asymmetry is the random component of asymmetry, and its elevation implies disturbed development. 

In summary, it appears that the factors behind gays being more likely to have older brothers than straight men, termed the high fraternal birth order effect, a well-replicated find, are associated with abnormal development.  The question is whether these factors are psychosocial, biological or a combination of these variables?

The new study by Anthony Bogaert shows that the high fraternal birth order effect is shown for older biological brothers but not older adopted brothers, even if the older biological brothers are raised separately, and the find is unrelated to time spent with older brothers,(1) which adds to prior evidence that the relevant factors are of a biological nature related to prenatal development.  Since women with first-born children tend to be younger than women with multiple births, studies documenting the high fraternal birth order effect have generally shown an older maternal age when male homosexuals were born, but this is an artifact of women with multiple births being more likely to be older since in this new study the sampling resulted in the mothers of homosexual men being younger than the mothers of heterosexual men. 

Previously published evidence suggesting that the high fraternal birth order effect is accounted for by biological factors is summarized below.

• In an examination of the effect of older siblings on the behavior of 3-year-old children, having an older brother was associated with more masculine and less feminine behavior in both boys and girls, whereas having an older sister was associated with more feminine but not less masculine behavior among boys, and less masculine but not more feminine behavior among girls.(10)
• In a comparison between 686 homosexual men and 337 heterosexual men, no interaction between sex-typing (childhood sex-typical/sex-atypical behavior) and having older brothers was found.(11)
• The high fraternal birth order effect on male homosexuality cannot be explained in terms of sexual interaction with older brothers.(12, 13)
• In an examination of the middle-aged male siblings of homosexual and heterosexual men, never-married men were more likely to be the brothers of the homosexuals, and these men also had more older brothers, on average; i.e., a disproportionate number of the brothers of homosexual men were likely homosexual, too.(14)  Family membership and the high fraternal birth order effect represented separate influences on male homosexuality in this sample.(14)     
• In two probability samples, high fraternal birth order increased the odds of same-sex attraction independent of sexual behavior, including early homosexual behaviors.(15)
• In a sample of heterosexual and homosexual men closely matched on demographics, men most likely to be homosexual were individuals with more older brothers and shorter height. (16)
• Boys with older brothers weigh less at birth than boys with older sisters.(17-19)  In a sample of 3,229 adults who weighed at least 2,500 gm at birth, male homosexuals with older brothers weighed 170 gm less at birth than male heterosexuals with older brothers.(17)  In a comparison of 250 feminine boys referred to a child psychiatry service for extremely feminine behavior and 739 control boys referred to the same service for reasons unrelated to homosexuality or sex-atypical behavior, the feminine boys with 2 or more older brothers weighed 385 gm less at birth than control boys with 2 or more older brothers.(18)  The reported differences are statistically significant.

Therefore, what are the biological factors behind the high fraternal birth order effect?  The best argument in this regard has been proposed by Blanchard and Klassen, namely that women become progressively immunized to antigens produced by male fetuses, and then launch an antibody response when they encounter subsequent male pregnancies, which disturbs the development of the male fetus, thereby increasing the likelihood of a nonheterosexual outcome (as well as other abnormal outcomes).(20, 21)  In his new paper, Bogaert noted that “A mother’s body may have a memory for male (but not female) fetuses because she herself is female, and thus, her immune system may interpret and remember male (but not female) fetuses as foreign.”(1)  This is incorrect.  Female fetuses are not clones of the women they are growing in and produce plenty of antigens that are alien to the mother’s body.     

Maternal immune response as the biological factor behind the high fraternal birth order effect has not been proven, and one problem with this notion is that a number of studies have correlated male homosexuality with high birth order in general.  In my book, whereas I did cite some studies showing both high birth order and high fraternal birth order as correlates of male homosexuality, I went along with the argument that what matters is older brothers, not older sisters since the older brother factor is well-replicated but only some studies have shown that older sisters are relevant also (e.g., a study by King et al. (2005) that was published after my book was released), but this conclusion may need to be revised.  It appears that male homosexuals tend to be later born, especially with respect to sons, but the fraternal birth order effect is more powerful, and a number of studies have not had enough of a sample size to show that older sisters are relevant, too.     

Therefore, one possible account of the biological factors leading to male homosexuals being later born, especially with respect to sons, is that childbirth being physically taxing for women, multiple births may wear down the bodies of women such that they offer a more hostile prenatal environment for subsequent fetuses, increasing the odds of developmentally disturbing the fetus, and this is especially true for male births since it is well-known that male pregnancies have worse health effects on women than female pregnancies.  If part of the greater risk associated with male fetuses is accounted for by the higher output of testosterone of the feto-placental unit, then the high fraternal birth order correlate of male homosexuality will tie in with other correlates of homosexuality, documented elsewhere, that non-intuitively suggest excess prenatal exposure of testosterone to be a correlate of male homosexuality.

It should be noted that the birth order effect for male homosexuals at best accounts for a fourth of male homosexual outcomes.(22)  Therefore, any criticism of this correlate in terms of the argument that there are plenty of gays who are first-born is unfounded.  Besides, it could very well be that gays who are first-born were preceded by one or more fetuses that miscarried or were aborted.  Another issue is that the male children born to a woman after she produces several boys, the youngest of whom is a homosexual, are not necessarily homosexual,(23) but then the factors involved increase the odds of a homosexual outcome rather than guarantee one.  Each male birth appears to increase the odds of a homosexual outcome in subsequent sons by about 38%.(15)  Therefore, if the probability of a first-born son being gay is 2%, then this probability for a second-born son is 2.76%, for a third-born son is 3.81%, for a fourth-born son is 5.26%, and so on.  In other words, most women that have given birth to multiple male children will not have any child that grows up gay.

It will be interesting to see how this line of research develops further.  

References           

1. Bogaert, A. F., From the Cover: Biological versus nonbiological older brothers and men's sexual orientation, Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A, 103, 10771 (2006).
2. Côté, K., Earls, C. M., and Lalumière, M. L., Birth order, birth interval, and deviant sexual preferences among sex offenders, Sex Abuse, 14, 67 (2002).
3. Lalumière, M. L., Harris, G. T., Quinsey, V. L., and Rice, M. E., Sexual deviance and number of older brothers among sexual offenders, Sex Abuse, 10, 5 (1998).
4. MacCulloch, S. I., Gray, N. S., Phillips, H. K., Taylor, J., and MacCulloch, M. J., Birth order in sex-offending and aggressive-offending men, Arch Sex Behav, 33, 467 (2004).
5. Ackerman, P. T., Goolsby, C. M., and Paal, N. P., A test of the immunoreactive theory of selective male affliction, J Pediatr Psychol, 13, 49 (1988).
6. Lord, C., Birth order effects on nonverbal IQ in families with multiple incidence of autism or pervasive developmental disorder, J Autism Dev Disord, 22, 663 (1992).
7. Flannery, K. A., and Liederman, J., A test of the immunoreactive theory of the origin of neurodevelopmental disorders: Is there an antecedent brother effect?, Dev Neuropsychol, 10, 481 (1994).
8. Zucker, K. J., Green, R., Coates, S., Zuger, B., Cohen-Kettenis, P. T., Zecca, G. M., Lertora, V., Money, J., Hahn-Burke, S., Bradley, S. J., and Blanchard, R., Sibling sex ratio of boys with gender identity disorder, J Child Psychol Psychiatry, 38, 543 (1997).
9. Lalumiere, M. L., Harris, G. T., and Rice, M. E., Birth order and fluctuating asymmetry: a first look, Proc R Soc Lond B Biol Sci, 266, 2351 (1999).
10. Rust, J., Golombok, S., Hines, M., Johnston, K., and Golding, J., The role of brothers and sisters in the gender development of preschool children, J Exp Child Psychol, 77, 292 (2000).
11. Bogaert, A. F., Interaction of older brothers and sex-typing in the prediction of sexual orientation in men, Arch Sex Behav, 32, 129 (2003).
12. Blanchard, R., Birth order and sibling sex ratio in homosexual versus heterosexual males and females., Ann Rev Sex Res, 8, 27 (1997).
13. Dawood, K., Pillard, R. C., Horvath, C., Revelle, W., and Bailey, J. M., Familial aspects of male homosexuality, Arch Sex Behav, 29, 155 (2000).
14. Blanchard, R., and Bogaert, A. F., Additive effects of older brothers and homosexual brothers in the prediction of marriage and cohabitation, Behav Genet, 27, 45 (1997).
15. Bogaert, A. F., Number of older brothers and sexual orientation: new tests and the attraction/behavior distinction in two national probability samples, J Pers Soc Psychol, 84, 644 (2003).
16. Bogaert, A. F., The interaction of fraternal birth order and body size in male sexual orientation, Behav Neurosci, 117, 381 (2003).
17. Blanchard, R., and Ellis, L., Birth weight, sexual orientation and the sex of preceding siblings, J Biosoc Sci, 33, 451 (2001).
18. Blanchard, R., Zucker, K. J., Cavacas, A., Allin, S., Bradley, S. J., and Schachter, D. C., Fraternal birth order and birth weight in probably prehomosexual feminine boys, Horm Behav, 41, 321 (2002).
19. Cote, K., Blanchard, R., and Lalumiere, M. L., The influence of birth order on birth weight: does the sex of preceding siblings matter?, J Biosoc Sci, 35, 455 (2003).
20. Blanchard, R., Quantitative and theoretical analyses of the relation between older brothers and homosexuality in men, J Theor Biol, 230, 173 (2004).
21. Blanchard, R., and Klassen, P., H-Y antigen and homosexuality in men, J Theor Biol, 185, 373 (1997).
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