Cindy Abel: Jerry Sandusky Cover-Up: How the 'Gay Factor' May Have Played a Role

What if Mike McQueary had walked into the locker room and seen Jerry Sandusky raping a 10-year-old girl?

What if the investigators were listening to a mom confronting Sandusky about showering with her daughter? Would the Campus Police and County DA have dropped the case?

It's doubtful. Someone, somewhere, would have called him out. The difference? The additional shame factor: homosexuality. The allegations aren't that he was just abusing kids; the allegations are that he was abusing boys.

McQueary, Paterno and all the others were probably speechless due to both counts: not only would a school legend be known as a child rapist, but he would likely be perceived as gay.

Consider documented homophobia at Penn State. In 1986, women's basketball coach Rene Portland bragged to the Chicago Sun-Times about her policy of "No drugs. No alcohol. No lesbians." Responding to protests, then-Athletic-Director Joe Paterno defended her as one of the best hiring decisions he'd made.

After 1992, when the university added sexual orientation to their non-discrimination policy, she covertly continued her anti-lesbian practices for another 13 years. These led to her and Penn State being sued for discrimination in 2005 based on perceived sexual orientation. The university fought back, claiming their non-discrimination policy was not a legal document and eventually settled.

If that was the atmosphere for women's basketball, imagine what it was like for the macho, money-machine of the legendary football team!

Even today, students seem to think Portland's policies still resonate. Number 6 on the FAQ list on the Penn State's LGBTQA website is, "What do I do if I'm an athlete who is LGBT? Who can I talk to?" See the answers here. They're not exactly reassuring.

In this type of environment, where everyone knows policy is one thing and practice is another, perhaps Penn State was paralyzed not only by the alleged rapes, but by the fear of having a gay coach. This additional factor slowed down and skewed the response. When Coach is King, things get handled internally by the team, not reported to outside authorities who might reveal the Lions' shame.

After all, in the eyes of a homophobic culture, a gay pedophile is much worse than a straight one.

This tradition of tackling shame with silence impacted the victims, as well, who also slowed down and skewed their reporting. No doubt they wondered if a man being attracted to them meant they were gay -- something they knew was incompatible with Penn State football. So they, too, kept quiet.

Would it have been different if the child being raped was a girl? Yes. Because there would have been only one shame factor: having a pedophile on the payroll.

Fear of the gay factor, in a very twisted way, probably protected Jerry Sandusky. It silenced his witnesses, betrayed his victims, and prevented justice from being served.

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Follow Cindy Abel on Twitter: www.twitter.com/breakingthrumov

Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/cindy-abel/jerry-sandusky-cover-up-gay_b_1097336.html

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