Priest told to stop handing out anti-gay sex pamphlets

PITTSBURGH — A Roman Catholic diocese in western Pennsylvania has ordered a priest to stop distributing an anti-gay sex pamphlet that it says "borders on the pornographic."

The Rev. John Nesbella, who works at the Prince of Peace parish in Northern Cambria in the Altoona-Johnstown Diocese, said Wednesday he has stopped distributing "Medical Consequences of What Homosexuals Do."

But Nesbella says the seven-page document supports the church’s stance against same-sex marriage by detailing claims about the negative medical consequences of gay sex acts.

The pamphlet is authored by Paul Cameron, a sociologist who chairs the Family Research Institute in Colorado Springs, Colo. It graphically describes various gay sex acts and refers to Cameron’s own research, newspaper articles, medical journals and government statistics.

Cameron concludes, "Homosexuals are sexually troubled people engaging in dangerous activities."

Sister Mary Parks, a spokeswoman for the diocese that covers west-central Pennsylvania, said the pamphlet "borders on the pornographic."

"The bishop (Joseph Adamec) was concerned that the explicit nature of the material might lead us to become part of the problem rather than part of the solution," she said.

Cameron’s work has been criticized by gay rights activists and scientists. Gregory Herek, a professor and expert on hate crimes and sexual prejudice at the University of California, Davis, said Cameron twists or misunderstands others’ research and uses poor methods to do his own surveys.

Cameron said he was stunned by the diocese’s actions. "The language (in the pamphlet) is all clinical. It’s more stridently written, to be sure," he said. "It is, after all, an informational or propaganda piece written for an intelligent reader."

Nesbella, 41, gave out the pamphlet with materials urging Catholics to write letters to lawmakers supporting a constitutional amendment on marriage — defining it as a union between one man and one woman only.

"I just believe that the medical consequences of homosexuality are so serious and horrific that somebody has to say something about it," he said.