Polish church says it’s wrong to ask if abuse victim is gay

By VANESSA GERA
Associated Press

WARSAW, Poland (AP) — Poland’s Catholic bishops have strongly criticized a local diocese for asking a court to determine whether a man who was sexually abused as a child by a priest is gay, and whether the sexual contact may have consequently been pleasurable for him. The man, Janusz Szymik, who is now 48, was an altar boy when the abuse began in the 1980s. An official with the Polish bishops’ conference responsible for the protection of children, strong criticized that line of questioning. He said children are never responsible for the violence they suffered and that sexual orientation irrelevant in abuse cases.