Another anti-gay religious leader has been caught with his pants down, so to speak.
Joel W. Hochmuth, 52, was sentenced yesterday to one year in jail with work release privileges and 10 years probation for the possession of child pornography. The sentence was handed down in Waukesha County (Wisconsin) Circuit Court by Judge Kathryn Foster, who declined to send Hochmuth to prison but, according to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, warned him that if he showed even the slightest sign of relapsing, his entire “25-year prison sentence will be staring [him] in the face.”
The FBI Cyber Crimes Task Force discovered several hundred photographs of boys engaged in sexual acts with other boys and men on Hochmuth’s home computer; they also found 310 photos and 38 videos on a flash drive in his Wauwatosa office. At the time of his arrest, Hochmuth was the communications director for the Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod, a conservative, virulently anti-gay branch of Lutheranism that, with 389,364 members in the United States, is the country’s third largest Lutheran denomination.
The Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod (WELS) teaches that homosexuality “excludes people from eternal life,” calls it one of “Satan’s cunning, deceitful lies,” an “unholy lifestyle,” and a chosen practice, and explicitly condemns gay rights activists for their “efforts. . . to condone their homosexuality and to deny that anything is wrong with it.” Among its most famous members are Marcus and Michele Bachmann, whose Christian counseling clinic I busted for offering so-called “ex-gay therapy” in a TWO hidden-camera investigation last year — they belonged to a WELS Lutheran church in eastern Minnesota for over a decade. According to Hochmuth himself, the Bachmanns were members of Salem Lutheran Church in Stillwater, Minnesota until just six days before the congresswoman formally launched her presidential bid.
Hochmuth, who was fired by WELS last November when the child pornography charges were officially filed, tearfully apologized to his wife, son, and church before yesterday’s sentencing. The Journal Sentinel article notes that he is currently on a self-initiated treatment plan that he began after his arrest. Here’s hoping it’s a plan that has a basis in sound scientific research rather than religion-based bigotry — unlike the “reparative therapy” treatment preferred by Marcus and Michele Bachmann — because as we all know, trying to plead away pedophilia is just as fruitless as attempting to pray away the gay.
No prison time — why????
Quelle surprise !
Screaming the loudest all too often means hiding the most. I don’t understand how anyone finds victimizing children sexually a form of gratification. This kind of thing just makes me more and more suspicious of what motivates the most hateful in their speech and actions toward the LGBT community. Light scatters the darkness. LGBT people have left darkness and hiding and we are able to lead lives of health and wholeness. I’m wondering if those who wish we were all back in the dark of a closet aren’t hiding in their own and hoping the darkness can conceal them for a little bit longer.
I will reiterate here, which is impossible to do on anti gay conservative websites is that rape or interest in WITNESSING it, is not because of sexual attraction, but attraction to humiliating and controlling someone more vulnerable.
Same sex rape, by males on another male presumed to be weak, is that of heterosexual males asserting their power.
They are emboldened,entitled and endorsed by faith communities to humiliate and assault males who identify as males.
Let’s note especially how FEMALE victims of child porn, sex trafficking and incest are virtually forgotten in the conversation on child rape and abuse.
Op sex sex abuse doesn’t get nearly the education or outrage it deserves because of the het male obsession with gay males.
Gender and orientation bias in sex crimes, is so wrong and insane, it’s no wonder such assault continues with a lot less solved or prevented.
This man is NOT a gay male sexually frustrated and restrained by his faith community.
Just the opposite.
He’s a STRAIGHT male enticed by harming weaker males, who, inevitably are or are perceived as gay (feminized).
A person experienced in law enforcement, or sex crimes or a sex counseling professional can crack the incredibly firm bias of the anti gay when it comes to sex crimes of any kind. But especially on a child.
The pernicious and persistent indictment of gay men as pedophiles flies RIGHT in the face of reality, truth and facts.
Apparently those things are anathema to those invested in pointing fingers, at the detriment of the safety of the young of both genders.
OOPS!
Typo: I meant to say men are emboldened, endorsed and entitled by their faith communities to humiliate and assault males who identify as gay.
Oh and, you won’t find this story being repeated over and over again on conservative blogs and on sites like WND or TownHall.
But they’ll name an ANECDOTAL incident of a gay couple assaulting a child, and repeat it over and over again, as if a trend, instead of an extremely rare event.
Completely ignoring the other assaults on children.
Case in point: the deans of Regent Univ. which Pat Robertson owns.
BOTH husband AND wife were recently convicted of severely sexually assaulting their THREE adopted daughters.
But a single incident in NC of a gay couple doing so to their ONE child, also adopted, well Mike Adams, a regular contributor repeated that tragedy over and over and over again.
But because the Regent U issue was of staunch Christians harming even more children, it didn’t a mention at all.
No matter how many times I’ve tried to say, this matter is ignoring ALL children and who actually does victimize them more, the anti gay don’t want to hear it.
So self righteous are these people they have NO idea how they are NO help at all.
Indeed, when it comes to such bias, they are a detriment to the safety of ANYONE, let alone children.
Because they set up gay men to be assaulted. Compounding even more crimes on the innocent.
This is the same Judge who wants to give my Grandson 60 years in Prison! Read this Petition and you will understand more.
http://www.change.org/petitions/asperger-s-syndrome?utm_medium=facebook&utm_source=share_petition&utm_term=autopublish
S. Respondent, you just couldn’t resist trying to make that connection could you. No unbiased non-bigoted person would have seen such an association in what John wrote, but no surprise that you wanted to.
Because he’s a Christian he’ll get off practically scot-free, when such filth should be locked away for the rest of his days for engaging in such a crime as child pornography.
You can’t pray the pedophile away either. Why is this article tying pedophilia with being gay? Pedophilia is a power-trip not a sexual orientation.
Eh, to be fair, that’s kinda what it says. I didn’t read it that way until I looked back after reading SR’s comment, though.
It looks like you’re cutting back to the original though, which means you should be able to set that aside and still read it.
So that would make it:
“Here’s hoping it’s a plan that has a basis in sound scientific research… because as we all know, you can’t pray away the gay.”
Swap out that last “—” for a comma, and that’s probably more what was intended.
Pat the wording as is in no way suggests he is gay because he had child pornography. Just because you think a re-write of those lines could be read that way doesn’t change this fact.
The FBI Cyber Crimes Task Force discovered several hundred photographs of boys engaged in sexual acts with other boys and men on Hochmuth’s home computer; they also found 310 photos and 38 videos on a flash drive in his Wauwatosa office. He wasn’t watching women and men, he was watching BOYS AND MEN. Gay to me Priya. Why else would he be watching this? He may have already acted on his impulse but we don’t know that. HE ALSO COULD BE A PEDAFILE. Now there is a major sin many of us would be angry with. He’s lucky he doesn’t have jail time, cause he probably would have been abused and beaten.
Mary Martha…This b***h isn’t gay, he’s a pedophile. Big difference. Homosexuality is defined as a desire for same sex companionship. Companionship IMPLIES consent. Pedophilia does not. The b***h did act on his impulse. He downloaded child porn from someone, which means he made connections and actively looked for it. The stuff is illegal and not easily found. He stored said porn in multiple locations. That means he felt fairly secure in owning it.
You’re being as stupid as the dumb judge who thinks pedophiles “recover.” There is no relapse because there is no recovery. Try reading about the subject before responding.
It is a fact that most pedophiles are heterosexual. That really is not the issue. We must avoid getting bogged down with symantics here. The issue is the abuse and victimization of children. It does not matter whether Mr. Hochmuth is gay, straight, bisexual or whatever. What does matter is that people who proffess a particular belief need to be more aware of their own “skeletons in the closet” before they start speaking out on issues. This goes for all sides of any issue. I am appalled by the total lack of thoughtfulness in some of the comments in this string. My church advocates for LGBTQ issues and supports same-sex marriage. We have become a society of immature children reveling in the downfall of people who disagree with our own points of view. I feel that as flawed human beings we feel a need to point out the failings of others simply to “cover up” our own faults. I challenge you all to try what I do. Pray for those who persecute you, pray for understanding between all people, pray that one day we can embrace each other as bothers and sisters in Christ even if we disagree. Do not rejoice in the down fall of others, but be sad that society has lost its way and become so divided. We need to channel our energies into restoring unity among God’s people;whether we agree with each other our not. Pray for understanding, pray for Mr. Hochmuth, that he may learn to be more tolerant, pray for yourselves that you to be truly tolerant. Yes, speack out against injustice, but do not lose sight of what is important, We are ALL children of God, whether we see “eye to eye” on all things or not.
Mary Martha: You are definite in the fact that he is gay but state that it’s a possibility that he’s a PEDOPHILE. Are you serious? It is DEFINITE he is a pedophile. DEFINITE. Being gay has nothing to do with it. Many self identified “straight” men get off on male on male pedophilia as often times it has nothing to do with the gender of the child. It is usually power, control, perversity and the rape of innocence they get off on. NOT GENDER. I’m not saying there are not homosexual pedophiles just as there are heterosexual pedophiles, but it is not exclusive to orientation.
As far as using Bachman/WELS as a sidenote, it’s merely to give an example of hypocrisy within a church/organization who “persecutes” a particular group as being “perverts”. It’s not a shocker to see these churches and organizations are filled with ACTUAL perverts. It’s come to be expected anytime some gay-hating conservative white man protests too much, his closet will be discovered full of child porn or rent boys. Just look at Marcus Bachman. I’m sure it won’t be long until he’s found tapping his foot in an airport bathroom or something similar. Countdown…..
Figures it would be the Wisconsin Synod too; the most rabidly anti-gay Lutheran Synod in the world. Fascinating how these pervs always seem to show up in religious groups that condemn LGBTs the loudest? The ELCA (Evangelical Lutheran Church in America), in which I was raised and which has been the most liberal Synod going back as far as the Sixties, last year declared itself open and affirming of LGBTs including performing same-sex marriages and ordaining LGBT clergy. And though it only became official last year, most ELCA churches have been quietly accepting their LGBT members for many years.
@Al Campos: I just signed the petition.
You might want to delete comment #6 as readers might pick up that you edited the original post.
Survey, no, I don’t think it should be deleted because people need to see who you are. Hochmuth obviously has a same sex attraction based on the fact the child pornography was all male. He is a pedophile because these pictures were of children. They are mutually exclusive. We might just as easily say “are you asserting this man is Lutheran because he possessed child pornography.”
[...] — According to Truth Wins Out, a watchdog group specializing in anti-gay advocates, Joel W. Hochmuth, was sentenced to one year [...]
All he got was a year? needs the twenty five years.plus…
This is the same Judge who gave my Grandson with Asperger’s Syndrome jail time for actions that took place when he was 12! Life time Felon and sex offender, sex offender classes with real sex offenders! Six years probation with a cloud hanging over his head for ever. Compared to this clown with 648 items of porn found in his home, on his computer and on a flash drive??? Plus this guy asked for Waukesha County over Milwaukee County even though Milwaukee County is where he lives!! Read and sign my Grandson’s Petition PLEASE. We need your help.
http://www.change.org/petitions/asperger-s-syndrome?utm_medium=facebook&utm_source=share_petition&utm_term=autopublish
[...] a 16-year-old son. Story: Kennesaw University, November 18, 2011; Journal Sentinel, June 4, 2012; Truth Wins Out, June 5, 2012. See also: Presenter Bio, Walk This Way, May 18-21, 2009; State of Wisconsin v. Joel [...]
[...] Wisconsin Synod Lutheran (WELS) Church is the same denomination that Michele and Marcus Bachmann belonged to for more than a [...]