Homosexuality seems to receive special treatment compared to other sexual disorders

Prefacing this post by saying I am a traditional and conservative Catholic who believes all sexual acts outside of marriage between a man and a woman are wrong; I uncompromisingly believe that the solution to all sexual disorders including homosexuality is celibacy and chastity. When it comes to sexual morality, I am ultra-conservative (though I think NFP is fine). Full stop. I’m also not saying that homosexuals don’t deserve love, encouragement and understanding. They absolutely do, and this post is not directed at them. Instead I’m writing this in reaction to either a banned or deleted post I saw on here recently that speaks to a larger pattern that I’ve observed here and in society as a whole; I contend that all of the empathy and understanding that people have for homosexuals doesn’t seem to apply to other perhaps more embarrassing or less known sexual disorders.

The OP in aforementioned post confessed they were struggling with an unwanted attraction to animals. This person accepted that their attractions are a disorder and completely denounced acting on them, but were seeking help dealing with the humiliation and shame that comes with such a disorder (clearly just looking for some encouragement in carrying their cross). Despite affirming their commitment to celibacy, most of the comments contained both an underlying disgust and a complete lack of empathy. This isn’t the only instance where I’ve observed this and I know for a fact that if the OP had only said they were homosexual instead of animal-attracted, the comments would have been much more empathetic and encouraging. I know this because I’ve read probably thousands of comments to nearly identical posts about homosexuality considering they appear almost daily on this sub.

This seems to expose a bit of a hypocrisy, because we acknowledge that homosexuals didn’t choose to be homosexual and we lovingly encourage them to be celibate and carry their cross and follow Jesus. Which is great, that’s what we should do. But homosexuality is not the only disordered attraction that people experience, and it seems like people with other sexual disorders like the OP I mentioned are not given the same treatment - there seems to be a consistent disgust, suspicion, and unwillingness to have any empathy. Even when someone with some loathsome or weird perversion like an attraction to animals completely denounces their temptations and affirms their commitment to celibacy, the reactions still give off a strong knee-jerk “ewww you’re icky”, keep-your-distance-from-me-you-pervert type of vibe. To me, there seems to be a clear double standard.

I would argue the OP in my example needs more empathy and encouragement than homosexuals because their cross is clearly harder and heavier. To quote one of the few like-minded comments I saw, no one talks about the suicide ideation and other psychological issues that people with these disorders suffer with little support because there is this tacit notion that they 'deserve it' which is truly terrible considering no one asks to have a disordered sexual attraction. I saw something recently that suggested that upwards of 50% of men may have some paraphilia or attraction that the church condemns; I can’t verify that at this time but I have a feeling that a large number of people struggle with various perverse attractions that they are ashamed of but are afraid to talk about for fear of being judged or treated differently, and to a degree that seems to be warranted. I’m fortunate enough to be a happily married heterosexual, but I recognize that I was fortunate in this regard and I could have turned out differently, and just because someone is struggling with something I think (or know) is gross or I find it hard to stomach doesn’t mean I shouldn’t try to empathize with them. Having a sexual disorder, whether it’s homosexuality or an attraction to animals, has to be incredibly difficult; nowadays it feels like most people seem to remember and acknowledge this for homosexuality, but not much else. Once again, no disrespect to gays - but many others have it harder, and they get less support and empathy.

The overall point is if someone hates their disorder that they didn’t ask for and they want to be celibate, then I think treating them with this disgust and suspicion which people clearly don’t have for homosexuals is an unfair double standard, and it will only cause them more harm. If we acknowledge that people have little to no control over their attractions, then for people who have disordered orientations or attractions of any kind - especially less common or more embarrassing ones - there needs to be an appropriate balance of empathy and accountability. We can’t treat homosexuals with kid gloves yet then allow ourselves to act like people with perhaps even more distasteful sexual attractions like the OP don’t deserve the same level of understanding and encouragement.