February 17, 2011
Column #1,538
Why Oppose “Gay Marriage?”
By Mike McManus
Legislation to redefine marriage could get a vote in the
Maryland Senate next week, which would change the definition of marriage
from a man and a woman to “any two persons.” It has a good chance of
passage and the governor has said he would sign the bill. Similar
legislation is pending in Rhode Island, which could make these states the
sixth and seventh states to allow same-sex marriage, after MA, CT, IA, NH,
VT (and Washington DC.)
Legislation is also pending in Hawaii which would legalize gay civil
unions and extend all benefits of marriage to same-sex couples. Colorado and
Delaware may pass similar bills.
By contrast, the Indiana Senate is considering a bill to protect
the definition of marriage being between one man and one woman in the
Indiana Constitution. Wyoming, North Carolina, Pennsylvania and New
Hampshire also plan to introduce marriage-protection amendments.
What’s wrong with same-sex marriage?
Maggie Gallagher, Chairman of the National Organization for
Marriage, testified in Maryland: “Marriage is the union of husband and wife
for a reason: these are the only unions that can make new life and connect
children in love to their mom and dad.”
She said the same-sex
bill “doesn’t just add more people to marriage. It changes marriage. As so
many pro-gay marriage voices testified at this very hearing, gay marriage is
grounded in the belief that this view of marriage is like objections to
interracial marriage – something that should be discarded in law, culture
and society. If Maryland adopts this radical new view of marriage, it will
have consequences.”
What are those
consequences?
First, traditional
marriage will be undermined morally. It is based on the principle of
exclusivity, that one is to be faithful to one’s spouse for life. Of course
adultery exists, but one study reports 80% of men and 86% of women have been
faithful to their spouses for life.
By contrast, a 1978
study found that 75% of white, gay males claim to have had more than100 male
sex partners. In fact 15% claimed over 500 partners and 28% said they have
had more than 1,000!
Is this an atmosphere
in which children should be raised? I think not. The media portrays gay
marriages with children as normal. They are not.
Second, gay sex is
physically harmful. “The medical consequences of gay promiscuity is that
gays have a greatly increased likelihood of contracting HIV/AIDS, syphilis
and other STDs,” writes Dr. John Diggs Jr. in “The Health Risks of Gay Sex,”
published by the Corporate Resource Council.
One study estimated a
20-year-old gay male has a 50% chance of becoming HIV positive by age 55. Gay men contract syphilis at 3-4 times the rate of heterosexuals. A Seattle
study found that 85% of syphilis cases were among homosexuals.
Why? Anal sex is the
sine quo non of sex for gay men. “Yet human physiology makes it clear that
the body was not designed to accommodate this activity. The rectum is
significantly different from the vagina with regard to suitability for
penetration by a penis. The vagina has natural lubricants,” writes Dr.
Diggs. The potential for injury in anal sex is exacerbated by the fact that
the intestine has only a single layer of cells separating it from highly
vascular tissue, that is blood.”
There are also high
rates of psychiatric illnesses including depression, drug abuse and suicide
attempts among gays and lesbians.
The bottom line is
that the life span of gay and bisexual men is 20 years less than
heterosexuals, according to the only epidemiological study to date.
Therefore, it is
inhumane to pass same-sex marriage laws and civil unions that will induce
more people into this lifestyle. It will condemn hundreds of thousands to
disease, mental illness and early death.
Some argue that gay
marriage would reduce promiscuity, but two-thirds of gay couples report sex
outside the relationship within their first year, and 90% if it lasted five
years. In fact, only 15% of gay men and 17% of lesbians had relationships
that lasted more than three years, according to Dr. Diggs.
Nor are gays
particularly interested in marrying. After five years, there have been only
5,000 “gay marriages” in Massachusetts. If 3% of the state’s 3.3 million
males are gay, there are 99,000 gay men in the state. Only a tenth have
“married.”
It is time to say
that “gay marriage” is a fraud and extremely harmful.
States that have
passed gay marriage laws should rescind them. At the least, they should be
submitted to a referendum.
It has been voted
down in all 31 states that have given people a voice, even liberal
California.
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