Posted on 05/15/2003 12:16:22 PM PDT by Remedy
But Americans are evenly divided on issue of legal civil unions between homosexuals giving them the legal rights of married couples
PRINCETON, NJ -- Attitudes toward homosexuality and homosexual relations continue to be one of the more complex areas of public opinion that Gallup measures. The issue is not only one of significant concern because of its traditional moral and religious overtones, but in recent years it has been at the center of state and federal legislative battles, highly publicized court challenges, and political debate.
Gallup's recent Values and Beliefs survey shows that a majority of Americans accept the idea that homosexual relations between consenting adults should be legal and that homosexuality is an acceptable way of life. The acceptance of homosexuality as legal is now at the 60% level, up from 52% last year and 43% when Gallup first began asking about it in 1977. The recent survey also finds that almost 9 out of 10 Americans agree that homosexuals should have equal rights in terms of job opportunities, although opinions on allowing homosexual couples to legally form civil unions, giving them some of the legal rights of married couples, are evenly divided.
A plurality of Americans believe that homosexuality is something that is a result of one's upbringing or environment, rather than being a genetic trait with which a person is born, although opinion on this has been somewhat inconsistent over time. Should Homosexuality Be Legal?
Gallup first asked about the legality of homosexuality in 1977, with a basic question worded as follows: "Do you think homosexual relations between consenting adults should or should not be legal?" At that point, Americans were evenly divided on the issue, as 43% said yes, 43% said no, and 14% were not sure. In Gallup's recent Values and Beliefs poll, conducted May 5-7, the public has clearly become more moderate toward homosexuality than was the case two decades earlier: 60% of Americans now say that homosexual relations should be legal, 35% not legal, with 5% unsure. During the mid-1980s, the percentage saying that homosexual relations should be legal dropped to as low as 32%, perhaps resulting from either the conservative environment ushered in by the Reagan administration, or the beginning of widespread publicity surrounding AIDS and its prevalence in the homosexual community. Equal Job Opportunities
Over the same time period, there has also been significant change in attitudes about employment rights for homosexuals. The specific Gallup question asks: "As you may know, there has been considerable discussion in the news regarding the rights of homosexual men and women. In general, do you think homosexuals should or should not have equal rights in terms of job opportunities?" The percentage saying yes is now 88%, similar to recent years, but significantly higher than the 56% when first recorded in 1977. As recently as 1992, fewer than four in five Americans felt homosexuals should be given equal treatment in hiring.
Thus, there is a gap between the 60% of the public saying that homosexual relations should be legal, and the 88% saying that homosexuals should have equal rights in the workplace. These two questions may play to different norms that exist in contemporary America. The legality question may tap into a general sense of morality, and a reluctance of a more conservative segment of society to sanction what they consider to be deviant behavior. The question about equal opportunity, on the other hand, may invoke the public's attitudes about discrimination, fair play, and equal treatment. Homosexuality as an Acceptable Lifestyle
Indeed, a sizable percentage of Americans continue to frown on the homosexual lifestyle. In 1982, Gallup distinguished between Americans' personal feelings about homosexuality from their opinions about its legality by asking this question: "Do you feel that homosexuality should be considered an acceptable alternative lifestyle or not?" At that time, just 34% said yes. Public acceptance on this measure has increased incrementally since that point, and our latest poll shows that a small majority, 54%, now agrees that homosexuality should be considered an acceptable lifestyle. Still, that leaves a substantial minority of 43% who disagree.
There are significant differences in willingness to accept homosexuality as an acceptable lifestyle within subgroups of the American population. In general, the following groups are most likely to agree that such relationships are acceptable: Nature or Nurture?
Part of the argument about homosexuality through the years has focused on the issue of how much control an individual has over his or her sexual orientation. Many gay and lesbian leaders stress the fact that homosexuality is an inborn trait, and -- similar to gender or race -- is not a decision over which an individual has direct control. The classic Gallup Poll question designed to get at this issue -- first used in 1977 -- asks if homosexuality is "something a person is born with or is homosexuality due to other factors such as upbringing or environment?"
In 1977, the public was more likely to agree with the argument that homosexuality is due to factors such as one's upbringing and environment, rather than the argument that homosexuality is something with which a person is born -- by a margin of 56% to 13%. Twenty-six years later, in 2003, the percentage of Americans accepting the genetic argument has more than doubled to 38%, while the percentage agreeing that homosexuality is environmentally caused has dropped to 44%. Thus, a slight plurality of Americans now agrees with the "nurture" argument over the "nature" argument. Still, unlike other trend questions that have moved to a more liberal orientation in this year's survey, the "upbringing/environment" alternative in response to this question is more prevalent now than it was in either 2001 or 2002. Should Homosexual Couples Be Given the Same Legal Rights as Married Couples?
The answer to this question is a clear "yes" if the issue is simply whether gay or lesbian partners should be able to share healthcare and Social Security survivor benefits. Americans are less supportive if providing legal rights is done in the context of establishing a right of civil unions for gays and lesbians, akin to marriage.
Polling in recent years has consistently shown that at least 6 out of 10 Americans are opposed to the recognition of marriages between homosexuals as legally valid unions, with the same rights as traditional marriages.
If the question is re-phrased to emphasize giving "some of the legal rights of married couples," but without the assumption that they would in some ways be "married," public opinion breaks even. In May 2002, 46% favored a law that would "allow homosexual couples to legally form civil unions, giving them some of the legal rights of married couples," while 51% opposed. This year, opinion is exactly divided, with 49% in favor and 49% opposed.
At the same time, a question that asks about giving homosexual couples the same legal rights as married heterosexual couples "regarding healthcare benefits and Social Security survivor benefits" finds 62% agreement.
Survey Methods
These results are based on telephone interviews with a randomly selected national sample of 1,005 adults, aged 18 and older, conducted May 5-7, 2003. For results based on this sample, one can say with 95% confidence that the maximum error attributable to sampling and other random effects is ±3 percentage points. In addition to sampling error, question wording and practical difficulties in conducting surveys can introduce error or bias into the findings of public opinion polls.
Concerned Women for America - Recently on Concerned Women for ...
QUOTE: Gay Columnist: Don’t Dismiss ‘Bug Chasing’ Story 2/5/2003
"Personally, I don't think [Rolling Stone writer Gregory] Freeman's story [that 25 percent of new HIV infections result from "bug-chasing" homosexual men who want to get the virus] has completely fallen apart, nor I do think the entire piece should be dismissed. While the 25 percent figure is clearly [bull----], the barebacking [condomless anal sex] websites Freeman writes about are real, and some men with HIV are only too willing to engage in unprotected sex with guys who aren't HIV-positive. And before gay men congratulate themselves for "only" making up 42 percent of all new HIV infections, consider this: Gay and bisexual men make up only 3 percent of the population. Regardless of how gay men are getting the virus — bug chasing? stupid risk taking? -- gay men are getting infected at appalling rates."
—Excerpted from column by weekly syndicated sex advice columnist (and homosexual activst) Dan Savage, "Bug Chasers," January 30, 2003.
I can't even figure out why it's even considered criminal???
Texas Phys.Resource Council, Christian Med. & Dental Association, Catholic Med.Association
Even worse than the concerns about syphilis itself is the threat of HIV as the result of syphilis infections. One of the consequences of a high prevalence of syphilis and other STDs in men who have sex with men is that "STDs, and the behaviors associated with them, increase the likelihood of acquiring and transmitting HIV infection . . . ." CDC, Sexually Transmitted Disease Surveillance 2001 at 65 (Special Focus Profile, "STDs Among Men Who Have Sex with Men"). In regard to syphilis, the "lesions increase risk of HIV transmission between two and five times . . ." CDC Press Release, Overall Syphilis Rate Rises for First Time Since 1990 . Indeed, in Chicago, "[u]p to 70 percent of gay and bisexual men infected in recent outbreaks have tested positive for HIV . . . ." Greenfield, Syphilis Out- break Raises HIV Fears . Therefore, the increases in syphilis infections among men who have sex with men is no minor health concern.
"With the emergence of AIDS and identification of HIV, unprotected anal intercourse was reported to be the most efficient mode of sexual transmission of HIV infection." Anne M. Rompalo, M.D., Diagnosis and Treatment of Sexually Acquired Proctitis and Proctocolitis: An Update , 28 Clinical Infectious Diseases Suppl. 1, S84, S84 (1999); see also Goldstone, I NNS AND O UTS at 16 ("an anus is the highest-risk place for STDs"). That is particularly problematic for men who have sex with men, for a survey of 5,000 homosexual men in 4 metropolitan areas found that "over 80% had engaged in receptive anal intercourse with at least some of their partners in the previous two years." R.A. Kaslow, et al., The Multicenter AIDS Cohort Study: Rationale, Organization and Selected Characteristics of the Participants , 126 American J. of Epidemiology No. 2, 310 (1987). Despite the small number of men who have sex with men ( supra note 12), the CDC has reported that "[r]esearchers estimate that men who have sex with men (MSM) still account for 42 percent of new HIV infections annually in the United States and for 60 percent of all new HIV infections among men." Tracking the Hidden Epidemics at 4. But these percentages are likely significantly underestimated for several reasons. First, they do not appear to include the number of men in the risk category of men who inject drugs and have sex with men. Second, the risk category has not been identified in nearly a third of cases reported to the CDC of HIV in men, and in 2001 the risk category was not identified for 51% of new cases of HIV in men. CDC, U.S. HIV and AIDS Cases Reported Through December 2001 , Year- end edition Vol. 13, No. 2, Table 6. 19 Perhaps more import- antly, a recent CDC study found that most HIV-infected men who have sex with men do not know they have HIV :
More than three-fourths of young gay and bisexual men infected with HIV were unaware of their statusinclud- ing 91 percent of African-American MSMand may have unknowingly transmitted the virus to their part- ners, according to a study led by CDC's Duncan Mc- Kellar. Researchers surveyed 5,719 MSM between the ages of 15 and 29 in six major U.S. cities, of whom 573 tested positive for HIV; 440 men (77 percent) were una- ware of their infection. . . . Of the 440 men who were unaware of their infection, 59 percent perceived them- selves to be at low or very low risk of being infected. 20
CDC Press Release, New CDC Studies Shed Light on Factors Underlying High HIV Infection Rates Among Gay and Bisexual Men , 2-3, CDC Office of Communication (July 10, 2002). 21 In another study reported in the same Press Release, "researchers found the rate of new HIV infections among men who have sex with men (MSM) to be nine times higher than among women and heterosexual men." Id . at 1 (emphasis added).
Men who have sex with men may be responsible for a significant amount of heterosexual transmission of HIV as well, for nearly 41 percent of women with AIDS acquired it from men. CDC, Basic Statistics , Division of HIV/AIDS Preven- tion. 22 It is unlikely that many American men acquire HIV from women because HIV is not easily transmitted from females to males. See Bruce Voeller, Ph.D., AIDS and Heterosexual Anal Intercourse , 20 Archives of Sexual Behavior No. 3, 233, 264 (1991) ("female partners infected anally (or any other way) are much less likely to communicate HIV sexually to their partners than are anal-receptive homosexual or bisexual males . . . Western females tend to be terminators in infectivity chains") (emphasis original). 23 Thus, many of the men who infect females are likely to have acquired HIV/AIDS by having sex with men. See id . at 237 (noting risk from bisexual men).
Conservatives must take the battle to the Left and wear them down for a change. Only then will the Left "get along" with the Right.
Yup, incrementalism is a classic tactic of liberalism. In fact, it's safe to say they've taken over the nation with it. I remember when the anti-smoking movement first got rolling, with a smoking ban on U.S. flights under two hours. Why, if you didn't go along with something reasonable like that, you were some kind of extremist! One little step at a time. And at EACH of these steps, no matter what the particular issue is, the bulk of conservatives sit back and let it happen, for fear of being branded a kook or a bigot or a whateverphobe. Through tiny steps by the enemy, we have lost our nation.
MM
I take it then, that you have never had a BJ (from a woman), since supporting that biological activity, which if practiced by everyone, would mean the END OF THE HUMAN RACE.
Texas Phys.Resource Council, Christian Med. & Dental Association, Catholic Med.Association
Oral sex also results in the spread of HIV/AIDS and other STDs. According to the CDC, HIV, "[h]erpes, syphilis, gonor- rhea, genital warts (HPV), intestinal parasites (amebiasis), and hepatitis A are examples of STDs which can be transmitted during oral sex with an infected partner." CDC, Preventing the Sexual Transmission of HIV, the Virus that Causes AIDS: What You Should Know about Oral Sex , HIV/AIDS Update (December 2000). 24 A number of the diseases associated with men who have sex with men, particularly the enteric pathogens, are most likely transmitted through an oral/anal or penile/anal/ oral route. Marino & Mancini, 58 Surgical Clinics of North America at 514 ("Sexual transmission of [enteric pathogens] is a possible consequence of oro-anal, ano-genital, and genito-oral contact either separately or in sequence"). One study expressed surprise at finding that oral-anal sex "was the single most important practice associated with infection [with hepatitis B surface antigen] . . . ." Reiner, et al., Asymptomatic Rectal Mucosal Lesions and Hepatitis B Surface Antigen at Sites of Sexual Contact in Homosexual Men . . . , 96 Annals of Internal Medicine at 170. Human herpes virus 8, "a necessary etiologic agent of Kaposi sarcoma," also appears to be spread by oral sex between men who have sex with men (but seldom in opposite- sex couples). Dennis H. Osmond, Ph.D., et al., Prevalence of Kaposi Sarcoma-Associated Herpesvirus Infection in Homosex- ual Men at Beginning of and During the HIV Epidemic , 287 Journal of the Am. Medical Ass'n No. 2, 221 (2002).
Homosexual behavior increases risk of AIDS - Dr. Brian J. Kopp, ... An exhaustive study in The New England Journal of Medicine, medical literature's only study reporting on homosexuals who kept sexual "diaries," indicated the average homosexual ingests the fecal material of 23 different men each year.
Medical Consequences of What Homosexuals Do FECAL SEX About 80% of gays (see Table) admit to licking and/or inserting their tongues into the anus of partners and thus ingesting medically significant amounts of feces. Those who eat or wallow in it are probably at even greater risk. In the diary study,5 70% of the gays had engaged in this activity--half regularly over 6 months. Result? --the "annual incidence of hepatitis A in...homosexual men was 22 percent, whereas no heterosexual men acquired hepatitis A." In 1992,26 it was noted that the proportion of London gays engaging in oral/anal sex had not declined since 1984.
... Men Who Have Sex with Men ...More twisted lib drivel.
Very good parroting of the liberal/liberaltarian smoke and mirrors. The homo nazis do not want tolerance, they do not even want acceptance (whatever the h**l that is!). They want to turn the world into their whorehouse so they can have "Gay Pride" parades everywhere with their disgusting sodomy and worse on display, with instructions in the schools. What to speak of lowering the age of consent.
Your statement is pure nonsense. If the homo activists just wanted to be left alone in peace they would f**king leave US alone!!!
(Excuse my language but I have lost my tolerance!)
You offered this very intellectual and thoughtful rebuttal to Remedy's links. This is SO adult and insightful! How about some evidence? How about some facts to refute what is in the links? Pro homos can't refute facts so they are reduced to name calling and sticking toungues out. Silly and childish.
But these same liberals claim gender can be changed through "sex-change" operations, and race can be changed through--well, look at Michael Jackson--so homosexuality can also be changed. They just don't want to change, and want to convert the youth by convincing them that they were "born gay" and can't change.
Thanks for a brilliant demonstation of the logical fallacy known as the slippery slope.
I haven't checked your link yet but your statement that there's no "slippery slope" is on it's face fallacious. If people without filters in their brains look at our culture as far as sexualization over the last couple of generations they can easily see the slippery slope happening, and leading into the abyss of total amorality, beast like exploitation and perverse impersonal sex.
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