Grey---your responses don't seem pertinent to me.
ADOPTION: First, Michael Jackson hasn't been convicted of anything. Second, he is not representative of anything "typical" of either gay or straight marriages. Third, there are always going to be sensational violations to whatever rules or laws we develop---but the question is should we dwell on those and consider them normative?
If you genuinely think that a gay man or woman (or bisexual) cannot provide a loving, caring, nurturing home that produces happy, well-adjusted, successful children ---then please cite some actual studies on the matter. Gays have been raising children for centuries so, surely, you have some specifics to cite by now!
COST OF AIDS TREATMENTS: Is it your position that recipients of expensive medical treatments should pay higher health premiums than other enrollees in HMO's or other health plans? So, for example, we should penalize heart disease patients and everyone who requires expensive medications for long periods of time or expensive corrective procedures?
GAY MARRIAGES: "Seem to last a far shorter time" --- upon what evidence do you base that statement? Have you ever done serious research into longevity of gay relationships or are you selecting one or two newspaper articles and proposing that those articles represent the whole truth of the matter? Should I use Britney Spears 55-hour marriage as "proof" of the instability of straight marriages? Besides, as I have previously mentioned, the only fair way to examine such a question would be to review available data after a decade or two when gay marriages are permitted.
Finally, I would like to thank everyone for posting their comments on this topic. I have learned several things from opponents that I had not previously considered on this issue. I especially want to thank the persons who attempted to seriously engage in discussion as opposed to merely spewing bile and venom while claiming to be Christians.
Honorable men and women can disagree about all sorts of controversial issues. I would like to think that the American Family can do so in an amicable, civil manner. However, regretably, there are always persons who focus on establishing a hierarchy within society, i.e. they want to identify "deserving" versus "undeserving" persons so that they can perceive themselves as superior to other human beings.
Homosexuality = Perversion.
Square peg round hole, Move along. Seek help!
Adoption of children by homosexuals cannot be considered in the best interest of the child. NO child should be deprived of their natural basic right to have BOTH a Father AND a Mother for the sake of two selfish perverts that place their sexual preference over the needs of the child.
If you genuinely think that a gay man or woman (or bisexual) cannot provide a loving, caring, nurturing home that produces happy, well-adjusted, successful children ---then please cite some actual studies on the matter. Gays have been raising children for centuries so, surely, you have some specifics to cite by now!
See Fast Facts #1, 2, 4, 6, 8, 12, 15, 20-23, 24-34, 35-40, 59-72 Myth and Reality about Homosexuality--Sexual Orientation Section, Guide to Family Issues
COST OF AIDS TREATMENTS: Is it your position that recipients of expensive medical treatments should pay higher health premiums than other enrollees in HMO's or other health plans? So, for example, we should penalize heart disease patients and everyone who requires expensive medications for long periods of time or expensive corrective procedures?
In the U.S., the most prevalent adverse health conditions are arthritis and heart disease, which respectively afflict 40 and 50 million individuals, at an estimated total annual per capita cost ranging from $3,000-$6,000. Less than 1 million Americans have HIV/AIDS, with an estimated total annual per capita cost of about $200,000.
More than 400,000 Americans have died of AIDS. Most of the infections and deaths could have been prevented by the employment of standard public health practices, which were in place for more than half a century leading up to the inception of the AIDS epidemic. These practices include testing, contact tracing, reporting, and closing of infections sites. These standard practices were all abandoned under intense and unrelenting political pressure from homosexual activists and the AIDS lobby. See Fast Facts #17, 18, 101
GAY MARRIAGES: "Seem to last a far shorter time" --- upon what evidence do you base that statement? Have you ever done serious research into longevity of gay relationships or are you selecting one or two newspaper articles and proposing that those articles represent the whole truth of the matter?
Unstable Relationships
24. A 1991 study of homosexual men in New York City revealed that the average number of lifetime sexual partners was 308. (Meyer-Balburg H. Exner, T.,Lorenz G., Gruen, R., Gorman, J, Ehrhardt, A (1991) Sexual Risk Behavior, Sexual Functioning and HIV-Disease Progression in Gay Men Journal of Sex Research. 28, 1: 3-27.)
25. According to Centers for Disease Control interviews, 50% of male homosexuals had over 500 sexual partners, the first several hundred homosexual men diagnosed with AIDS had an average of l,100 lifetime partners. (Rotello, G. (1997). Sexual Ecology: AIDS and the Destiny of Gay men. NY: Dutton.)
26. Clinicians Mattison and McWhirter studied 156 long-term homosexual relationships, but found that not one couple was able to maintain sexual fidelity for more than five years. Most maintained a monogamous relationship for less than one year. Homosexual theorists respond by redefining promiscuity as normal and healthy for homosexual men. (The Male Couple: How Relationships Develop, Englewood Cliffs, N.J.: Prentice-Hall, Schmidt, 1995)
27. A. P. Bell and M. S. Weinberg, in their classic study of male and female homosexuality, found that 43% of white male homosexuals had sex with five hundred or more partners, with 28% having 1,000 or more sex partners. (A. P. Bell and M. S. Weinberg, Homosexualities: A Study of Diversity Among Men and Women (New York: Simon and Schuster, 1978), pp. 308, 309; See also A. P. Bell, M. S. Weinberg, and S. K. Hammersmith, Sexual Preference (Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1981)
28. Few homosexual relationships last longer than two years, but in a study of 156 males in homosexual relationships lasting from 1-37 years, "all couples with a relationship lasting more than five years have incorporated some provision for sexual activity outside of their relationships." (David P. McWhirter and Andrew M. Mattison, The Male Couple: How Relationships Develop, Englewood Cliffs: Prentice-Hall, 1984, pp. 252, 253)
29. In a study of 2,583 older homosexuals, "the modal range for number of sexual partners was 101-500. In addition, 10.2% to 15.7% had between 501 and 1,000 partners, and between 10.2% and 15.7% reported having had more than 1,000 lifetime sexual partners" (Paul Van de Ven et al., "A Comparative Demographic and Sexual Profile of Older Homosexually Active Men," Journal of Sex Research 34 (1997): 354).
30. In their Journal of Sex Research study of the sexual practices of older homosexual men, Paul Van de Ven, et al, found that only 2.7% of older homosexuals had only one sexual partner in their lifetime. (Van de Ven et al., "A Comparative Demographic and Sexual Profile," p. 354.)
31. Among heterosexual couples, 75% of husbands and 90% of wives claim never to have had extramarital sex. (Robert T. Michael et al., Sex in America: A Definitive Survey, Boston: Little, Brown & Company, 1994) Other studies and surveys confirm the percentage of faithful spouses between 75-81% for husbands and 85-88% for wives. (Michael W. Widerman, "Extramarital Sex: Prevalence and Correlated in a National Survey," Journal of Sex Research 34 [1997], pg. 2)
32. In the homosexual life, fidelity is almost impossible. Since part of the compulsion of homosexuality seems to be a need on the part of the homophile to absorb masculinity from his sexual partners, there is a compulsion to be constantly on the lookout for new partners. Consequently the most successful homophile "marriages" are those where there is an arrangement between the two to have affairs on the side while maintaining the semblance of permanence in their living arrangement. ( William Aaron, Straight (New York: Bantam Books, 1972), p. 208, cited by Joseph Nicolosi in Reparative Therapy of Male Homosexuality, p. 125, quoted by Robert H. Knight in "How Domestic Partnerships and Gay Marriage Threaten the Family," Family Research Council, Insight, June 1994, p. 9)
33. For homosexual men, the term "monogamy" doesnt necessarily mean sexual exclusivity. The term "open relationship" has for a great many homosexual men come to have one specific definition: A relationship in which the partners have sex on the outside often, put away their resentment and jealousy, and discuss their outside sex with each other, or share sex partners. (Michelangelo Signorile, Life Outside (New York: HarperCollins, 1997), p. 213)
34. "Even committed homosexual relationships display a fundamental incapacity for the faithfulness and commitment that is axiomatic to the institution of marriage" (Timothy J. Dailey, Homosexual Parenting: Placing Children at Risk, http://www.frc.org/get/is01j3.cfm)
Should I use Britney Spears 55-hour marriage as "proof" of the instability of straight marriages?
You think a cheap publicity stunt like that is representative of marriage? Try again, The wife and I just celebrated our 23rd anniversary.