The theme of this week's episode of the FX series 30 Days was homosexual adoption. FRC's own Vice President for Policy, Peter Sprigg, was interviewed, during which he referred to several problems with homosexual parenting that are rooted in the homosexual lifestyle itself: "Homosexuality is associated with higher rates of sexual promiscuity, sexually-transmitted diseases, mental illness, substance abuse, domestic violence, and child sexual abuse."
Predictably, homosexual activists were outraged by what they characterized as a "defamatory statement," and pulled out all the stops to coerce the producers to edit out Peter's statements. To their credit, the producers refused, and those watching were at least presented with the other side of the story, which contradicts the positive and uncritical depictions of homosexual parenting typically found in media stories.
But what about the statement itself - are homosexual activists correct in asserting that there is "no credible scientific research that backs Sprigg's claim"? There is, in fact, credible research indicating the negative health effects of homosexuality, including the following:
- Higher rates of promiscuity: In their study of the sexual profiles of 2,583 older homosexuals published in Journal of Sex Research, Paul Van de Ven et al., find that only 2.7 percent claimed to have had sex with one partner only. The most common response, given by 21.6 percent of the respondents, was of having a hundred and one to five hundred lifetime sex partners. [Source: Paul Van de Ven et al., "A Comparative Demographic and Sexual Profile of Older Homosexually Active Men," Journal of Sex Research 34 (1997): 354. Dr. Paul Van de Ven reiterated these results in a private conversation with Dr. Robert Gagnon on September 7, 2000.]
- Increased susceptibility for sexually transmitted diseases and mental illness: The American Family Physician reports that "men who have sex with men are at increased risk for sexually transmitted diseases (including human immunodeficiency virus infection), anal cancer, psychological and behavioral disorders, drug abuse, and eating disorders." In a survey of studies of mental illness in homosexuals, Family Practice News finds "higher rates of major depression and panic disorder in men in the gay and bisexual groups than in heterosexual men. Three of the four individual studies find more cases of major depression, and two of three individual studies showed more cases of panic disorder, in gay and bisexual men." [Sources: Daniel Knight, "Health care screening for men who have sex with men," American Family Physician 69 (May 1, 2004): p. 2149; Sherry Boschert, "Higher Rates of Mental Illness in gays, bisexuals," Family Practice News (September 15, 2003): 26.]
- Higher rates of substance abuse: According to the CDC, "[m]ethamphetamine and other 'party' drugs (such as ecstasy, ketamine, and GHB [gamma hydroxybutyrate] may be used to decrease social inhibitions and enhance sexual experiences. These drugs, along with alcohol and nitrate inhalants ('poppers'), have been strongly associated with risky sexual practices among MSM." [Source: HIV/AIDS and Men Who Have Sex with Men (MSM)," (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) June 28, 2007. Available at: www.cdc.gov/hiv/topics/msm/index.com.]
- Higher rates of domestic violence: In their book Men Who Beat the Men Who Love Them: Battered Gay Men and Domestic Violence, D. Island and P. Letellier report that "the incidence of domestic violence among gay men is nearly double that in the heterosexual population." [Source: D. Island and P. Letellier, Men Who Beat the Men Who Love Them: Battered Gay Men and Domestic Violence (New York: Haworth Press, 1991), p. 14.]
- Increased incidence of child sexual abuse: A study in the Journal of Sex Research found that "approximately one-third of [child sex offenders] had victimized boys and two-thirds had victimized girls." The authors then make a prescient observation: "Interestingly, this ratio differs substantially from the ratio of gynephiles (men who erotically prefer physically mature females) to androphiles (men who erotically prefer physically mature males), which is at least 20 to 1." In other words, although heterosexuals outnumber homosexuals by a ratio of at least 20 to 1, homosexual pedophiles commit about one-third of the total number of child sex offenses.
- Similarly, the Archives of Sexual Behavior also noted that homosexual pedophiles are significantly overrepresented in child sex offence cases: The best epidemiological evidence indicates that only 2 to 4 percent of men attracted to adults prefer men (ACSF Investigators, 1992; Billy et al., 1993; Fay et al., 1989; Johnson et al., 1992); in contrast, around 25 to 40 percent of men attracted to children prefer boys (Blanchard et al., 1999; Gebhard et al., 1965; Mohr et al., 1964). Thus, the rate of homosexual attraction is 6 to 20 times higher among pedophiles." [Sources: Freund, "Heterosexuality, Homosexuality, and Erotic Age Preference," p. 107. In this and previous studies, Freund claims that homosexuals are no more likely than heterosexuals to be attracted to children (p. 115). However, Silverthorn, et al., mentions the limitations of studies by Freund and others: "Studies of homosexual male preferences are also limited. . . . The Freund et al. (1973) study was possibly compromised because the homosexual men used in the study were selected to be sexually attracted to adults, but not teenaged, males. The Bailey et al. (1994) study was limited in that it did not present participants with objective stimuli but simply asked participants to report what age of sexual partner they preferred . . . the Jankowiak et al. (1992) study . . . was limited in two ways: the homosexual male participants had a limited age range of 'middle-aged professionals' and the stimuli presented to participants were also of a limited age range ('university to middle-aged')." Silverthorn attempted to correct these deficiencies, and in his study found that homosexuals "preferred younger partners than those who preferred female partners"--including those as young as fifteen. Zebulon A. Silverthorne & Vernon L. Quinsey, "Sexual Partner Age Preferences of Homosexual and Heterosexual Men and Women," Archives of Sexual Behavior 29 (February 2000): 67-76; Ray Blanchard, et al., "Fraternal Birth Order and Sexual Orientation in Pedophiles," Archives of Sexual Behavior 29 (2000): 464.]
Comments (7)
It's probably not hard to compile a list of problems like this for other minorities. That FRC chooses to point it out in the case of gay men says more about FRC than it says about gay men. You blame the victim instead of helping. And, no being gay is not a choice.
June 29, 2008 9:08 PM | Comment Permalink
If being gay is not a choice, but a biological difference in the brain causing homosexuality, it very well may be that this biological difference also creates a predisposition for the other negative behaviors as the survey points out.
June 30, 2008 1:10 PM | Comment Permalink
For me, the issue isn't whether or not Sprigg's assertion that: "Homosexuality is associated with higher rates of sexual promiscuity, sexually transmitted diseases, mental illness, substance abuse, domestic violence, and child sexual abuse," is TRUE, but rather, that even if it IS true, as the research you sites shows, the direction of the relationship is most likely not the one implied by the statement he makes. By that I mean that to the extent that it may be possible to observe higher rates of sexual promiscuity, STI's, substance abuse, etc. etc. among the LGBTQ population, this is most likely a function of our long-standing discrimination and oppression, rather than the reason to continue that oppression.
The reason I think this is the important argument to make is because it not only counters Sprigg's assertion, it undermines and destroys it. It's comments like his that contribute to a homophobic culture where the suicide and self-injury rates among queer youth are consistently above that of their straight peers. That's the counterpoint I'd like to have seen incorporated into the show.
June 30, 2008 3:40 PM | Comment Permalink
Why are you folks so obsessed about gay people?
June 30, 2008 4:51 PM | Comment Permalink
Having seen the episode now, I sense 'non-bias bias' - the form of bias introduced by an attempt to present both sides fairly, when the sides are not equal.
For an example, a program producer might make a program on the history and benefits of vaccination. During production, they will discover that there is an anti-vacceine movement which claims vaccination is ineffective and dangerous. The producer, sensing contriversy, attempts to present both sides of the argument fairly and equally: Both sides are given the same amount of time for their respective arguments to be given, and the program takes no position. Both sides are allowed to present their evidence.
The problem with this is that one side is actually wrong. Not just potentially wrong, or contriversial - absolutly, facturally, demonstratably, wrong. Vaccination has eliminated diseases, and almost eliminated others. The autism link was found in one study, now discredeted, and repeated attempts to duplicate the finding met with failure. In any scientific evaluation, the anti-vaccine position would be laughed at.
The non-bias bias, then, is the tendency of documentory makers to give crackpots, cranks and quacks the appearance of being equal to respectable positions in order to avoid appearing to take sides.
I am fairly sure that is what happened here. 30 days is intended to present two competing positions as opposites, giving each one fair and equal presentation. This means that if the gay couple get to speak about how loving their family is, they must be countered by an anti-gay representative. Even if the anti-gay is making claims that a little research could show to be completely false, for the program producer to challenge the claims in any way would mean taking sides - an action strictly forbidden.
June 30, 2008 7:37 PM | Comment Permalink
Yes, and the 'most pedophiles are homosexuals' claim is misleading too. The statistics are correct, but it's comparing apples to oranges. The sexual desires of pedophiles are messed up to begin with - they have no interest in secondry sexual characteristics at all, because there arn't any before puberty, and it's those that distinguish male from female where sexual attraction is concerned. So... boy, girl, more or less the same thing. Applying the gay/straight classification to pedophiles just doesn't work - they fall outside of those categories entirely.
It would be more meaningful to consider how many male pedophiles are also attracted to *adult* males. I don't have the statistics to hand, but no more than in the overall population, I have read elsewhere.
Besides, it's irrelivent for civil rights. Statistically, black people have a higher rate of violence towards children. Unpleasant fact, but true. Does this mean that children must be protected from blacks? It's untidy to just judge everyone based on statistical probabilities.
Not that I expect the FRC to listen to any of this. It's just too easy to use the guilt by association attack - repeat the concepts for 'homosexual' and 'pedophile' often enough and people will come to subconciously associate them, no matter how tenuous the actual connection.
July 5, 2008 5:58 AM | Comment Permalink
I am with Bob. Why are you so obsessed with gay people. Most people that have something against gay people know absolutely nothing about them. They are real feeling human beings. They are not monsters with an agenda. They run businesses, they are in the work force working regular jobs,and alot of them try to hide who they are due to the oppression and discrimination by groups like the FRC propagate. There exists real HATE for gay people due to the narrow upbringing most people have had. You paint pictures of the gay community that can also be mirrored by the staight community. There are always going to be devients in the world, no matter what sexual persuation you are.
July 18, 2008 12:05 PM | Comment Permalink