Fact-checking the Homophobes

Please note, links in the following article which reference my brother's website may no longer work.

As I posted a little earlier, my brother has a section of his website dedicated entirely to homosexual and their supposed menace to society. The information he posted is not original to him, of course, but is part of a collection of materials passed around conservative or fundamentalist sites on the Web. That makes it easy for like-minded people to promulgate stereotypes and misinformation without actually having to think for themselves.

Leave it to me to dig a little deeper and put these fallacies to rest once and for all. This is particularly difficult given how the “sources” for this information are not referenced with any kind of verifiable weblinks or are so outdated, many sites no longer contain the archives of what is being referenced. However, this doesn’t mean the task is impossible. I will even go further than the original author(s) by providing links for the sources, where possible.

Let’s get started. Since I linked to the posting on my brother’s site above, I will now list each “charge” and dig into its “source”. Many of these statements are obviously included arbitrarily for the purpose of painting an overall picture of homosexuals. In many cases, this picture is one that could just as easily apply to heterosexuals, but apparently a mirror is the last thing homophobes wish to see held up to them.

Claim: One study reports 70% of homosexuals admitting to having sex only one time with over 50% of their partners

Source: Bell, A. and Weinberg, M. Homosexualities: a Study of Diversity Among Men and Women. New York: Simon & Schuster, 1978

Response: This is a perfect example of the pot calling the kettle black. Basically, it is being stated that during the 1970’s, which is when this report was conducted, homosexual men were having “one night stands” with the majority of their sexual partners. Considering this was during the sexual revolution, what would be the comparable statistics among heterosexuals? There doesn’t appear to be any hard data to pin a figure on the number of partners or activities heterosexuals engaged in during the heterosexually-named “Free Love Era”. What we do know is that heterosexuals promoted everything from open marriages to communal sex parties. While this was not representative of the norm, neither was the experiences of those homosexuals who decided to “come out” during this time period.

In modern times, the data is much more conclusive and reliable for the purposes of discussing the homosexual role in society. Twin studies by J. Billy in 1993 and R. Fay in 1989 found that homosexual men are actually likely to have fewer sexual partners than heterosexual men. In fact, they wrote that "homosexual and bisexual men are much more likely than heterosexual men to be celibate".

Claim: One study reports that the average homosexual has between 20 and 106 partners per year

Source: Corey, L. and Holmes, K. “Sexual Transmission of Hepatitis A in Homosexual Men.” New England J. Med., 1980, pp. 435-38

Response: This is another misleading statistic in that it takes a study done on men already infected with Hepatitis and then extrapolates that data for the whole group. A diseased portion of a group is not indicative of the behavior of the whole group.

Claim: The average heterosexual has 8 partners in a lifetime.
Many homosexual sexual encounters occur while drunk, high on drugs, or in an orgy setting

Source: Family Research Institute, Lincoln, NE

Response: And here we come to it at last. The FRI is one of the primary backers of anti-homosexual “research” and studies. Since no publication is actually cited in this claim, let’s deal with the FRI itself and its credibility on this issue. Most, if not all the claims made by the FRI are based on the work of its current chairman, Paul Cameron, who was officially kicked out of the American Psychological Associa
tion and Nebraska Psychological Association for his public and false statements about homosexuals. In 1985, the American Sociological Association adopted a resolution which stated:

Dr. Paul Cameron has consistently misinterpreted and misrepresented sociological research on sexuality, homosexuality, and lesbianism. Dr. Paul Cameron has repeatedly campaigned for the abrogation of the civil rights of lesbians and gay men, substantiating his call on the basis of his distorted interpretation of this research.

In 1986, that same organization adopted this resolution:

The American Sociological Association officially and publicly states that Paul Cameron is not a sociologist, and condemns his consistent misrepresentation of sociological research. Information on this action and a copy of the report by the Committee on the Status of Homosexuals in Sociology, "The Paul Cameron Case," is to be published in Footnotes, and be sent to the officers of all regional and state sociological associations and to the Canadian Sociological Association with a request that they alert their members to Cameron's frequent lecture and media appearances.

Claim: Many homosexuals don’t pay heed to warnings of their lifestyles: “Knowledge of health guidelines was quite high, but this knowledge had no relation to sexual behavior”

Source: MsKusick, L. et. al. “AIDS and Sexual Behavior Reported By Gay Men in San Francisco.” Am. J. Pub. Health, 1985, 75, pp. 493-96

Response: Once again, context is key. This 1985 study contained data gathered from the previous years and was at the beginning of the public’s awareness of the AIDS epidemic. Very little was understood by the general public or homosexuals in particular. Thus, ignoring the health warnings of those focusing exclusively on the homosexual segment of society was equivalent to the heterosexual community ignoring similar warnings on a host of STD’s prevalent among them.

Claim: Homosexuals got homosexuality removed from the list of mental illnesses in the early 70s by storming the annual American Psychiatric Association (APA) conference on successive years. “Guerrilla theater tactics and more straight-forward shouting matches characterized their presence”

Source: Bayer, R. Homosexuality and American Psychiatry

Response: This is best left to the APA to respond:

In 1973, the APA removed homosexuality from its list of mental disorders (Bayer, 1981). While it is true that protests by gay rights activists provided the impetus to reevaluate the APA's earlier position, it is not correct that the final decision was based on political considerations. The reevaluation was done by a scientific committee of the APA which was chaired by Robert Spitzer, M.D. The committee looked at early psychoanalytic claims that homosexuality was an illness (i.e., Rado, 1940; Bieber et al, 1962, Socarides, 1968) and weighed them against studies that argued that homosexuality was not an illness (i.e., Kinsey et al, 1948, 1953; Ford and Beach, 1951; Hooker, 1957; Marmor, 1965). It was the weighing of the scientific evidence, and not political pressure that led to the APA's decision to remove homosexuality from the diagnostic manual.

It should be noted that the psychoanalytic practitioners of that era who disagreed with the APA's decision have themselves politicized the discussion. For example, after the scientific committee made its decision, those who disagreed with it called for a membership vote on the issue. A petition to force the APA referendum -- a political vote on a scientific decision--was forged and signed by 200 people at a meeting of the American Psychoanalytic Association (Bayer, 1981). After they lost the vote, some have presented a distorted history of those events. For example, in addition to false claims that the change was entirely political, Socarides (1995) has even accused the APA of miscounting the referendum votes.

Claim: Since homosexuality has been removed from the APA list of mental illnesses, so has pedophilia (except when the adult feels “subjective distress”)

Source: United States Congressional Record, June 29, 1989

Response: Did anyone wonder why the Congressional Record was cited as a source for what the APA did and did not do with relation to homosexuality and pedophilia? I mean, wouldn’t a better source have been the actual APA reference to what is included in their list of diagn
oses? It isn’t hard to guess at the motivations of the author of this piece since the claim above was merely uttered on the House floor by William E. Dannemeyer of California. A right-wing politico from top to bottom, Dannemeyer has been called the embodiment of Orange County Conservatism.

He is also completely wrong.

According to the APA’s Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fourth Edition, pedophilia is listed as a psychological disorder under the sub-category of Paraphilias and Sexual Disorders.

Claim: Homosexuals account for 3-4% of all gonorrhea cases, 60% of all syphilis cases, and 17% of all hospital admissions (other than for STDs) in the United States

Source: “Changes in Sexual Behavior and Incidence of Gonorrhea.” Lancet, April 25, 1987

Response: It’s interesting that only these STD’s were trotted out as evidence for the “homosexual threat”. Almost as an after-thought, the stat concerning hospital admissions was also added, thereby effectively muddling the point. Let’s deal with the diseases first. The incidences reported are obviously dependent on who is doing the measuring and counting. However, there is an easier answer: it doesn’t matter how many homosexual men account for which disease. Heterosexuals account for the vast majority of cancers and cardio-pulmonary diseases, all of which are influenced by lifestyle and decisions. Does this make heterosexuals into a menace on society? Hardly, any more than how many gays with an STD represents a similar threat.

As for those non-STD hospital admissions, it’s impossible to say what they are for or what the author is referring to. We can guess, however, that homosexuals are most likely on the receiving end of violence due to bigotry.

Claim: They make up only 1-2% of the population.
Homosexuals live unhealthy lifestyles, and have historically accounted for the bulk of syphilis, gonorrhea, Hepatitis B, the “gay bowel syndrome” (which attacks the intestinal tract), tuberculosis and cytomegalovirus

Source: United States Congressional Record, June 29, 1989

Response: Sound familiar? Yep, you guessed it, the remarks of Rep. Dannemeyer from California are once again being touted as truth and gospel to a non-fact-checking public. Note that Mr. Dannemeyer doesn’t back his assertions. No, he just wildly tosses off whatever accusations he likes in his efforts to paint homosexuals with the same brush of being the source of so much disease in our nation.

Claim: 73% of psychiatrists say homosexuals are less happy than the average person, and of those psychiatrists, 70% say that the unhappiness is NOT due to social stigmatization

Source: Lief, H. Sexual Survey Number 4: Current Thinking on Homosexuality, Medical Aspects of Human Sexuality, 1977, pp. 110-11

Response: So, let me be crystal clear here. What homosexuals were unhappy about in 1977, when my brother was only a year old, is to be taken for fact as to their mental state today?

Claim: 25-33% of homosexuals and lesbians are alcoholics

Source: Kus, R. “Alcoholics Anonymous and Gay America.” Medical Journal of Homosexuality, 1987, 14(2), p. 254

Response: Once again, an outdated study based on outdated data is being used to paint the whole picture of homosexuals in this country. More current data, however, shows the incidence of alcoholism among younger homosexuals is in line with national averages.

Claim: Of homosexuals questioned in one study reports that 43% admit to 500 or more partners in a lifetime, 28% admit to 1000 or more in a lifetime, and of these people, 79% say that half of those partners are total strangers, and 70% of those sexual contacts are one night stands (or, as one homosexual adm
its in the film “The Castro”, one minute stands)

Source: Bell, A. and Weinberg, M. Homosexualities: a Study of Diversity Among Men and Women. New York: Simon & Schuster, 1978

Response: Two words: sexual revolution. If you are going to insist on data sets from the 70’s, you must consider the context of that data, especially in comparison to the population as a whole which was undergoing similar or greater sexual liberation.

Claim: Also, it is a favorite past-time of many homosexuals to go to “cruisy areas” and have anonymous sex.
78% of homosexuals are affected by STDs

Source: Rueda, E. “The Homosexual Network.” Old Greenwich, Conn., The Devin Adair Company, 1982, p. 53

Response: Despite the lack of current data to back this assertion, we are once again confronted with a study using data from the 70’s to portray all homosexuals of today. The incidence of STD’s among heterosexuals and homosexuals in the 70’s sky-rocketed because of the sexual revolution our population was undergoing during this time period.

Claim(s): Judge John Martaugh, chief magistrate of the New York City Criminal Court has said, “Homosexuals account for half the murders in large cities”

Dr. Daniel Capron, a practicing psychiatrist, says, “Homosexuality by definition is not healthy and wholesome. The homosexual person, at best, will be unhappier and more unfulfilled than the sexually normal person”

For other psychiatrists who believe that homosexuality is wrong, please see National Association for Research and Therapy of Homosexuality.
It takes approximately $300,000 to take care of each AIDS victim, so thanks to the promiscuous lifestyle of homosexuals, medical insurance rates have been skyrocketing for all of us

Source: Kaifetz, J. “Homosexual Rights Are Concern for Some,” Post-Tribune, 18 December 1992

Response: It’s interesting that source makes it sound like “J. Kaifetz” is either a writer for the Post-Tribune or a doctor being sourced in a news story. The truth is far different. Jerry Kaifetz is anti-homosexual activist in Indiana who frequently writes similar wild claims in letters to various editors. This source is nothing more than one man’s opinion with no additional backing whatsoever.

Claim(s): Homosexuals were responsible for spreading AIDS in the United States, and then raised up violent groups like Act Up and Ground Zero to complain about it. Even today, homosexuals account for well over 50% of the AIDS cases in the United States, which is quite a large number considering that they account for only 1-2% of the population.
Homosexuals account for a disproportionate number of hepatitis cases: 70-80% in San Francisco, 29% in Denver, 66% in New York City, 56% in Toronto, 42% in Montreal, and 26% in Melbourne

37% of homosexuals engage in sadomasochism, which accounts for many accidental deaths. In San Francisco, classes were held to teach homosexuals how to not kill their partners during sadomasochism

41% of homosexuals say they have had sex with strangers in public restrooms, 60% say they have had sex with strangers in bathhouses, and 64% of these encounters have involved the use of illegal drugs

Depending on the city, 39-59% of homosexuals are infected with intestinal parasites like worms, flukes and amoebae, which is common in filthy third world countries

The median age of death of homosexuals is 42 (only 9% live past age 65). This drops to 39 if the cause of death is AIDS. The median age of death of a married heterosexual man is 75

The median age of death of lesbians is 45 (only 24% live past age 65). The median age of death of a married heterosexual woman is 79

Homosexuals are 100 times more likely to be murdered (usually by another homosexual) than the average
person, 25 times more likely to commit suicide, and 19 times more likely to die in a traffic accident

1% of lesbians die of murder, suicide or traffic accident, which is at a rate of 534 times higher than the number of white heterosexual females aged 25-44 who die of these things

Because homosexuals can’t reproduce naturally, they resort to recruiting children. Homosexuals can be heard chanting “TEN PERCENT IS NOT ENOUGH, RECRUIT, RECRUIT, RECRUIT” in their homosexual parades. A group called the “Lesbian Avengers” prides itself on trying to recruit young girls. They print “WE RECRUIT” on their literature. Some other homosexuals aren’t as overt about this, but rather try to infiltrate society and get into positions where they will have access to the malleable minds of young children (e.g., the clergy, teachers, Boy Scout leaders, etc.)

Source: Fields, Dr. E. “Is Homosexual Activity Normal?” Marietta, GA

Response: Just who is D. E. Fields? Let’s ask the Anti-Defamation League:

Born: 1932

Residence: Marietta, Georgia

Ideology: White supremacy, anti-Semitism, anti-Communism

Publication: The Truth At Last (formerly The Thunderbolt)

Affiliations: National Alliance (since 2003), Council of Conservative Citizens. Previously affiliated with: The Columbians; The Anti-Jewish Party; National States Rights Party; New Order; Knights of the KKK; America First Party

Influences: Julius Streicher, Eugene Talmadge (segregationist Georgia governor), J.B. Stoner

Works: Jews Behind Race Mixing (pamphlet); The Jew Comes to America (introduction); Was There Really a Holocaust? (pamphlet); What World Famous Men Said about the Jews (pamphlet); The Jewish Origins of Communism (booklet)

Notable for: Impressive networking among extreme right and racist organizations

A non-practicing chiropractor from Marietta, Georgia, Edward Fields has been active in white supremacist and anti-Semitic groups since he was a teenager in the late 1940s. Beginning a decade later, when he founded the National States Rights Party (NSRP), and lasting into the mid-1970s, Fields was a significant force in the racist world, known both for collaborating with notorious racist bomber J.B. Stoner and for publishing the NSRP's Thunderbolt newspaper. He was forced out of the group in 1983 and his influence has since waned, but his crude writings continue to circulate widely. He maintains an impressive network of extreme-right connections in both the U.S. and Europe, and publishes The Truth At Last. He joined the National Alliance in 2003.

Claim: 50% of the calls to a hotline to report “queer bashing” involved domestic violence (i.e., homosexuals beating up other homosexuals)

Source: Newsweek, 4 October 1993

Response: This should have been an easy source to verify. After all, Newsweek maintains an online archive of articles dating back to 1993 and given how complete this source citation is, a quick search should have yielded something. However, there is only one article appearing in the edition of Newsweek cited which contains the word “homosexuals”. It is an opinion piece by Ellis Cose entitled “A City Room of Many Colors”, detailing the efforts of the press to racially integrate their staffs. The paragraph containing the word “homosexuals” read this way:

At a National Lesbian and Gay Journalists Association workshop this month, Audrey Edwards, an Essence magazine editor, admonished homosexuals not to hitch their wagon "to the civil-rights star." Leroy Aarons, NLGJAs president, says gay journalists are trying to do no such thing, pointing out that their "issues" have more to do with coverage and benefits than with hiring.

So, we are left with a few options of what to make of this source. Either the citation is wrong or false, or the article it referenced was not archived by Newsweek. Given the credibility of the “sources” cited thus far in this list of factoids, and the fast-and-loose nature of the second and sometimes third-hand opinions, this citation smacks of the same kind of opinion-as-fact reportage we have seen all along.

Claim: About 50% of the women on death row are lesbians

Source: Lesbian News, January 1994

Response: Assuming this source is the same Lesbian News as can be found here, their online archives only extend back to 1996. Thus, we must dig a little deeper to get at what this stat is all about.

In 1994, the size of death row in the United States was 2890. Of that number, only 41 were women, which is roughly 1.4%. So, 20 women on death row are lesbian?

Aside from how ridiculously small that number is, what is attempting to be shown is that lesbians are more prone to violence than non-lesbians. However, once again, context is being ignored.

In the National Journal of Sexual Orientation Law, legal professor Victor Streib, of Cleveland State University, writes:

It continues to appear that, all other things being equal,

the capital punishment system is more reluctant to sentence a female offender to death than it is to sentence a male offender to death. The research so far, although very preliminary, suggests that female offenders tend to lose what ever chivalrous protection that might exist as their crimes are more shockingly violent and as their character and background are less traditionally feminine.

Thus, those 20 women on death row in 1994 who were somehow identified as being lesbian aren’t sitting there because gay women are more violent than straight women. They are sitting there because gay women are more likely to be sentenced to death than straight women.

Claim: Homosexuals prey on children.

33% of homosexuals ADMIT to minor/adult sex

Source: Family Research Institute, Lincoln, NE

Response: Once again, we see the work of disgraced psychologist Paul Cameron being touted as factual. Let’s go to the experts.

From the American Psychological Association:

Studies comparing groups of children raised by homosexual and by heterosexual parents find no developmental differences between the two groups of children in four critical areas: their intelligence, psychological adjustment, social adjustment, and popularity with friends. It is also important to realize that a parent's sexual orientation does not dictate his or her children's.

Another myth about homosexuality is the mistaken belief that gay men have more of a tendency than heterosexual men to sexually molest children. There is no evidence to suggest that homosexuals are more likely than heterosexuals to molest children.

The American Psychiatric Association:

Numerous studies have shown that the children of gay parents are as likely to be healthy and well adjusted as children raised in heterosexual households. Children raised in gay or lesbian households do not show any greater incidence of homosexuality or gender identity issues than other children. Children raised in nontraditional homes with gay/lesbian parents can encounter some special challenges related to the ongoing stigma against homosexuality, but most children surmount these problems.

The American Medical Association:

Our AMA will support legislative and other efforts to allow the adoption of a child by the same-sex partner, or opposite sex non-married partner, who functions as a second parent or co-parent to that child.

The American Academy of Pediatrics:

Empirical evidence reveals in contrast that gay fathers have substantial evidence of nurturance and investment in their paternal role and no differences from heterosexual fathers in providing appropriate recreation, encouraging autonomy,5 or dealing with general problems of parenting.6 Compared with heterosexual fathers, gay fathers have been described to adhere to stricter disciplinary guidelines, to place greater emphasis on guidance and the development of cognitive skills, and to be more involved in their children’s activities.7 Overall, there are more similarities than differences in the parenting styles and attitudes of gay and nongay fathers.

Claim: There is a notable homosexual group, consisting of thousands of members, known as the North American Man and Boy Love Association ( NAMBLA). This is a child molesting homosexual group whose cry is “SEX BEFORE 8 BEFORE IT’S TOO LATE.” This group can be seen marching in most major homosexual parades across the United States.
Homosexuals commit more than 33% of all reported child molestations in the United States, which, assuming homosexuals make up 2% of the population, means that 1 in 20 homosexuals is a child molester, while 1 in 490 heterosexuals is a child molester

Source: Psychological Reports, 1986, 58, pp. 327-37

Response: This is yet another thinly disguised Paul Cameron citation. Not only has he been discredited by every major psychology organization in the country, but his work with the Family Research Council shows his clear political agenda in continuing to assert, with no evidence, his baseless theories and opinions.

Claim: 73% of all homosexuals have had sex with boys under 19 years of age

Source: Jay and Young. The Gay Report. Summit Books, 1979, p. 275

Response: Now we are back to outdated information based around one of the most celebrated and extensive sexual revolution this country has ever had. It’s also interesting how the age 19 is used, as opposed to 18. Given the context of the statistic, this disingenuously implies that a consenting adult of 18 is being called a child for the purposes of homosexual vilification.

Claim: Many homosexuals admit that they are pedophiles: “The love between men and boys is at the foundation of homosexuality”

Source: San Francisco Sentinel, 27 March 1992

Response: This source would seem to indicate that the above statement was made on by the San Francisco Sentinel, a prominent gay news publication, and thus representative of homosexuals as a whole. In fact, the statement is once again the opinion of a single letter writer who words were shown on the Letters to the Editor page of the newspaper. It wasn’t the opinion of the Sentinel nor was it representative of all homosexuals. This is just another misleading citation of opinion cloaked in the guise of coming from a newspaper or other credible source.

Claim: The homosexual agenda includes desensitizing the public: “The first order of business is desensitization of the American public concerning gays and gay rights…..To desensitize the public is to help it view homosexuality with indifference instead of with keen emotion. Ideally, we would have straights register differences in sexual preferences the way they register different tastes for ice cream or sports games….At least in the beginning, we are seeking public desensitization and nothing more. We do not need and cannot expect a full ‘appreciation’ or ‘understanding’ of homosexuality from the average American. You can forget about trying to persuade the masses that homosexuality is a good thing. But if only you can get them to think that it is just another thing…then your battle for legal and social rights is virtually won”

Source: “The Overhauling of Straight America.” Guide Magazine. November, 1987

Response: This article is from the gay magazine “Guide” and not to be confused with the Christian publication by the same name. While the Guide’s online archive only extends back to 1998, the article in question has been picked up by evangelicals all over the net. There is no reason to believe the article is false or that the authors meant what they said.

However, what is being said is being held up as evidence of some kind of “gay agenda”, implying a massive conspiracy on the part of all homosexuals to gain entrance into society through some kind of propaganda campaign. Tucked half into the list of claims we are dealing with as it is, such a charge is relying heavily upon fears you are already expected to have about the acceptance of homosexuals by heterosexuals.

Claim: Part of the homosexual agenda is to get the public to affirm their filthy lifestyle, as one homosexual admitted in the October 1987 homosexual rally on Washington: “We are no longer seeking just a right to privacy and a protection from wrong. We also have a right — as heterosexual Americans already have — to see government and society affirm our lives

Source: United States Congressional Record, June 29, 1989

Response: Rep. Dannemeyer strikes again! We are also expected to believe that an anti-homosexual crusader such as Dannemeyer is a credible source for what this alleged “homosexual agenda” has planned for an unsuspecting America.

Claim: Part of the homosexual agenda is to turn people from Christianity: “The teaching that only male-female sexual activity within the bounds and constraints of marriage is the only acceptable form should be reason enough for any homosexual to denounce the Christian religion”

Source: Advocate, 1985

Response: The Advocate’s website archive only extends back to 1999 and so we are once again offered an unverifiable source and told it is true. Whether it was truly printed in the Advocate or not, how it is presented in this list is of particular importance. For instance, notice the way you are told what to think before even reading the quote. You are told homosexuals want to turn people away from Christianity. However, the quote only addresses homosexual people who are confronted with the line in the sand already drawn by fundamentalist evangelicals who use their religion as a political football to deny homosexuals civil rights.

Claim: Homosexuals knowingly lied (and still lie) about the 10% figure (i.e., homosexuals make up 10% of the population). As Tom Stoddard (formerly of the Lambda Legal Defense Fund) said, “We used that figure when most gay people were entirely hidden to try to create an impression of our numerousness”

Source: Newsweek, February 1993

Response: The citation of the article is true and Tom Stoddard really did say that. However, what you aren’t told is that parties on both sides of the debate have their own reasons for the numbers they choose in the face of no hard data to say one way or the other. The article goes on to quote anti-homosexual crusader Paul Cameron:

It's hard to find anyone who writes in this field who is not driven by ideological concerns

Claim: The Kinsey study of 1948, which homosexuals often cite to say that 10% of the population is homosexual, actually says that only 4% of the population is EXCLUSIVELY homosexual. This study involved a disproportionate number of people who had been in jail for sex crimes (hardly a random sample of the population). Kinsey also did perverse studies involving young boys and pedophiles. Information on Kinsey.
Current research shows that the true percentage of homosexuals is in the 1-2% range

Source(s): Morton-Hunt Study for Playboy

Science Magazine, 18 July 1993, p. 322

United States Census Bureau

University of Chicago’s Nation Research Corp.

Reponse: None of the sources cited offer definitive answers to the question of how many homosexuals are around. It is a debate which still rages and is dependent on which statistical weighting model you care to use.

The obvious agenda here is to minimize the number of homosexuals in society so notion of granting “special protection” under the law seems ludicrous. However, this effort is negated by the fact that homosexuals have historically been the victims of crime and violence by virtue only being gay. Therefore, it doesn’t matter how many there are. The fact they have such a stigma warrants their inclusion in statements affirming equal protection under the law.

On a different note, the more interesting question is not how many homosexuals there are in society, but how many have consistently existed in all societies for all time?

Claim(s): The average yearly income of a homosexual is $55,430.00 (most of which is disposable because no children to take care of!). The average of the general population is $32,144.00. The average of blacks is $12,166.00

59.6% of homosexuals are college graduates. 18.0% of the general population are college graduates

Too bad they aren’t smart enough to listen to God. “Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools” (Romans 1:22).
49.0% of homosexuals hold professional/managerial positions. 15.9% of the general population hold such positions

Source: Statistical Abstract of the U.S., 1990

Response: This is yet another misleading citation along with editorial asides which reveal the true biased agenda on the part of the author. While the statistics given may or may not be true, the source doesn’t contain any data on homosexuals as a group. Instead, we are once again given opinion piggy-backed atop a credible source.

Claim: A phrase that has come up recently in this earth is “sexual orientation.” This is a phrase made up by homosexuals to try to make themselves look less filthy than they really are. The purpose of the phrase is to take the spotlight from what these perverts do, and put it on the notion that they are just poor, mistreated people, who simply are attracted to members of the same sex - as if they aren’t engaging in activity forbidden by God Almighty. “Sexual orientation,” as used today, has nothing to do with sexual activity (yeah, right), but only refers to who or what a particular person is attracted to. If you think that people of other “sexual orientations” are just fine, let’s see what other “sexual orientations” you would necessarily have to accept as wholesome and pure. If you’re not going to discriminate based on “sexual orientation”, then you must not discriminate against any of the following. If you discriminate against any of these, you’re a hypocrite. These “sexual orientations” are generally known as “paraphilias”, and are mental disorders - just like homosexuality used to be

Source: Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders Fourth Edition, American Psychiatric Association, 1994

Response: This is a bizarre conclusion to a bizarre list. The rant above is not mentioned anywhere in the “source” cited. As I have already shown the APA’s diagnostic manual does not list homosexuality or even sexual orientation as the paraphilia alluded to here. Thus, we are left with the final invective from someone who is obviously very upset over this absence and the fact that homosexuals aren’t viewed as monsters by the general populace.