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Tuesday, August 09, 2005
Gay life expectancy
Is there any depths to which homophobes won't sink? Here we have one Rod Parsley explaining that tolerance of homosexuals is just wrong:"These people teach our children in public school, they are in places of business, they live in our communities," Parsley acknowledges, "but there's a difference in tolerance and forcing others to give credence to a lifestyle that we believe is abhorrent." According to the Christian author and evangelist, those who follow Christ have a responsibility where homosexuals are concerned. "The fact of the matter is, we must move people first to compassion, then to wisdom, and then to duty," he says.
They teach are kids, they work with us, they live as our neighbors. Why, it's almost as if they are just like the straight folk! Except, of course, homosexuality is incredibly deadly:
"Even if you take Romans 1 out of the picture," the author of Silent No More notes, "I'm against homosexual marriage and I'm against the homosexual lifestyle because the average life expectancy of a homosexual and lesbian in the United States is 42 and 45, versus 75 and 79. These people are fighting for a lifestyle that is robbing them of half of their life expectancy."
If you Google this crazy idea you find a lot of people pushing the myth, which dates back to 1997:
[Bill] Bennett got the number from Paul Cameron, a researcher well known to followers of gay controversies. Cameron, a former assistant professor at the University of Nebraska who has consulted for such gay-rights opponents as former Rep. William Dannemeyer, R-Calif., heads a group called the Family Research Institute. Cameron resigned under fire from the American Psychological Association and was later formally terminated from membership following complaints about his research methods. He has had run-ins with other professional groups, including the Nebraska Psychological Association and the American Sociological Association. According to Mark Pietrzyk's expose in the Oct. 3, 1994, New Republic, the state of Colorado initially hired Cameron as an expert witness to defend its statute restricting gay-rights ordinances, then elected not to use his testimony after it got a closer look. His life-span figures have circulated for years in religious-right circles, but Bennett's comments appear to represent their first real breakout into wider public discussion.
Cameron's method had the virtue of simplicity, at least. He and two co-authors read through back numbers of various urban gay community papers, mostly of the giveaway sort that are laden with bar ads and personals. They counted up obituaries and news stories about deaths, noted the ages of the deceased, computed the average, and published the resulting numbers as estimates of gay life expectancy.
This "study" was updated in June:
"These findings add substantial support to our previous findings," said Cameron, who headed the study. "While no one has all the facts on this issue, the CDC data is about as good as it gets. These data indicate that considerable progress in medically combating HIV is being made -- its even affecting deaths from other medical causes. Right now, the median age of death for gays in the obituaries is running near 60 -- about tied with the median age of death for lesbians. Of course, the median age of death for adults is about 80 -- so the 20 year hit for engaging in homosexuality that we reported 15 years ago continues to hold."
From 1997 to 2005, then, the average life expectancy for homosexuals, according to the Religiously Correct, has increased from about 40 to about 60, even though they are relying on the same ridiculous source of data -- obituaries in the Washington Blade. A better man than me might be able to laugh this off, but I find these coordinated misinformation campaigns morbidly offensive.
The actual number, according to scientists, is probably closer to 1.2 years, 7.7 years for African American gay men.
13 Comments:
What kind of science do you expect from people who think that the earth was created about 6,000 years ago?
By 
, at
4:56 PM
I've found some legitimate research in this area. It's impossible to really quantify, because there is no hard data correlating homosexualty and death rates. There are guesses based on assumptions about the ratio of homosexuals to heterosexuals (1:33 to 1:11) and the ratio of homosexuals with HIV to the ratio of heterosexuals with HIV (19:1). You can make rough guesses, but nothing more.
To the contrary, surveys show up to 51% of Americans will treat it as valuable information.
Coming from someone who USED to identify as Gay (me)...I came out of the life of being Gay about 2.5 years ago and I knew inherentley that THIS was NOT who I was supposed to be. I read all the John boswell books and most research material religious, psychological, emotional, historical..etc. you name it I read it! The ststistical and FACTUAL evidence that I encountered on BOTH sides left Me to conclude that:
#1. I was NOT born Gay
#2. Homosexuality does NOT exist in nature. It only appears as such because even watching the herd of chihuahua's here it is the way that alpha males and females express dominance AND ther is NEVER any penetration!
#3. Christianity and Homosexuality will NEVER reconcile (regardless of how many churches turn liberal to the notion)
#4 GOD'S Rulership over what HE has created will ALWAYS supercede the rulership of MEN!
(in other words just by changing churches doesn't mean that God has accepted the homosexual behavior just because you decided to choose a Church that accepts your lifestyle)
#5. Homosexuality is a KEY FACTOR in the decline and fall of every Empire or Government made by men..(proof: ROMAN EMPIRE, and please name ONE Empire or Government that man has made that has withstood the test of time...they ALL have fallen and Homosexuality has played a KEY factor in the decline of ALL of them)
#6. Part of healing from a destrictive lifestyle is to understand what went wrong in the first place, and then addressing the issues head-on.study,study,study!!!
By , at
1:35 AM
and don't forget to apply what you learn. regardless of Your Religious affliliation or lack of religion...DO it for YOU. I am so glad that hind-sight is 20/20 because it allows you to identify with why it is you have behaved the way you did, all the while being miserable and LYING to yourself by repeating the lie that you are happy everyday. I can say today that my mind is clear something I didn't even know was cloudy until the illusion of "being gay is great" receded...Everyone talks about "struggling" with the desires..Maybe they are just not being honest with themselves enough to do the really hard work of cleaning up the mess and expect God to come in and clean house?..It isn't like smoking or alcohol once a smoker always a smoker or once and alcoholic always an alcoholic...ONLY IF YOU CHOOSE TO BE! I chose reading and faith to fill the gap AFTER addressing the issues I did not use them to DISTRACT me from the work I had to do. I think that is why so many still struggle for years, they continue to ignore the underlying CAUSES of Homosexuality. The Devil isn't responsible for ALL of OUR mistakes you know?..If You claim resposibility, You also claim the POWER to change, it is a package deal, and only few have discovered it. I personally have no desires to do what I have done in my past. I enjoy life today far too much and enjoy having a clear thinking and rational mind to throw it in the trash over something that just does not interest me anymore...A kid will play with a toy when he is 3 to 7 years old NOT when he's 30.
By , at
1:53 AM
I suppose I should tell you that "no, I am not Stephen Bennett"...(I don't even go to church) I do rest on the SABBATH (saturday NOT sunday, I have learned that sunday-keeping IS the mark of the beast) however, as GOD commands! I also should tell You that I don't bitch,gripe,wave a sign NOR advertise My life in any way, I ain't no homo-promo nor ex-homo promo.. nor do I cry estatically at Exodus campaigns like an over emotional Tammy-faye at a Judy Garland concert passing out like an African-american at a spirit filled organ playing jazzed up praise the lord ,tongue jibberish foolish garbage...Nope, not Me at all. Personally I could care less if the Evangelicals and the Homo's totally annhilalate each other(I wouldn't even watch the shit on T.V.)....It wouldn't make a shit to me...I think it would be nice to see everyone STFU for once. "If you mind your own business, you'd be busy all the time"...Wise words too bad they aren't applied by those whom we think are "wise" today..
By , at
2:24 AM
Methinks Rollin' Thunder needs to justify himself with three paragraphs' worth of text because he's internally disagreeing with what he's saying.
By , at
8:57 PM
One of the major reasons homosexuals have a lower life expectancy is because so many people in the world are constantly condemning them which leads to serious depression and stress. Research has been done that homosexuals are a lot more prone to suicides and depression due to societal rejection. Rather than focusing on prosecuting homosexuals even more, shouldn't we develop more social programs that would support the homosexuals instead?
By , at
8:24 PM
Creationism should be the origin philosophy of choice within the gay community ("God made me this way."), since the evolutionary view is a literal dead end.
GO Rod Parsley!!! Whoever you are...
By , at
5:49 PM
One of the major reasons homosexuals have a lower life expectancy is because so many people in the world are constantly condemning them which leads to serious depression and stress. Research has been done that homosexuals are a lot more prone to suicides and depression due to societal rejection.
This statement is total BS, in some or Europe where homosuxual behavior has been embraced for decades (i.e. social acceptance) the high rates of mental illness in the same sex attraction community continues. There is in fact a high correleation between homosexual behavior and mental illness. Why? It certainly is not because of mainstream society's rejection of same sex intimate behavior.
By , at
1:31 PM
Sandfort TG, de Graaf R, Bijl RV, et al. Same-sex sexual behavior and psychiatric disorders: findings from the Netherlands Mental Health Survey and Incidence Study (NEMESIS). Arch Gen Psychiatry 2001;58(1):85-91.
This was a study on Dutch homosexuals. Anyone familiar with the Netherlands knows it is a very tolerant place. Yet Dutch Homosexuals have significantly higher mental health issues, on par with American homosexuals.
Clearly, intolerance has little, if anything, to do with mental issues (and other problems) within the gay community.
By , at
2:16 PM
I do not understand why anyone would want to condone an activity that is clearly unnatural, causes disease, and causes an early death. It's almost as if we have decided the best way to get rid of this crazy idea is to pretend to accept it and let them destroy themselves: how cruel. But, if they die at an early age, we won't have to worry about providing Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, etc. We can do this under the guise of tolerance. It's like telling a drug addict his life style is ok. But, that wouldn't work because they might kill an innocent person on the highway, in the classroom or at the mall.
By , at
6:21 PM
