What's wrong with same-sex marriage?

Maggie Gallagher, Chairman of the National Organization for Marriage, testified in Maryland: "Marriage is the union of husband and wife for a reason: these are the only unions that can make new life and connect children in love to their mom and dad."

She said the same-sex bill "doesn't just add more people to marriage. It changes marriage. As so many pro-gay marriage voices testified at this very hearing, gay marriage is grounded in the belief that this view of marriage is like objections to interracial marriage - something that should be discarded in law, culture and society. If Maryland adopts this radical new view of marriage, it will have consequences."

What are those consequences?

First, traditional marriage will be undermined morally. It is based on the principle of exclusivity, that one is to be faithful to one's spouse for life. Of course adultery exists, but one study reports 80% of men and 86% of women have been faithful to their spouses for life.

By contrast, a 1978 study found that 75% of white, gay males claim to have had more than100 male sex partners. In fact 15% claimed over 500 partners and 28% said they have had more than 1,000.

Is this an atmosphere in which children should be raised? I think not. The media portrays gay marriages with children as normal. They are not.

Second, gay sex is physically harmful. "The medical consequences of gay promiscuity is that gays have a greatly increased likelihood of contracting HIV/AIDS, syphilis and other STDs," writes Dr. John Diggs Jr. in "The Health Risks of Gay Sex," published by the Corporate Resource Council.

One study estimated a 20-year-old gay male has a 50% chance of becoming HIV positive by age 55. Gay men contract syphilis at 3-4 times the rate of heterosexuals. A Seattle study found that 85% of syphilis cases were among homosexuals.

Why? Anal sex is the sine quo non of sex for gay men. "Yet human physiology makes it clear that the body was not designed to accommodate this activity. The rectum is significantly different from the vagina with regard to suitability for penetration by a penis. The vagina has natural lubricants," writes Dr. Diggs. The potential for injury in anal sex is exacerbated by the fact that the intestine has only a single layer of cells separating it from highly vascular tissue, that is blood."

There are also high rates of psychiatric illnesses including depression, drug abuse and suicide attempts among gays and lesbians.

The bottom line is that the life span of gay and bisexual men is 20 years less than heterosexuals, according to the only epidemiological study to date.

Therefore, it is inhumane to pass same-sex marriage laws and civil unions that will induce more people into this lifestyle. It will condemn hundreds of thousands to disease, mental illness and early death.

Some argue that gay marriage would reduce promiscuity, but two-thirds of gay couples report sex outside the relationship within their first year, and 90% if it lasted five years. In fact, only 15% of gay men and 17% of lesbians had relationships that lasted more than three years, according to Dr. Diggs.

Nor are gays particularly interested in marrying. After five years, there have been only 5,000 "gay marriages" in Massachusetts. If 3% of the state's 3.3 million males are gay, there are 99,000 gay men in the state. Only a tenth have "married."

It is time to say that "gay marriage" is a fraud and extremely harmful.

States that have passed gay marriage laws should rescind them. At the least, they should be submitted to a referendum.

It has been voted down in all 31 states that have given people a voice, even liberal California.

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