Getting It Straight: What the Research Shows about Homosexuality.

Getting it Straight What the research shows about homosexuality

Peter Sprigg and Timothy Daily Published by Family Research Council, 2004 Paper back, pp. 142, ISBN: 155872009X $5.00us (TO ORDER, SEE BELOW)

This book is not a book about religion, or about politics. It is a book of science. The Family Research Council has religious and political views, but they are not in this book. It is concerned exclusively with showing that six popular myths about homosexuality are false.

To do this, it gives a summary of the results of scientific research in these matters, very often using the conclusions reached by researchers or institutions that are pro-homosexual. This review will simply state what the book says.

The first myth is that people are "born gay." The early studies which tried to prove this are seriously flawed: "To date, all theories regarding the existence of a 'gay gene' remain unsubstantiated." "Bem concurs that 'a theoretical rationale for a direct path between the genotype and sexual orientation has not even been clearly articulated, let alone established." "The causes of same-sex attraction are many and varied." Byne and Parsons write: "It seems reasonable to suggest that the stage for future sexual orientation may be set by experiences during early development, perhaps the first 4 years of life." Brown concluded: "In summary, then, it would seem that the family pattern involving a combination of a dominating, over intimate mother plus a detached, hostile, or weak father is beyond doubt related to the development of male homosexuality."

The second myth is that 10 percent of the population is homosexual. There is a problem of knowing who is homosexual. Someone who has had only one homosexual contact, someone who is bisexual, someone who has had exclusively same-sex sex over the last year? And so on. "A survey of the American public ... found that only 14 percent of the general public generally correctly identified the size of the homosexual population as 3 percent or less."

The third myth is that homosexuals "have experienced a long continuing history of pervasive discrimination and outright persecution." One way of dealing with this matter is determining whether homosexuals are less well-educated or earn less income than others. "Studies indicate that homosexuals as a group actually have higher levels of education than heterosexuals." "Homosexuals and lesbians enjoy higher disposable income because they are unfettered by the expenses of rearing children."

The fourth myth is that homosexuality is not a health risk. "Homosexuals are at increased risk for contracting HIV." Even in the case of homosexuals who have sex with only one other homosexual, "the exclusivity of the relationship did not diminish the incidence of unhealthy sexual acts, which are commonplace among homosexuals." "STDs are rampant in the homosexual community." The Gay and Lesbian Medical Association also tells gay men to discuss with their health-care providers the following matters since they are at greater risk than others in these matters: substance use, depression, anxiety, hepatitis, prostate or testicular or colon cancel bulimia or anorexia nervosa, anal papilloma, with a similar list for lesbians.

The fifth myth is that homosexual parents do not pose risks for children. Sometimes favourable reports are made based on an inadequate sample size, or a lack of random sampling, or without anonymity of research participants, or with self-presentation bias. But "studies indicate that homosexual relationships are characteristically unstable and are fundamentally incapable of providing children the security they need." "Studies indicate that the average male homosexual has hundreds of sex partners in his lifetime." "There is a magnum order of difference between the negligible lifetime fidelity rate for homosexuals and the 75 to 88 percent cited for married couples." "Homosexual and lesbian relationships are far more violent than traditional married households." "Overall, the study has shown that children of married couples are more likely to do well at school, in academic and social terms, than children of cohabiting heterosexual and homosexual couples." "There is growing evidence that children raised in such households headed by homosexuals are more likely to engage in sexual experimentation and in homosexual behaviour." "Having a homosexual parent(s) appears to increase the risk of incest with a parent by a factor of about 50."

The sixth myth is that there is no link between homo sexuality and child sexual abuse. "The evidence indicates that homosexual men molest boys at rates grossly disproportionate to the rates at which homosexual men molest girls." "Homosexual pedophiles are vastly overrepresented in child sex abuse cases." "Victims of child sexual abuse are more likely to become homosexual" and "to become pedophiles."

This handsome book is available for a 45 (US) donation to the Family Research Council, 801 G Street, Washington, D.C., 20001, U.S.A.