This article is not meant to discriminate, vilify or foment detestation towards LGBT persons or any persons reading its words. I would like to take this opportunity to communicate love towards any reader who disagrees with what I have stated here. Your life is precious to God and in God we can all find life, love and eternal purpose.
Shawn Stevens
SAFETY CONCERNS WITH THE SAME-SEX LIFESTYLE
Is it dangerous to participate in the same-sex lifestyle? The following is a look at some professional studies. Readers can weigh the material and come to their own conclusions.
At the outset it must be stated the there are safety risks associated with any type of sexual activity, whether that be heterosexual, homosexual or other. The focus of this article is to present studies that have examined the risks associated with same-sex relationships and to allow readers to draw their own conclusions. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has reported that men who have sex with other men (since 1977) have a HIV prevalence that is sixty times higher than the general public's. In this report, active homosexuals account for the largest group of people who are found HIV positive by blood donor testing. 1 According to the Center for Disease Control for the United States, homosexuals account for the single largest exposure category of males who have AIDS in the United States. The XIII International AIDS Conference, in Durban, South Africa, presented a study which says that 16% of a surveyed 1,397 homosexuals with HIV admitted having sex with a partner who was unaware of their disease. 4 If those statistics are shocking, then what should we make of the University of San Francisco's study which claims that 36% of homosexuals who practiced unprotected anal, oral or vaginal intercourse didn't inform their casual sex partners of their serostatus. 5 If a percentage of 36 is shocking, then consider that in Los Angeles, in a study of bi-sexual men with HIV it was found that over 54 % did not disclose their infected status to their sex partners. 6
While HIV is a deadly disease, it is not only HIV that is common in the gay community, but other diseases are as well. The Center or Disease Control says; “Outbreak of hepetitus A among men who have sex with men are a recurring problem in many large cities in the industrialized world.” 7HVP, hepatitus A, hepatitus B, hepatitus C, syphilis and gay bowel syndrome are among the diseases which can be commonly found among the homosexual community.8 The CDC studied 3,492 homosexuals between ages of fifteen and twenty-two and found that one in six had sex with women, too. Of those who had sex with the opposite sex, one in four said that their sex was unprotected and nearly 7% of the men in this study had HIV. 9
Some will feel that presenting this kind of information is a form of gay-bashing. However, I do not hate gay people. I only want to share the above research so readers can weigh it for themselves and come to their own conclusions. I also acknowledge that there are some risks involved with any form of sexual activity, not only gay activity. I hope what I have written will be taken in the spirit that it is given. God bless you. Wherever you stand on this issue know that you are loved.
Shawn Stevens
ENDNOTES :
1. “Vaccines, Blood & Biologics.''http://www.fda.gov/ BiologicsBloodVaccines.
4. Ulysses Torassa, “Some With HIV Aren't Disclosing Before Sex; UCSF Researcher's 1397-person Study Presented During Aids Conference.'' The San Francisco Examiner, (July 15, 2000).
5. Garbo, “Gay and Bi Men Less Likely to Disclose They Have HIV” Gay Health News (July 18, 2000) www.gayhealth.com/template/O/news?record=136 quoted in Getting It Straight. Peter Sprigg & Timothy Dailey Ed. (Washington: Family Research Council, 2004).74
6. Getting It Straight. Peter Sprigg & Timothy Dailey Ed. (Washington: Family Research Council, 2004). 75
8. Peter Sprigg & Timothy Dailey Ed. Getting It Straight (Washington: Family Research Council, 2004).
9. “Bi Sexuals Serve as 'Bridge' Infecting Women with HIV” quoted in Getting It Straight. Peter Sprigg & Timothy Dailey Ed. (Washington: Family Research Council, 2004), 85.
REFERENCES:
King James Bible
Morality and Morbidity Weekly Report, (Center For Desease Control and Prevention September 4, 1998), 708.
Joseph Nicolosi, Ph.D. and Linda Ames Nicolosi. A Parent's Guide To Preventing Homosexuality. Downers Grove: InterVarsity Press, 2002.
The San Francisco Examiner, July 15, 2000. Torassa, Ulysses. “Some With HIV Aren't Disclosing Before Sex; UCSF Researcher's 1397-person Study Presented During Aids Conference.''
Sprigg, Peter & Timothy Dailey. Ed. Getting It Strait. Washington: Family Research Council, 2004.
Turek, Frank, Ph.D. Correct, not Polictically Correct : How Same-Sex Marriage Hurts Everyone. Charlotte: Frank Turek, 2008.
http://www.fda.gov/ BiologicsBloodVaccines. “Vaccines, Blood & Biologics.”
What Research Shows : Narth's Response to the APA Claims of Homosexuality (Summary)
Whitehead, Dr. Neil & Briar Whitehead, ''My Genes Made Me Do It” http://www.mygenes.co.nz