Why can't liberal gay activists see that we would leave them alone if they would stop attacking the Catholic Church?

[mitex]

Mitex,

I am more inclined to say that I see Protestants like you professing Christianity uninclined to turn the other cheek. I know what it is like to be bullied, I know what it is like to be taunted, beaten, ridiculed, made fun of…and I am not homosexual…children can be cruel. Unresolved anger as a professing Christian disinclines me to accept Protestant thought based on how you present your vendeta…this causes me to reflect on other Protestants I have known like you that use the legal system to hurt people. I don’t know how many fundamentalist women have used the courts to destroy families because their husbands would not convert.

I see your rant as the pain that was caused by the Ulster Irish on Catholic Irish that could not find jobs, that were treated worse than slaves, it was said that the irish could build the railroad…slaves cost money…

You speak poorly for Protestant Christianity…that is what I see…

I have justified anger because I have been hurt by Catholics and Protestants alike (like you) over something I couldn’t help (orientation now not sex). You have not been hurt personally by me. I am not responsible for bad relations between two Christian communities across the ocean (who quite honestly neither goes to Church that much; many are secular). But you know what. A protestant bullying a Catholic is wrong and unchristian.

You won’t even acknowledge my hurt and pain. I have justified reason to be upset. I don’t care if you are opposed to same-sex marriage or gay sex. Really because we have that much in common. I am too. And I just acknowledged your pain and the pain all Catholics have gone through from protestants.

Because that pain is legitimate just like mine. But you don’t see mine as legitimate.

But I am tired of people telling me I have a pathology. I am tired Catholics telling me I’m a threat to little kids because I am somehow connected to pedophiles. I am tired of waking up and going to my religion class where a priest asks me daily to go to NARTH. I am tired of it.

 

[CopticChristian]

I have justified anger because I have been hurt by Catholics and Protestants alike (like you) over something I couldn’t help (orientation now not sex). You have not been hurt personally by me. I am not responsible for bad relations between two Christian communities across the ocean (who quite honestly neither goes to Church that much; many are secular). But you know what. A protestant bullying a Catholic is wrong and unchristian.

You won’t even acknowledge my hurt and pain. I have justified reason to be upset. I don’t care if you are opposed to same-sex marriage or gay sex. Really because we have that much in common. I am too. And I just acknowledged your pain and the pain all Catholics have gone through from protestants.

Because that pain is legitimate just like mine. But you don’t see mine as legitimate.

But I am tired of people telling me I have a pathology. I am tired Catholics telling me I’m a threat to little kids because I am somehow connected to pedophiles. I am tired of waking up and going to my religion class where a priest asks me daily to go to NARTH. I am tired of it.

Mitex,

I cannot change what the OHCAC says about homosexuals and homosexuality…see what it is you face…The Orthodox position is much harsher…

religioustolerance.org/hom_copt.htm

No society in history has accepted homosexuality as normal.
Gays and lesbians have never been comfortable about revealing their sexual orientation.
Nobody is born homosexual.
A homosexual orientation can be controlled.
One’s genes do not determine their sexual “preference.”
Some people become homosexual because of a hostile parent.
Others become homosexual by thinking positively about gay/lesbian activity, and experimenting with it.

holy-trinity.org/morality/homosexuality.html

The Orthodox Church believes that homosexuality should be treated by society as an immoral and dangerous perversion and by religion as a sinful failure. In both cases, correction is called for. Homosexuals should be accorded the confidential medical and psychiatric facilities by which they can be helped to restore themselves to a self-respecting sexual identity that belongs to them by God’s ordinance.

In full confidentiality, the Orthodox Church cares and provides pastorally for homosexuals in the belief that no sinner who has failed himself and God should be allowed to deteriorate morally and spiritually.

Psychiatric restoration, without religious direction and reconciliation with God, is bound to prove short lived.

A healthy society and various religions do not recognize perversions. Rather, they work to restore the homosexual to the status of a self-esteemed individual and thus to a valued instrument of their own survival and wellbeing under God.

I believe that all behavior can change. Being sick and tired is about the place where people start thinking about change. You may not believe you can change.

If you believe that Christ died on a cross, rose from the dead, ascended into heaven and performed miracles…then in God all things are possible and to believe that you cannot change is to discount the God you believe in…I pray for your change and settling of your mind…

 

[Monster]

Nope.

Yep

 

[Deo_Volente]

Grace & Peace!
"livingwordunity:

In the eyes of God and the Church a civil marriage can be a sacramental marriage even if the two who get married (husband and wife, of course) don’t realize or recognize it as such if we are talking about two non-Catholics who are both baptized Christians.

I know that, LWU. Please don’t take my quote out of context like that. I was responding to Mark, who was limiting the word “marriage” (in his post) to sacrament.

Indeed, LWU (and Elizabeth)–a civil marriage can be a sacramental marriage. But that’s part of my point: the state doesn’t confect that sacrament. The couple does. And in order for the sacrament to be confected properly (according the church’s understanding of what makes a sacrament), the couple needs to consist of proper matter–no proper matter, no sacrament.

And while neither the state nor the church could be said to confect the sacrament of marriage, it is to the church that the sacraments have been entrusted.

So what is it that I’m limiting when I affirm that the nature of a marriage is to be a sacrament?

Under the Mercy,
Mark

All is Grace and Mercy! Deo Gratias!

 

[FaithBuild18]

It never ceases to amaze me how upset people are with the truth. Even how upset Catholics are with the truth of the Church. People would rather be told lies and extend their personal comfort for as long as possible, than know and accept what is holy, just, and true. This likely stems from our entrenchment in the post-modern culture, where our positive feelings, contentment, and pure pleasure are the number one priorities in all our lives. I too of course, am guilty of this.

It upsets me when Catholics give in to moral relativism, and how we rationalize it in an attempt to find a loophole in our doctrines. Catholics must always be against same sex marriage. But a clever Catholic can rationalize that outside of marriage, we have no right to tell others what is right and wrong for them, so long as it is a union outside of the Church. THAT, is moral relativism at its finest. And it is Satan’s best weapon in disarming followers of the Lord.

What should never be forgotten, is that we are defending more than just words, more than just doctrine. We are defending a profound sense of truth and virtue. By virtue alone we should be opposed to same sex marriage. Catholic Doctrine was not arbitrarily dreamt up one day. It was informed by the truth, and by God’s Natural Law. Such doctrines we are to obey, not merely because we have to, but because they are true, and all that underlies them is* true*.

For the* reasons* we oppose same sex marriage, we must oppose all attempts at circumventing marriage in the name of unifying the disordered conjunction of any two peoples of the same gender. Catholics who are “pro-gay culture” wish to achieve a paralleled equivalence of marriage, thinking they can outsmart God and society by calling it a different name, failing to recognize that they are still violating the same Law. Marriage is not restricted to man and woman simply because the Church says. It is restricted to man and woman because that is what Natural Law dictates.

As merciful Catholics, we cannot wash our hands of the sins of others. We cannot stand idly by as man joins with man, and rationalize to ourselves, “Well that works for them, so long as they aren’t in my Church.” Nay! God will still judge their souls as he would ours, and we would be merciful to help ALL PEOPLE attain righteousness and spiritual purity! If you truly and honestly believe your values to be the truth declared by God, inspired by the Holy Spirit, mark my words you would want it to be known and shared! You would want the virtues of the Holy One bestowed upon the entire planet, not because they are yours and yours are best, but because they are the truth! Why oh why, would the Church have spent two thousand years reaching every corner of the globe, converting as many people possible, if we were not called to do the same? It is in our nature to share the truth with all! It is our calling to enforce the laws of God for the sake of ALL of our brothers and sisters.

Lord help us all, so that we will not go to You with blood on our hands, for by encouraging the prolonged ignorance of a generation we are slaughtering the souls of the innocent.

 

[Crescentinus]

It never ceases to amaze me how upset people are with the truth. Even how upset Catholics are with the truth of the Church. People would rather be told lies and extend their personal comfort for as long as possible, than know and accept what is holy, just, and true. This likely stems from our entrenchment in the post-modern culture, where our positive feelings, contentment, and pure pleasure are the number one priorities in all our lives. I too of course, am guilty of this.

It upsets me when Catholics give in to moral relativism, and how we rationalize it in an attempt to find a loophole in our doctrines. Catholics must always be against same sex marriage. But a clever Catholic can rationalize that outside of marriage, we have no right to tell others what is right and wrong for them, so long as it is a union outside of the Church. THAT, is moral relativism at its finest. And it is Satan’s best weapon in disarming followers of the Lord.

What should never be forgotten, is that we are defending more than just words, more than just doctrine. We are defending a profound sense of truth and virtue. By virtue alone we should be opposed to same sex marriage. Catholic Doctrine was not arbitrarily dreamt up one day. It was informed by the truth, and by God’s Natural Law. Such doctrines we are to obey, not merely because we have to, but because they are true, and all that underlies them is* true*.

For the* reasons* we oppose same sex marriage, we must oppose all attempts at circumventing marriage in the name of unifying the disordered conjunction of any two peoples of the same gender. Catholics who are “pro-gay culture” wish to achieve a paralleled equivalence of marriage, thinking they can outsmart God and society by calling it a different name, failing to recognize that they are still violating the same Law. Marriage is not restricted to man and woman simply because the Church says. It is restricted to man and woman because that is what Natural Law dictates.

As merciful Catholics, we cannot wash our hands of the sins of others. We cannot stand idly by as man joins with man, and rationalize to ourselves, “Well that works for them, so long as they aren’t in my Church.” Nay! God will still judge their souls as he would ours, and we would be merciful to help ALL PEOPLE attain righteousness and spiritual purity! If you truly and honestly believe your values to be the truth declared by God, inspired by the Holy Spirit, mark my words you would want it to be known and shared! You would want the virtues of the Holy One bestowed upon the entire planet, not because they are yours and yours are best, but because they are the truth! Why oh why, would the Church have spent two thousand years reaching every corner of the globe, converting as many people possible, if we were not called to do the same? It is in our nature to share the truth with all! It is our calling to enforce the laws of God for the sake of ALL of our brothers and sisters.

Lord help us all, so that we will not go to You with blood on our hands, for by encouraging the prolonged ignorance of a generation we are slaughtering the souls of the innocent.

^THIS IS QUOTED FOR TRUTH!

 

[Typist]

Recently, especially now, there is the mean, confrontational, in your face attitude.

It’s perhaps wise to recall that this social group has been the target of pervasive mean, confrontational, in your face oppression for centuries.

Some members of this group have recovered from the longstanding historic injury, and some have not.

And, it must be said, gay people are just people like anybody else, and some of them will, just like any other group, be confrontational by nature.

The reason you didn’t hear from these people earlier is that if they had raised their voices in earlier days some bunch of fascist goons would have taken them out behind the barn and beat the living **** out of them, or worse.

Every movement has it’s extremists, gays, Christians, every other group as well.

Remain calm and have patience. The storm will pass. Militant Black Panthers faded away naturally once it was seen they were no longer needed.

 

[CopticChristian]

Grace & Peace!

Indeed, LWU (and Elizabeth)–a civil marriage can be a sacramental marriage. But that’s part of my point: the state doesn’t confect that sacrament. The couple does. And in order for the sacrament to be confected properly (according the church’s understanding of what makes a sacrament), the couple needs to consist of proper matter–no proper matter, no sacrament.

And while neither the state nor the church could be said to confect the sacrament of marriage, it is to the church that the sacraments have been entrusted.

So what is it that I’m limiting when I affirm that the nature of a marriage is to be a sacrament?

Under the Mercy,
Mark

All is Grace and Mercy! Deo Gratias!

Mark,

This sounds very Catholic and if that was all there was to it then that would be a great answer. Your past postings concering homosexual unions need to be formulated and added to complete the picture. This is the sacramental side of your mind.

Explain the totality of unions as you see them, agree with, accept and have spoken about in past postings so that the entirety of your view can be expalined and understood.

I believe that marriage is a sacrament.

Two people that are male/female that are unbaptized are not sacramentally married but are married.

I don’t believe that any homosexual should marry.

Marriage does not belong to homosexual unions sacramentally or not.

Explain your agreement or opposition.

I don’t want to handicap you but please don’t go through paragraph after paragraph of argument about voting for sacraments and all the other convulutions I have read…simple answers for simple questions. Brevity is a sign of a clear mind.

 

[CopticChristian]

**It’s perhaps wise to recall that this social group has been the target of pervasive mean, confrontational, in your face oppression for centuries. **
Some members of this group have recovered from the longstanding historic injury, and some have not.

And, it must be said, gay people are just people like anybody else, and some of them will, just like any other group, be confrontational by nature.

The reason you didn’t hear from these people earlier is that if they had raised their voices in earlier days some bunch of fascist goons would have taken them out behind the barn and beat the living **** out of them, or worse.

Every movement has it’s extremists, gays, Christians, every other group as well.

Remain calm and have patience. The storm will pass. Militant Black Panthers faded away naturally once it was seen they were no longer needed.

Typist,

I rarely ask the question “why”…you may want to look in the past and ask that question. I am not saying I agree with the inhumane treatment of people…the issue of Race, Creed, Sex…is understood as just ignorance…however

Behavior that is opposed and why it is opposed has to be considered…imagine that you have convinced some of the world that “homosexuals” deserve and need certain rights.

You will never convince the OHCAC…if you haven’t noticed change comes slowly and when it comes to Faith and Morals…those things don’t change…reconcile yourself to that fact.

Sadly parts of the world have leaders whose beliefs motivate them to see homosexuality as a crime…good luck with those parts of the world…The USA has decriminalized sodomy however we are a democracy…the world is not a democracy…

So ask yourself “why” homosexuality is opposed…is it because of color, because they took jobs, because they were stealing, because they smell funny…keep asking yourself why…there should be a myriad of answers…some you can rationalize…some you cannot change…when you come to the conclusion that you cannot change some and you have that list then you will have come to terms with reality…

God help me accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can and the wisodom to know the difference…

Start the journey towards wisdom…

 

[Typist]

So ask yourself “why” homosexuality is opposed…

Because some are terrified of sex, or anything they don’t understand.

 

[CopticChristian]

Because some are terrified of sex, or anything they don’t understand.

Typist,

You show evidence of a narrow mind, a fixed mind, and an inablity to do any self reflective thinking. This is your problem. Is this the only reason…I will work on a list for you as I am sure those that read this will find other reasons…try this for one…

I oppose Homosexuality because it an unhealthy life style that creates disease in the head and neck, the genitals, the anus and rectum as well as whole body disease that is seen at a higher rate in homosexuals than the general population. Homosexuality incurs a higher risk of drug abuse, depression and suicide and leads to an unhealthy life in general.

Now think more.

 

[PRmerger]

Because some are terrified of sex, or anything they don’t understand.

Are you against pedophilia, Typist?

If so, is it because you are terrified of sex, or anything you don’t understand?



You can see, of course, that the question goes both ways.

And the answer, when you see it posed in the way I have, is nonsensical.

 

[FaithBuild18]

Are you against pedophilia, Typist?

If so, is it because you are terrified of sex, or anything you don’t understand?



You can see, of course, that the question goes both ways.

And the answer, when you see it posed in the way I have, is nonsensical.

Hahaha Bravo! In fact, this morning I posted in another topic: forums.catholic-questions.org/showpost.php?p=9554361&postcount=107

Isn’t it amazing? That topic was discussing animals… ABSOLUTELY NOTHING to do with this topic, YET, the same line of thinking is used OVER and OVER again by certain types of people. Simply amazing.

 

[CopticChristian]

The whole “gay rights” movement was and is a reaction to hate and violence. I mean seriously a gay teen could commit suicide, a gay man could get his brains bashed in, I could get spit on, or called names at my religious school (which happens anyway, talk about love!) and not one religious person, priest, minister, bishop, or Pope Benedict won’t do anything. Oh they’ll bash gays as having a pathology and as disordered, but then when it comes to actually helping those who are less fortunate (aren’t you supposed to stick up for those who are less fortunate especially homosexuals?) there’s a wall of silence.

Not one Bishop has spoken up in defense of gay teens (aside from hurried Canadian theological statement that is afraid to even use the word “homosexual” or “gay”).

For example Matt’s Safe School Law. In Michigan. After years of being stalled in the legislature Republicans and Democrats finally agreed on an anti-bullying bill that didn’t even mention sexual orientation.

But because it was named after a kid who happened to be gay, Evangelicals, Catholics had an uproar over “threats to religious liberty” “traditional values.”

I’ve got news for everyone. Telling a gay kid who is in a vulnerable place already that he is “disordered” or “going to hell” is pretty much bullying.

Want to know why gay activists single out the Catholic Church? Because you singled us out first. Every gay teen that you failed to stick up for, every gay bashing victim you turned your head from. Jesus didn’t act that way.

Because it’s hurtful, mean, and unhelpful.

And your blanket statements in the Catechism (something about justice, sensitivity, compassion?) which you cite in response to these arguments never get articulated. They get dusted off and mentioned once every ten years when the Church needs to hit home its point.

Matter of fact read this one:**

So basically it blames gays for violence against themselves. That’s real compassionate there.

No you wonder why gays like me are upset and hurt by the Church. Forget marriage! I don’t support SSM if it helps. But I won’t sit by while a Church calls me a pathology and blames me for torment and bullying that I have to have endured at the hands of Catholics at a Catholic college. Just on the basis of something I couldn’t help.

And of course you’ll all deny it and accuse me of being a radical homosexualist.

Mitex,

I discovered that you believe and are spreading a myth…

freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1034938/posts

Myth: Homosexuals are highly persecuted and frequently the victims of hate crimes.

Reality: Rates of violence against homosexuals are the highest within the homosexual community (gay-on-gay violence). (www.ojp.gov/bjs/pub/pdf/ipva99.pdf) In the U.S. during the year 2000, only two out of 15,517 murders were motivated by hatred toward homosexuals. (www.fbi.gov/ucr/ucr.htm) The federal government’s statistics confirm that anti-homosexual crime is not only rare, but statistically irrelevant, (Violence toward any person, regardless, is not acceptable.) The total number of crimes in the U.S. in 2000 was 11.6 million. Roughly eight ten-thousandths (0.008) of that number were found to be hate crimes of any type.

Why is there so much emphasis on the few homosexual hate crimes? What about the15,715 non-homosexual victims who were murdered in the year 2000? The rationale behind the great publicity and focus on hate crimes against homosexuals is to elevate sexual orientation to a special and protected class, to silence anyone who would speak out against homosexual behavior, and to advance a pro-homosexual agenda.

 

[livingwordunity]

It never ceases to amaze me how upset people are with the truth. Even how upset Catholics are with the truth of the Church. People would rather be told lies and extend their personal comfort for as long as possible, than know and accept what is holy, just, and true. This likely stems from our entrenchment in the post-modern culture, where our positive feelings, contentment, and pure pleasure are the number one priorities in all our lives. I too of course, am guilty of this.

It upsets me when Catholics give in to moral relativism, and how we rationalize it in an attempt to find a loophole in our doctrines. Catholics must always be against same sex marriage. But a clever Catholic can rationalize that outside of marriage, we have no right to tell others what is right and wrong for them, so long as it is a union outside of the Church. THAT, is moral relativism at its finest. And it is Satan’s best weapon in disarming followers of the Lord.

What should never be forgotten, is that we are defending more than just words, more than just doctrine. We are defending a profound sense of truth and virtue. By virtue alone we should be opposed to same sex marriage. Catholic Doctrine was not arbitrarily dreamt up one day. It was informed by the truth, and by God’s Natural Law. Such doctrines we are to obey, not merely because we have to, but because they are true, and all that underlies them is* true*.

For the* reasons* we oppose same sex marriage, we must oppose all attempts at circumventing marriage in the name of unifying the disordered conjunction of any two peoples of the same gender. Catholics who are “pro-gay culture” wish to achieve a paralleled equivalence of marriage, thinking they can outsmart God and society by calling it a different name, failing to recognize that they are still violating the same Law. Marriage is not restricted to man and woman simply because the Church says. It is restricted to man and woman because that is what Natural Law dictates.

As merciful Catholics, we cannot wash our hands of the sins of others. We cannot stand idly by as man joins with man, and rationalize to ourselves, “Well that works for them, so long as they aren’t in my Church.” Nay! God will still judge their souls as he would ours, and we would be merciful to help ALL PEOPLE attain righteousness and spiritual purity! If you truly and honestly believe your values to be the truth declared by God, inspired by the Holy Spirit, mark my words you would want it to be known and shared! You would want the virtues of the Holy One bestowed upon the entire planet, not because they are yours and yours are best, but because they are the truth! Why oh why, would the Church have spent two thousand years reaching every corner of the globe, converting as many people possible, if we were not called to do the same? It is in our nature to share the truth with all! It is our calling to enforce the laws of God for the sake of ALL of our brothers and sisters.

Lord help us all, so that we will not go to You with blood on our hands, for by encouraging the prolonged ignorance of a generation we are slaughtering the souls of the innocent.

 

[Typist]

I oppose Homosexuality because it an unhealthy life style that creates disease in the head and neck, the genitals, the anus and rectum as well as whole body disease that is seen at a higher rate in homosexuals than the general population. Homosexuality incurs a higher risk of drug abuse, depression and suicide and leads to an unhealthy life in general.

Gee, I wonder if you and I might be depressed if lots and lots of people were calling us horrible names and trying to keep us second class citizens?

I wonder if we might be depressed if we had to worry about being rejected by our families when we honestly disclose our sexuality?

I wonder if we might be depressed if our high school friends thought beating us up behind the gym was a fun game?

Black people have plenty of problems too, and lots of them are also the result of centuries of violent oppression by an ignorant hateful majority, and those decent people too cowardly stand up to protect them.

The wise course of action here for you would be to drop the subject, and patiently wait for me to forget that homophobia is part of Catholicism.

 

[livingwordunity]

Gee, I wonder if you and I might be depressed if lots and lots of people were calling us horrible names and trying to keep us second class citizens?

Do you think we like being called bigots? Do you think that’s a nice friendly thing for gay activists to call us when all we are doing is holding to our faith as it was given to the Church by God and the reality of how our bodies are made? If gay activists don’t agree with us why can’t they do so without calling us bigots? Marriage defined as one man and one woman existed long before there was a United States of America. Marriage existed long before the Catholic Church, and the definition of marriage never included homosexual relations. So according to the gay activist, everyone in history was a bigot.

 

[CopticChristian]

freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1034938/posts

Myth: Homosexuals suffer from the same types of discrimination that minorities experienced prior to the civil rights movement.

Reality: Homosexuality is a sexual behavior. It cannot be compared to race or ethnicity. People who engage in same-sex behavior are accorded the same rights as every other citizen. Special rights should not be given to individuals because of their sexual behavior. Homosexuality is not a genetically encoded condition - like height or skin color. Governments should not grant special rights to the homosexual community for what is a behaviorally-based identity rather than a true genetic one.

Myth: The mental and emotional problems that homosexuals experience are due to the straight community’s persecution and intolerance of their lifestyle.

Reality: If this were true, then one would expect to find lower rates of suicide and mental illness among homosexuals in areas where homosexuality has been mainstreamed and widely accepted for decades (i.e., San Francisco, European countries, particularly the Netherlands). However, research shows that there is no reduction in the rates of suicide, mental illness, substance abuse, alcoholism, and homosexual domestic violence in areas where homosexuality is more widely accepted. High rates of emotional trauma in homosexuals are not induced by society but rather are the result of deviant behavior that assaults the emotional and physical health, of those who engage in homosexual sex.

Myth: Homosexuals are powerless and oppressed by society.

Reality: Homosexuals are one of the most powerful special interest groups in the U.S. Their success in passing special “gay” rights legislation is unprecedented. Their opponents are silenced by cries of “homophobia,” and their cause has been taken up as a major plank in the Democratic Party’s platform. Their political power goes way beyond what would be expected of a minority that makes up about 2 percent of the population.

1. Homosexual behavior significantly increases the likelihood of psychiatric, mental and emotional disorders, according to a study in the Netherlands. Youth are four times more likely to suffer major depression, almost three times as likely to suffer generalized anxiety disorder, nearly four times as likely to experience conduct disorder, four times as likely to commit suicide, five times as likely to have nicotine dependence, six times as likely to suffer multiple disorders, and more than six times as likely to have attempted suicide. (Study of 5,998 Dutch adults. Theo G.M. Sandforte, T. Graaf, R. Bijl, R. Schnabel, P. (2001) Same-Sex Sexual Behavior and Psychiatric Disorders: Findings from the Netherlands Mental Health Survey and Incidence," Archives of General Psychiatry. 58, 10: 85-91.) **This research comes from the Netherlands where homosexuality has been accepted and mainstreamed for years, negating the mindset that a lack of tolerance of homosexual behavior and lifestyle produces these psychoses.
2. A co-twin study found that men with same-sex partners were 6.5 times as likely as their co-twin to have attempted suicide. The higher rate was not explained by mental health or substance abuse disorders. (Herrell, R. et al (1999) “A Co-twin Control Study in Adult Men” Archives of General Psychiatry. 56, 10: 867 - 874.)
3. A study by Harvard Medical School of 4,159 high school students (grades 9-12) found that “GLB youth report disproportionate risk for a variety of health risk and problem behaviors…engage[ing] in twice the mean number of risk behaviors as did the overall population.” More than 30 health risks and problem behaviors were identified, including an increased use of cocaine and other illegal drugs, use of tobacco, marijuana, and cocaine before age 13, sexual intercourse before age 13, and sexual intercourse with four or more partners. (R. Garofalo et. al., “The Association Between Health Risk Behaviors and Sexual Orientation Among a School-based Sample of Adolescents,” Pediatrics, Vol. 101, No. 5, May 1998: 895-902.) Homosexual or bisexual teenagers are more than three times as likely to attempt suicide as their heterosexual peers. (R. Garofalo, R. C. Wolf, L. S. Wissow, E. R. Woods and E. Goodman. "Sexual Orientation and Risk of Suicide Attempts Among a Representative Sample of Youth.’ Archives of Pediatric and Adolescent Medicine 153 [1999]: 487-493.)
4. A U.S. Justice Department study found an epidemic of violence between homosexuals: an annual average of 13,740 male victims of violence by homosexual partners and 16,900 victims by lesbian partners. (U.S. Department of Justice, “Intimate Partner violence and Age of Victim, 1993-99,” Bureau of Justice Selected Findings, November 1994. www.ojp.gov/bjs/pub/pdf/ipva99.pdf) By contrast, the 1999 statistics for hate crimes based on sexual orientation totaled 1,558 victims (U.S. Department of Justice Statistics : www.fbi.gov/ucr/ucr.htm)
5. A survey of 1,099 lesbians found that more than half reported that they had been abused by a female lover/partner. This includes verbal, emotional, psychological, and physical abuse. (Gwat Yong Lie and Sabrina Gentlewarrier, “Intimate Violence in Lesbian Relationships: Discussion of Survey Findings and Practice Implications,” Journal of Social Service Research 15 (1991): 41-59)
6. Among lesbians, “rates of verbal, physical, and sexual abuse were all significantly higher in their prior lesbian relationships than in their prior heterosexual relationships: 56.8% had been sexually victimized by a female, 45% had experienced physical aggression, and 64.5% experienced physical/emotional aggression.” (A 1991 survey of 350 lesbians, 75% of whom had been in a previous relationship with a man) (Donald G. Dutton “Patriarchy and Wife Assault: The Ecological Fallacy” Violence and Victims. Vol. 9, Number 2. , 1994. Page(s) 167-178.)
7. Women are four times more likely to be victims of domestic violence in a lesbian household than in a married household. (Claire Renzetti, Violent Betrayal) Married women in traditional families experience the lowest rate of violence compared with women in other types of relationships (“Violence Between Intimates,” Bureau of Justice Statistics Selected Findings, November 1994, p. 2)
8. The incidence of domestic violence among homosexual men is nearly double that in the heterosexual population (D. Island and P. Letellier, Men Who Beat the Men Who Love Them: Battered Gay Men and Domestic Violence, New York: Haworth Press, 1991, p. 14).
9. Relationship violence was found to be a significant problem for homosexuals.

44% of the gay men reported having experienced violence in their relationships;

13% reported sexual violence and 83% reported emotional abuse. Levels of abuse ran even higher among lesbians: 55% reported physical violence in their relationships, 14% reported sexual abuse, and 84% reported emotional abuse. (Study of 499 ethnically diverse homosexual, bisexual, and transgendered teenagers and adults) (Susan C. Turrell “A Descriptive Analysis of Same-Sex Relationship Violence for a Diverse Sample” Journal of Family Violence. Vol. 13, Number . , 2000. Page(s) 281-293)

 

[CopticChristian]

Gee, I wonder if you and I might be depressed if lots and lots of people were calling us horrible names and trying to keep us second class citizens?

I wonder if we might be depressed if we had to worry about being rejected by our families when we honestly disclose our sexuality?

I wonder if we might be depressed if our high school friends thought beating us up behind the gym was a fun game?

Black people have plenty of problems too, and lots of them are also the result of centuries of violent oppression by an ignorant hateful majority, and those decent people too cowardly stand up to protect them.

The wise course of action here for you would be to drop the subject, and patiently wait for me to forget that homophobia is part of Catholicism.

Typist,

You believe that name calling, believing you are a second class citizen, rejection, childhood behavior, oppression are the cause for your homosexual issues. After you study and I suggest everyone study the prior posting you should rethink this.

Explain how you see homophobia as part of Catholicism. Homosexual acts are sinful. You have a problem. I understand. You can forget what you choose to forget and believe what you choose to believe. Perception is reality.

I suggest you look into getting some aid in understanding your anger.

 

[Slavonic]

Regarding the first ‘myth’ LGBTQ couples are not allowed the right to marry in may places. They don’t want special rights they want the rights everyone else has.

The second ‘myth’ assumes that these people were always in the accepting environment. They most likely were not. It instead suggests that the persecution and intolerance these people faced could not be alleviated or escaped, making this persecution and intolerance even more sinister.

Regarding the third, I’d say the defense lobby is the most powerful interest group in the US. Also LGBTQs are oppressed by society because they are barred in many places from one of society’s most important institutions, marriage.