And someone actually gave them money.
Posted on 09/05/2012 7:01:13 AM PDT by scottjewell
The head of the Australian Christian Lobby (ACL) Jim Wallace says smoking is healthier than the lifestyle that would be promoted by same-sex marriage.
Mr Wallace made the claim in a debate on marriage equality with Greens leader Christine Milne at the University of Tasmania on Wednesday.
Answering a question from a student on the relevance of his views, he said health statistics among the gay community were worse than those for smokers.
"I think we're going to owe smokers a big apology when the homosexual community's own statistics for its health - which it presents when it wants more money for health - are that is has higher rates of drug-taking, of suicide, it has the life of a male reduced by up to 20 years," he told the audience.
"The life of smokers is reduced by something like seven to 10 years and yet we tell all our kids at school they shouldn't smoke."
After the debate, Mr Wallace said the figures saddened him.
"But what I'm saying is we need to be aware that the homosexual lifestyle carries these problems and ... normalising the lifestyle by the attribution of marriage, for instance, has to be considered in what it does encouraging people into it," he said.
Mr Wallace said legalising same-sex marriage in other countries had not reduced risk factors for gay people.
"Where gay marriage has been introduced, or civil unions, it hasn't changed the level of suicide," he said.
"We have to accept the unfortunate levels of suicide, the unfortunate levels of excessive drug use (are) because of the nature of the lifestyle.
"I am very sorry for that. My heart goes out to those people. But it is a fact."
Senator Milne said discrimination in laws such as the Marriage Act was a contributor to any health concerns.
"What I know is that the mental health issues for young gay people particularly are certainly increased when discrimination occurs," she told reporters.
There was little love lost between Mr Wallace and Senator Milne during the debate.
Senator Milne accused the ACL of homophobia and said Christians should be more concerned with poverty than homosexuality.
She said with bills before the federal parliament and Tasmania's lower house last week passing a same-sex marriage bill, change was inevitable.
Mr Wallace accused the Greens of demonising churches with "hate language" and caring more for trees than children.
He described gay activism as "bullying" and said a climate had been created for "legislation by fatigue".
Tasmanian marriage equality advocates said the ACL was using outdated figures from a survey of obituaries in San Francisco newspapers at the height of the AIDS crisis.
"Yes, there are health problems in parts of the gay and lesbian community, but they are caused by the prejudice of people like Mr Wallace and the discriminatory laws he defends," Tasmanian Gay and Lesbian Rights Group spokesman Rodney Croome said in a statement.
"Mr Wallace's offensive remarks show how desperate he has become, and they effectively deal the Australian Christian Lobby out of the marriage equality debate."
Mr Croome said ACL representatives had previously linked gay equality to Nazis, paedophiles and the stolen generations.
"The quoting of irrelevant and biased studies to stigmatise gay Australians is a low and desperate tactic that diminishes Mr Wallace and his cause," Mr Croome said.
I'm not sure what statistics he's talking about here. There was a study done that said 20 years, but it wasn't from the homosexual community, and the methodology was dubious at best.
There is a well known study that the homosexuals can’t stand, that used many thousands of their own obituaries gleaned from their own magazines that clearly shows that the average (I did say AVERAGE) life span of a male homosexual with AIDS is 39 years.
Without AIDS, the life span is only 2 years longer (41 to be exact; suicide, alcoholism, gay men’s bowel syndrome, STDs, drugs, and murder from partners).
So, since smokers will more than likely live into their 70s, look at the life span of the average male homosexual with or without AIDS.
And yet we’re supposed to embrace the homosexual agenda (39/41 years average) and jump all over smokers (70+).
What’s wrong with this picture?
I wonder what “financial burden” the gay community puts on our healthcare? For years I’ve heard liberals scream that they don’t want to pay for smokers’ health problems or obese folks, etc. Do you have to come from a protected class for it to be alright?
Smoke ‘em if ya got ‘em!.............
There was a peer reviewed Canadian study that reached just that conclusion. The methodology wasn’t dubious.
So smokin’ (gay) sex must be doubly dangerous.
I once saw statistics published from Canada that showed homosexual men had, on average, a 21 year lower life-span compared to the average male. Disease, addiction, suicide and violence take their toll
I have since looked for similar statistics in the USA. I have not found any. Maybe they are out there, but given the PC climate we live in, they are not going to be found easily.
From 2004:
In addition to the physical, psychological, and emotional devastation of HIV/AIDS is the high cost of treatment. The wholesale cost for the combination drug therapies treating HIV is about $14,000 annually per patient. (Medication costs can be much higher depending on the drugs included in the regimen.) A study completed in 2002 estimated that costs treating patients who had progressed to an AIDS disease were around $34,000 annually per patient. [14] Variations in this approximation include medications, hospitalization, diagnostic costs and clinic costs. The health care costs of AIDS diseases and drugs for treating HIV have impacted your health insurance premiums tremendously. The direct costs of HIV/AIDS are similar to other very serious illnesses; however, the indirect costs are higher since HIV affects predominantly working-age persons. [15]
http://www.theroadtoemmaus.org/RdLb/22SxSo/PnSx/HSx/PhrmGayMrg.htm
You guys have it all wrong. The Homosexual lifestyle isn’t the cause of the suicide, drug abuse and other unhealthy behavior.
Homosexuality is a symptom, like all those other things, of a deeper underlying mental illness. Gays need treatment not normalization.
Excellent point.
And the rates of HIV/AIDS have been rising among gay males, another fact they want to obscure from the public discourse.
Yes much can be said along that line, that homosexuality may be symptom, consequence, incident of other psychological conflicts and crises.
The study would not have to come from the homosexual community to be valid. I am not sure what he is quoting from but there does seem to be many health risks associated with the gay lifestyle which are kept out of the public discourse and MSM reports - and it is not likely that gay marriage would sweep these away.
If you’re smoking during sex it means you need lube.
And someone actually gave them money.
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