Does it Get Better? The Lies of Pro-Gay Education

The outrage over Dan’s Savage’s profanity laced lecture at a conference for high school journalism students has focused on his frontal attack on the Bible. This has diverted attention from Savage’s objective: promoting his “It gets better,” campaign, the purpose of which is to encourage confused and troubled teenagers to ‘come out’ and experiment with homosexuality.

Christians may be upset, but this hardly bothers Savage who is achieving his objective. His anti-Bible rants appeal to his target audience. He undermines the students’ faith, validates their rebellion against parents, and encourages sexual promiscuity. The raucous applause from the students who didn’t walk out shows that Savage’s remarks had the desired effect. Unfortunately, defending the scriptural prescriptions against homosexuality will only reinforce Savage’s message that Christians are anti-sex and that being gay or pro-gay is cool.

For decades, the gay activists and their allies have been engaged in a systematic campaign to get their propaganda into schools. First, they used parents’ fear of teen pregnancy to push for comprehensive sex education, which turned out to be pro-gay education. Then they used the AIDS epidemic to push pro-gay ‘safe-sex’ education. Now they are using bullying to launch a frontal attack on religion and push a pro-gay agenda. Dan Savage’s rant has only made explicit what has been implicit in pro-gay education from the beginning, namely that it is stridently anti-Christian.

Pro-gay education is based on fabrications and lies. For example, in spite of claims that persons with same-sex attraction (SSA) are ‘born that way’ and can’t change, there is no scientific evidence that to back up these assertions,[1] and plenty of evidence that SSA is rooted in early negative experiences[2] and that change is possible.[3] Many teenagers who think they might be “gay” discover later they aren’t.[4]

While Savage tells vulnerable teens experiencing SSA that “It gets better,” there is substantial, uncontroverted evidence that it doesn’t, and it could get a lot worse. Encouraging adolescent males to engage in sex with other men is a prescription for disaster. Sexually transmitted diseases are rampant in the gay community. Since 1981, 300,000 MSM have died of AIDS, and 6,000 are expected to die this year and every year for the foreseeable future. According to the CDC, in 2008, 17,940 MSM were diagnosed with HIV infections, an increase of 17% from 2005. MSM accounted for 53% of all new infections. MSM are 44 to 86 times more likely to be diagnosed HIV positive than men who don’t.[5] In addition 65 percent of all new cases of syphilis were found in MSM, although MSM make up less than 2% of the population. MSM are more likely to contract cancer, particularly Human Papillomavirus caused anal and oral cancer; more likely to contract antibiotic resistant gonorrhea[6], and a host of other exotic sexually transmitted diseases.

Gay positive ‘safe sex’ education has failed. Adolescent MSM may promise themselves to always use a condom, but study after study reveals that very few MSM keep that promise.[7] They suffer from ‘condom fatigue.’ They have sex when they are drunk or high. In the heat of passion they lie about their HIV status. They don’t get tested when they know they are at risk.  The younger a man is when he begins to have sex with men the greater the risk he will become infected.[8]

The AIDS epidemic didn’t randomly strike the gay community. There was an epidemic of STDs among MSM before AIDS appeared. And those dealing with the pre-AIDS STD epidemic among MSM foresaw that the introduction of a new lethal pathogen would be disastrous. Tragically, they were right. What is worse, after the AIDS epidemic started, gay activists successfully sabotaged standard public health measures for control of STDS. They were more interested in preserving their sexual revolution, than saving lives. The history of the disaster was laid out by Randy Shilts (who died of the AIDS) in his book And the Band Played On.

And disease is not the only risk, boys who enter the gay scene are more likely to abuse drugs and alcohol, particularly crystal meth,[9] more likely to engage in prostitution or be victims of domestic violence.

The geeky, awkward adolescent, who thinks that coming out as gay will provide instant acceptance, will quickly discover that among gay men physical beauty is highly prized. In the sex crazed world of circuit parties and anonymous hook ups that characterizes gay life, the unattractive — even the just average — face repeated rejection.

And even the beautiful ones grow old. Consider the story of Bob Bergeron a handsome gay New York therapist, who according to his friends had it all. He had just finished a book designed to provide positive advice to older gay men, The Right Side of Forty: The Complete Guide to Happiness for Gay Men at Midlife and Beyond.  However, in January of this year a friend found him with a plastic bag over his head. He had been dead several days. His suicide note was written on the title page of his book. An arrow pointed to the name of the book, followed by the words: “It’s a lie based on bad information.” Unfortunately Bergson’s suicide is not an aberration. Gay and bisexual men are three times more likely to attempt suicide.[10]

Given the health consequences alone, pro-gay education presents an unacceptable risk —  a risk far greater than the problems it pretends to address – and its advocates – like Dan Savage – shouldn’t be allowed within a hundred yards of school. A pro-smoking or pro-pedophilia advocate would pose less danger.