I never said your friend was lying -- only that he is relating his own experience and not speaking for the whole gay community. Exodus International has a terrible track record of converting people to heterosexuality, and it no longer even claims to do so. John Paulk, who was the "poster boy" for the movement, who was on the cover of Newsweek and wrote a book about it, now leads a gay life and has apologized for all the people he has hurt. Exodus's current president, Alan Chambers, who admits he is still attracted to men even though he's married with children, says he doesn't believe "cure" is possible and the group's emphasis should be on helping people reconcile their religious beliefs with their sexual feelings. I see nothing wrong with that. What IS wrong is to give hope of a "cure" to vulnerable youth and teach them to hate themselves all over again. Psychologists consider it very damaging to young psyches. I'm not gay, but one of my sons is, and I'm not ashamed of that. He's married to a wonderful guy and they are both very successful and happy together. I never knew a thing about this subject until he came out to me, but now I would challenge you to find anyone more knowledgeable about it than I am -- for SURE not your church friend.

...The gay guy may go through the same process before finding a life mate, but the break-up of every romance that may be little more than a steady date is cited as evidence that gay relationships don’t last. The other problem is that anti-gay researchers gather their data from the STD clinics and pretend that the data apply to the whole gay community. The so-called Dutch study is often cited to show that gay relationships last from 1 to 1.5 years, and that gays average eight partners per year outside of their relationships. What they don’t tell you is that it was a study of AIDS transmission, not of gay relationships. Monogamous couples and anyone over 30 were excluded from the study because the wanted a sample most likely to spread HIV. So, what would you expect to learn about monogamy in a study that excluded anyone who was monogamous? Or about long-term relationships if all the research subjects were under 30?

Robert want us to believe that he knows all about gay people because he spoke to ONE "former" homosexual. In my research I have spoken to hundreds of gays, and I promise you that his information is bogus (And, by the way, there is no such thing as a "former" homosexual.) Poppers have been used by both gay and straight couples but are no longer legal -- at least not the original formulas. Gay men are more promiscuous when they're single (because they're horny men, not because they're gay) but fall in love and practice monogamy as faithfully as straight men do (which is really not all that faithful, but men are men whether they're gay or straight). Public sex in parks and public bathrooms is an unfortunate legacy of being forced into the closet for so long and having to hook up in secret places. In my experience, younger gay men are not into that because they're more open about their sexuality and have more opportunities to meet and date. That insurance-policy scam is something I have NEVER heard of from any of my connections in the gay world. That's one you would have to back up with factual information, because I believe IF it has happened at all it's a handful of people involved. I'll concede that it's possible, because dishonest people will always find a new method of fraud. The rodent story is a hoax. It started with a rumor that has persisted about a celebrity (Richard Gere is usually named) needing to have a gerbil extracted from his anus. It wasn't true. According to snopes.com, no instance of “gerbil-stuffing” has ever been substantiated, nor any medical report of a “gerbilectomy” ever verified. The rumor has been perpetuated by doctors and nurses who claim to have been at Cedars-Sinai Hospital -- or known someone who was -- when the animal was removed. In debunking this story, Snopes researchers wrote: “Cedars-Sinai is apparently the best-staffed hospital in the world, since several hundred doctors and nurses were reportedly on duty at the time Mr. Gere was allegedly brought in for treatment.” The studies that have concluded that gay relationships don’t last or are unstable have two common flaws. One is that they compare gay “relationships” to straight marriages. That does not account for the many relationships a straight man or woman may have had before marriage. A straight guy may have many steady girlfriends and even live-in relationships before marrying, but his marriage is the only relationship cited.

I do not think that a person’s belief in a biblical condemnation of homosexuality necessarily makes that person a bigot. But zealots who tell us that all gay people are child molesters, or they all use poppers, or they're all dishonest, or they're all promiscuous, or they’re not capable of loving, long-term relationships, are bigots. It is the very definition of bigotry to assign common characteristics to all members of a certain class of people.

I do not think that a person’s belief in a biblical condemnation of homosexuality necessarily makes that person a bigot. But zealotz who tell us that all gay people are child molesters, or they all use poppers, or they're all dishonest, or they're all promiscuous, or they’re not capable of loving, long-term relationships, is a bigot. It is the very definition of bigotry to assign common characteristics to all members of a certain class of people.

The "slippery slope" arguments don't hold water. There already ARE domestic relationships with three, four or more people. They're not legal, so they're not prosecuted. The fundamentalist Mormons can continue to practice polygamy because only one "wife" is a legal spouse. Unless there is welfare fraud or an underage wife, there is no crime. So the question is, do you really think this country would EVER tolerate making such relationships legal? Do you really think we would allow three wives to collect Social Security survivor benefits when one man dies. Do you really think we'll grant the military healthcare benefits to a soldiers three wives. The accepted number for legal purposes is two people. But it should be recognized that two gay people should be granted the same rights and benefits you and I enjoy by being in conventional marriages.

Talk about unsupported drivel! If you can find a pet that can say "I do," then I'll stand up for your right to marry it. Until then, what is it you don't understand about the term "consenting adult"?

Greg, they're gay, not sterile. Elton John has children, Ricky Martin has children, Oscar Wilde had children. Of the 2 million children being raised by gays, many are their own biological children, and many of the the adoptees are the difficult-to-place kids that straight couples didn't want. They're raising the crack babies, the AIDS-infected babies and others nobody wanted, and those I have met are doing a wonderful job with them.

you're simply repeating misinformation that some vehemently anti-gay organizations have spread to try discredit the whole gay community. During gay-marriage campaigns, all the old lies get repeated again and again. Drug use in the gay community IS slightly higher than among straight people, but it has nothing to do with being gay. Addictions among gay people are the legacy of a negative social environment that almost nobody could survive without at least some psychological damage. Drugs are coping mechanisms, and nobody needs coping mechanisms more than gays who must put up with your hateful attitudes every single day. “Bug chasing” -- deliberately trying to become HIV-positive by having unprotected sex -- has been termed a “growing phenomenon” by the Traditional Values Coalition and other conservative groups that like to characterize gays as deranged perverts. But in fact it is has virtually disappeared now that AIDS is not a death sentence. Most rumors about bug chasers and “bug parties” are just that -- rumors. The bug chasers and “gift givers” (the infected partners) represented a very small percentage of gay men, even at the height of the epidemic. And your theory that AIDS was a "badge of honor" is BS. Psychologists theorized that the desire to become infected was an anxiety disorder in which a person saw it as inevitable and wanted to just “get it over with” to relieve his fear.

Funny, but I never have seen the use of the term "breeder" as a smear or something derogatory. It certainly doesn't rise to the level of hatred that comes with terms like "que*r" and "fa66ot."

Funny, but I never have seen the use of the term "breeder" as a smear or something derogatory. It certainly doesn't rise to the level of hatred that comes with terms like "que*r" and "fa66ot."