The Real Costs of 'Gay Marriage' and Civil Unions     1/27/2004 By Robert H. Knight Homosexuality carries enormous physical and mental health risks. Presented as an advance in tolerance, "gay marriage" and civil union laws are not compassionate. Instead, they are a declaration of indifference over the tragic results of homosexuality and a direct threat to marriage and the well being of children. Homosexuality carries enormous physical and mental health risks, even where governments promote homosexual unions. The journal AIDS reported that in the Netherlands, where "gay marriage" has been legal since 2001, HIV and other diseases are soaring among homosexual men. The study notes that "partnered" homosexuals have "outside" lovers, and are contracting the AIDS virus at alarming rates. Whether it is "gay marriage" or civil unions, state sanction of homosexual relationships: Further weakens the family, by creating a counterfeit variety of marriage. Entices children to experiment with homosexuality. This puts more kids at risk for HIV, hepatitis A, B and C, "gay bowel syndrome," human papillomavirus (HPV), syphilis, gonorrhea and other sexually transmitted diseases. Homosexual households are also more prone to domestic violence. For example: "The incidence of domestic violence among gay men is nearly double that in the heterosexual population," according to D. Island and P. Letellier in Men Who Beat the Men Who Love Them (New York: Haworth Press, 1991). A study in the Journal of Social Service Research reported that "slightly more than half of the [lesbians surveyed] reported that they had been abused by a female lover/partner." (G. Lie and S. Gentlewarrior, "Intimate Violence in Lesbian Relationships: Discussion of Survey Findings and Practice Implications," No. 15, 1991.) Puts more children at risk as adoption agencies decline to favor married homes and place more children in motherless or fatherless households. Encourages more people to remain trapped in homosexuality rather than seek to re-channel their desires toward normal, healthy sexuality. Pits the law and government against the beliefs of millions of Massachusetts citizens who believe homosexuality is wrong. Massachusetts legislators have a choice: They can help lead the nation back to sanity or they can further degrade marriage. Legislators should support a constitutional amendment to protect marriage, and reject any legislation that creates counterfeit marriage.