Surprise at Old News

There was a surprising headline that showed up this week: “Gay teens have higher pregnancy rates than their straight peers” in the Minneapolis Star Tribune. I found the story retold at The Daily Wire. And that story linked to The Federalist as its source, which was an entertaining take, linking to the original. So the story is getting around. 

I guess that headline should be surprising, since, by some commonly understood definition, there’s supposedly no pregnancy-inducing sex going on among this demographic.

The pregnancy news, then, is surprising. But the information isn’t actually new.  Among the research I’ve accumulated over the past 15 years of writing in defense of marriage, some of these details have been around.

Here are the graphs illustrating the study, provided by the Star Tribune:

Self-identified homosexual teens (not questioning or bisexual) have pregnancy rates two to seven times greater than heterosexuals in their demographic. Science does not need to be thrown out the window; it still isn’t possible for two people of the same sex to engage in sexual activity that leads to pregnancy. The youth whose data are being analyzed have enough sex with the opposite sex that they are much more likely to get pregnant than their peers.

Around half of homosexual teens were sexually active, while around a quarter of the heterosexual teens were.

It has long been known that those who engage in sex with partners of the same sex tend to be more promiscuous—astronomically more promiscuous—than heterosexuals. According to a 2003 study in Amsterdam, where same-sex “marriage” was socially accepted, homosexual males are found to average 22 partners a year, or as few as 8 partners a year if “married.”[i] The CDC reported, in 1997, that 50% of male homosexuals had over 500 sexual partners. Among the first several hundred AIDS diagnoses, the average was 1100 lifetime partners.[ii]

The numbers for lesbians are a bit different. According to Robert Kronemeyer in 1980, “Lesbian relationships are likely to be more stable and lasting than those of males.” However, “Most of the unions last three years or less.”[iii] And Yvonne Zipter notes, “the lasting lesbian relationship” is a “mythic entity.”[iv] Lesbians, as a population, are measurably less promiscuous than male homosexuals, but they typically have many partners. Most have had sex with a male in the past year, including men who are high risk for sexually transmitted diseases. According to Katherine Fethers, et al., women who have sex with women (WSW) were likely to have 50 male sexual partners in their lifetime; the median for the control (women who only have sex with males) was 12,[v] so, more than four-fold.

The new study, then, isn’t news. But the perspective on teen pregnancy is new.

If we are to draw some conclusions from the science—as opposed to the anti-science politically correct assumptions—we would say that the “born that way” doctrine is still at odds with all the available and mounting data.

We can hypothesize (if allowed) that the entire LGBTQ mindset is much more mental than biological. While individuals of course differ, these groups tend toward multiple high-risk behaviors and mental pathologies. These include alcoholism, drug addiction, domestic violence, depression, suicide, and more.

By the way, the homosexual teen pregnancy study included info on drug and alcohol use, shown in this chart:

United Families International’s Guide to Family Issues:Sexual Orientation has a long list, all with references. Here’s one: 

According to a study in the Netherlands where homosexuality has been accepted and mainstreamed for years, homosexual behavior significantly increases the likelihood of psychiatric, mental and emotional disorders, negating the mindset that society’s lack of tolerance of homosexual behavior and lifestyle produces these psychoses. Youth are four times as 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 et al., “Same-Sex Sexual Behavior and Psychiatric Disorders: Findings from the Netherlands Mental Health Survey and Incidence” Archives of General Psychiatry 58, 10 (2001): 85-91.

If we could go back 40 years, before the American Psychiatric Association removed same-sex attraction from its almost endless list of disorders, for political rather than scientific reasons, then we might at least look at the LGBTQ mind as a marker for other mental disorders. Studies could be done. Treatments could be developed. People could be gently led away from self-destructive behaviors that will never lead to the contentment they seek.

Some have managed to leave the lifestyle and do much healing, in spite of the lack of professional support. I like this story, byJosh Weed. 

And, if we could go back, we would be free to return to protecting real marriage, which is the best way for humans to raise other humans. Best social design ever: Princeton sociologist Sara McLanahan sums it up:

If we were asked to design a system for making sure that children's basic needs were met, we would probably come up with something quite similar to the two-parent ideal. Such a design, in theory, would not only ensure that children had access to the time and money of two adults, it also would provide a system of checks and balances that promoted quality parenting. The fact that both parents have a biological connection to the child would increase the likelihood that the parents would identify with the child and be willing to sacrifice for that child, and it would reduce the likelihood that either parent would abuse the child.[vi]

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[i] Xiridou, Maria, et al., “The Contribution of Steady and Casual Partnerships to the Incidence of HIV infection among Homoseual Men in Amsterdam,” 1029-1038 AIDS, 17 (7) May 2, 2003.

[ii] G. Rotell, Sexual Ecology: AIDS and the Destiny of Gay Men (New York, Dutton, 1997.

[iii] Kronemeyer, Robert. Overcoming Homosexuality, New York: Macmillan Publishing Company, Inc., 1980, p. 32.

[iv] Zipter, Yvonne, “The Disposable Lesbian Relationship,” Windy City Times, (December 15, 1986), p. 18, and see Zipter, a lesbian, in an article in Chicago’s gay journal for the quote.

[v] Fethers, Katherine, et al., “Sexually Transmitted Infections and Risk Behaviors in Women Who Have Sex with Women,” Sexually Transmitted Infections 76 (2000): 348.

[vi] McLanahan, Sara, and Gary Sandefur. Growing Up with a Single Parent: What Hurts, What Helps, Harvard University Press, 1994, p. 38.