NJ Family Policy Council: Homosexuality Is Unhealthy, Can Be Cured, Linked To Pedophilia

More lies that hurt.
From Equality Matters come news of this warped and harmful Org.

February 09, 2012 11:25 am ET by Carlos Maza

One of the major anti-gay groups currently opposingthe effort to legalize same-sex marriage in New Jersey is the New Jersey Family Policy Council (NJFPC), which claims to stand “for traditional values in the State of New Jersey.”

Unfortunately, NJFPC’s website reveals that the organization’s supposedly“traditional values” are far out of the mainstream, especially in a state in whicha pluralityof voters supports marriage equality.

NJFPC’s promoted publications include materials that promote a number of anti-gay falsehoods. Some are relativelytame, like the myththat the legalization of same-sex marriage reduced marriage rates in Scandinavia. Others, however, make extreme and damaging claims about LGBT people:

NJFPC Myth: Homosexuality Is Not Inborn

In a NJFPC’s brief titled“Preserving Marriage and Protecting Children in New Jersey,” the group falsely claims that there’s no scientific evidence that a person’s sexual orientation is primarily determined by biological causes:

Homosexuality is not inborn.One of the main reasons homosexual activists insist that they deserve “equal rights” with regard to marital benefits is because they wrongly equate homosexuality with an immutable or inborn characteristic such as race. There is no “gay gene” that predetermines homosexuality, and there is no scientific support for the belief that homosexuality is primarily determined by biological causes. The complex roots of homosexuality develop over a period of time from birth through adolescence. Later in life as these factors converge, they play a strategic role in the choices people make involving sexual relations.

NJFPC Myth: Homosexuality Can Be Cured

NJFPC’s brief also claims that “former homosexuals” can change their sexual orientation and live“happy heterosexual lives” – an assertion that’s been widely challenged by medical organizations:

Homosexuality is not unchangeable. Many former homosexuals are now living happy heterosexual lives. Dr. Robert Spitzer, the psychiatric professor and researcher behind the American Psychiatric Association’s political decision to remove homosexuality from the list of disorders, conducted a recent study of ex-homosexuals. Based on the results of his study, Spitzer now says some people can change their sexual desires from homosexual to heterosexual.

NJFPC Myth: Gay Parents Result In Gay Children

NJFPC’s brief also suggested that same-sex parents could encourage children to be “confused about their own sexual identity” and engage in homosexual behavior, a theory that’s been debunked by major psychiatricand psychologicalorganizations:

Dr. Judith Stacey and Timothy Biblarz re-evaluated 21 psychological studies conducted between 1981 and 1998 that purportedly found no differences in children raised by same-sex parents. They found instead that children of homosexual couples were more likely to be confused about their own sexual identity, more likely to engage in homosexual relationships and more likely to be promiscuous.

NJFP also promotes this myth in a page on its website titled “Same-Sex Adoption Outcomes”

[Dr. Judith Stacey and Timothy Biblarz] re-evaluated 21 psychological studies conducted between 1981 and 1998, which purportedly found no differences in children raised by same-sex parents. Although Dr. Stacey was sympathetic to homosexual adoption in media interviews, their study results revealed instead that children of homosexual couples were more likely to be confused about their own sexual identity, more likely to engage in homosexual relationships, and more likely to be promiscuous. If the public were more aware of this critical information, public polling would certainly show less support for gay adoption.

NJFPC Myth: Homosexuality Is Unhealthy, Reduces Lifespan

NJFPC also repeatedly promotes the popular anti-gay myththat homosexuality is an unhealthy lifestyle choice that reduces the life expectancy of gay men: From NJFPC’s “Preserving Marriage and Protecting Children in New Jersey” brief:

A number of pathologies plague homes of same-sex couples, including higher rates of promiscuity (Journal of Sex Research, 1997), physical disease, mental illness (Archives of General Psychiatry, 1999), substance abuse (Nursing Research, 1994; Family Planning Perspectives, 1994), and domestic violence (The Medical Institutes for Sexual Health, 1999).

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The only epidemiological study to date on the life span of homosexual men conducted by the British Columbia Centre for Excellence in HIV/AIDS Research revealed that life expectancy for gay and bisexual men is between 8 and 20 years less than for all men.

From NJFPC’s brief “How Will Same-Sex ‘Marriage’ Affect Me?”:

Teaching our young people that same sex “marriage” is an equal alternative would be highly irresponsible. Although those seeking same-sex “marriage” attempt to portray their lifestyle as normal and healthy, and the media propagates the image of the fit and well-adjusted homosexual relationship, the reality is at polar opposites.

In addition to the high risk of AIDS, substance abuse and mental illness, homosexuals/bisexuals are at an extreme risk for a host of sexually transmitted diseases.

NJFPC Myth: Homosexuality Is Linked To Child Molestation Scandals

A NJFPC editorialtitled “The Catholic Church and Molesters in the Midst” used the scandal surrounding child sex abuse in the Catholic Church to reinforce the extreme anti-gay smearthat gay men are more likely to molest children than heterosexual men:

Since the sex-abuse scandal involving priests was first reported, it has received huge media attention and much of it is rightly deserved. Child sex abuse is an offense against humanity that should always be prosecuted and a Catholic Church or any other church that covers up such a violation of sacred trust should be exposed and prosecuted.

However, there are two important factors that are not being properly highlighted in the media:

1. The vast majority of the sex abuse scandals coming to light involve male priests and boys, making the priests involved homosexuals, not just pedophiles. Unfortunately it is not politically correct to draw attention to that fact. As Father Richard John Neuhaus said, “The overwhelming majority of these cases involve homosexuality, but the media steers away.”

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NJFPC, along with Gov. Chris Christie and several Republican lawmakers, is calling for a referendumon the issue of same-sex marriage in order to prevent a marriage equality bill from passing through the Democrat-controlled legislature. If that happens, will NJFPC let voters know exactly how extreme its “traditional values” are?