Health and Gay People

What's wrong with this anti-gay article (written by a Christian celibate man who "left the gay community") quoting these statistics:

· Life expectancy of gay/bisexual men in Canada is 20 years less than the average; that is 55 years.
· GLB people commit suicide at rates from 2 to 13.9 times more often than average.
· GLB people have smoking rates 1.3 to 3 times higher than average.
· GLB people have rates of alcoholism 1.4 to 7 times higher than average.
· GLB people have rates of illicit drug use 1.6 to 19 times higher than average.
· GLB people show rates of depression 1.8 to 3 times higher than average.
· Gay and bisexual men (MSM) comprise 76.1% of AIDS cases.
· Gay and bisexual men (MSM) comprise 54% of new HIV infections each year.
· If one uses Statistics Canada figure of 1.7% of GLB becoming infected, that is 26 times higher than average.
· GLB people are at a higher risk for anal cancers.

How about other studies showing similar health differences in other minorities? Let's say, African Americans, for example. Or, Asian Americans. (NOTE: literally the first websites that popped up)

The problem with a baseline is that sometimes it's the wrong base. White guys have higher rates of heart attacks -- does that make heterosexual sex wrong? Or the WASP-y lifestyle? Oh, and can we start talking about obesity? Seriously. Don't play the health game, especially when this is your closer:

The culture of pushing sex down people's throats is not working. There is nothing wrong with abstinence from sex. This goes for everyone who is not married to someone of the opposite sex. I've been single and chaste for many years after having left the gay community. You don't die from not having sex. It's not like air or water.

Recent laws, policies and public funding aimed at reducing the rate of suicide, addiction, partner abuse, and STI's by granting more sexual freedom have not diminished those statistics. In fact, there has been an increase since the beginning of the 'rights' movement in the early 70's, and it's getting worse, not better. In places like San Francisco and the Netherlands where gay sex has been normalized, many of these stats are worse, so I have difficulty with the theory that more freedom, money and legislation will reduce these stats. That is just not where the facts point.

The Church talks about Natural Law and says that if something is true it will prove true in many ways. The Bible says gay sex is a problem, biology doesn't support it, and health statistics demonstrate its problems. Why not abstain? That's what I'm doing.

Or when this is linked off your front page.

How much of the mental health/depression issues, for example, arise for your outright bigotry? Leave the gays alone, guys. Seriously. We were perfectly content to leave you alone, but, every now and again, some of the religious folk in the world... well, it just makes it hard to live and let live.

I can tell you now, shaming people does not a healthcare relationship make.

But that doesn't alleviate our duty to protect ourselves and make sure that we have a good thorough understanding of health concerns that affect us, and have important discussions on how we can better improve our health.