A recent (and first of its kind) study verifies again what many Christians have long warned about the homosexual lifestyle.  Published in August of 2016 by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the study – "Sexual Identity, Sex of Sexual Contacts, and Health Related Behaviors Among Students in Grades 9-12" – looked at a wide variety of risky behaviors among U.S. high school students.

The study monitored six categories of "priority health-related behaviors among youth and young adults: 1.) behaviors that contribute to unintentional injuries and violence; 2.) tobacco use; 3.) alcohol and other drug use; 4.) sexual behaviors related to unintended pregnancy and sexually transmitted infections; 5.) unhealthy dietary behaviors; 6.) physical inactivity."

The study used two questions to measure a student's sexual status: "Which of the following best describes you?"  The response options were "heterosexual (straight)," "gay or lesbian," "bisexual," and "not sure."  The sexual activity of students surveyed was determined by asking: "During your life, with whom have you had sexual contact?"  The response options were "I have never had sexual contact," "females," "males," and "females and males."  In analyzing the results, researchers grouped students who identified as "gay or lesbian" and "bisexual" into the same group (which I will describe here as "teenagers (or students) engaging in homosexual activity").

In almost every instance, the risky behavior measured – especially behaviors that are often linked to a moral decision – was much more prevalent among teenagers engaging in homosexual activity.  In addition, and unsurprisingly, those students with the healthiest outcomes were those who refrained from sexual activity.  In most of the risky behaviors measured, the outcomes are not even close.

For example, students engaging in homosexual activity were about three times more likely to feel "sad or hopeless" than students who had no sexual contact.  In addition, students engaging in homosexual activity were nearly four times more likely to have seriously considered attempting suicide than students who had no sexual contact, and they were six and a half times more likely to have actually attempted suicide.

Comparing the same two groups (students engaging in homosexual activity vs. students with no sexual contact), students engaging in homosexual activity were:

• Eight times more likely to smoke
• 47 times more likely to smoke frequently (20 or more cigarettes in the month prior to the survey)
• Nearly three times as likely to have tried alcohol prior to age 13
• Three and a half times as likely to be currently using alcohol
• More than 11 times as likely to binge drink (10 or more drinks in a row)
• Nearly six times as likely to be currently using marijuana
• More than 16 times as likely ever to have used hallucinogenic drugs
• More than 18 times as likely ever to have used cocaine
• 30 times as likely ever to have used heroin
• 23 times as likely ever to have used methamphetamines

Likewise, compared to students who had no sexual contact, sexually active heterosexual students were:

• Five times more likely to smoke
• Nearly 17 times more likely to smoke frequently (20 or more cigarettes in the month prior to the survey)
• Nearly twice as likely to have tried alcohol prior to age 13
• Three times as likely to be currently using alcohol
• More than nine times as likely to binge drink (10 or more drinks in a row)
• More than four times as likely to be currently using marijuana
• Nearly nine times as likely ever to have used hallucinogenic drugs
• Nine times as likely ever to have used cocaine
• More than seven times as likely ever to have used heroin
• Seven times as likely ever to have used methamphetamines

In other words, the teenagers least likely to put their health and lives in danger (along with the health and lives of others) by engaging in risky behaviors are those choosing to follow the moral precepts of their Creator.

None of this should come as a surprise.  The unhealthy and unsafe behaviors of those who have decided to go their own way sexually is well documented.  Of course, it's not the homosexuality or the fornication itself that leads to other immoral behavior, but the rebellious spirit that lies at the root of such behavior.  As Dr. Jeffrey Satinover puts it, "once people begin to 'walk on the wild side,' they have effectively broken one of societies strongest taboos. Other taboos then fall away easily and rapidly."  This is especially true of men who engage in homosexual behavior.

Satinover notes in his seminal book, Homosexuality and the Politics of Truth, that homosexuality often (if not always) leads to:

• A 25- to 30-year decrease in life expectancy
• Chronic, potentially fatal, liver disease – infectious hepatitis, which increases the risk of liver cancer
• Inevitably fatal immune disease including associated cancers
• Frequently fatal rectal cancer
• Multiple bowel and other infectious diseases
• A much higher than usual incidence of suicide

Men who engage in homosexual behavior ("men having sex with men," or MSM) account for the vast majority (over 75 percent in 2014) of all cases of syphilis.  According to the CDC in 2014, MSM were much more likely to contract virtually every sexually transmitted disease (STD) known, including syphilis, chlamydia, and gonorrhea.

The CDC reported last year that rates for sexually transmitted diseases have reached record highs in the U.S.  In a news release, Dr. Jonathan Mermin, director of the CDC's National Center for HIV/AIDS, Viral Hepatitis, STD, and TB Prevention, declared, "We have reached a decisive moment for the nation."  According to the report, those at greatest risk for STDs in the U.S. are young people ages 15-24 and homosexual men.

The CDC also reports that though they are only about 2 percent of the population, men engaging in homosexual behavior make up 55 percent of all people living with HIV in the U.S. In 2014, homosexual men made up more than two thirds of all new HIV diagnoses in the United States.

Again, none of this is new information.  For as long as there have been organizations willing and able to measure such data, or wherever common sense and sound morality reign, it has been well understood that those engaging in sexually immoral behavior – especially homosexuality – are much less healthy than the general population.  Or, as Dr. Satinover put it, "[t]he correlation between male homosexuality and disease has been recognized for at least two thousand years."  Of course, what is relatively new is the desire to ignore or deceive when it comes to one of the most significant health risks a culture could face.

In the name of "sexual freedom," instead of talking about these behaviors in terms of the real problems that they are (and teaching people to avoid such behaviors), decades of liberal rot has led to meaningless and ineffective campaigns of "awareness, education, and tolerance."  Even the CDC itself – whose stated mission is to protect Americans from "health, safety, and security threats" – will say nothing to discourage homosexual behavior.  All the while, as the science reveals again, American kids are suffering and dying.

Trevor Grant Thomas: At the Intersection of Politics, Science, Faith, and Reason
www.trevorgrantthomas.com
Trevor is the author of the brand new book The Miracle and Magnificence of America.
tthomas@trevorgrantthomas.com