Yes, you read the headline correctly. It's a burning national issue; did young gay and bi-sexual men enjoy their first same sex "penetrative" experience and what did that experience mean for their "sexual trajectory"?

This scientific puzzler is being examined by the National Institutes of Health, who were given more than $400,000 in taxpayer money to answer it.

Washington Free Beacon:

The four-year study, being conducted by Johns Hopkins University, is examining the “meaning and function” of first “penetrative same-sex sexual experiences.”

“Prior work has demonstrated that same-sex relationship trajectories support the development of self-esteem in young gay and bisexual men, while opposite same-sex relationships may be associated with homonegativity,” a grant for the project, which began in 2012, states. “Little is known about the meaning and function of first same-sex experience in [African-American] AA adolescent men and whether satisfaction with first penetrative same-sex experience impacts sexual trajectories.”

“The goal of this project is to understand the meaning and function of first same-sex sexual experience and to prospectively be able to assess its impact on subsequent sexual experiences, young adult sexual health and health protective behaviors,” the grant said.

The project has cost taxpayers $410,265 so far, with funding not set to expire until May 2016.

The study is also examining the satisfaction levels of young gay men during their first time.

“The research phase of the award is to explore the reasons for and satisfaction with first and subsequent penetrative same-sex sexual experiences (PSSE) and to examine the role of first PSSE on second and subsequent PSSEs in AA men (Study 1) and how social context impacts sexual satisfaction with first PSSE,” the grant said.

The study will also look at the amount of time between the first and second partner, depending on the “sexual satisfaction” of the first “PSSE.”

Forty-five African American adolescent males are undergoing “in-depth” interviews for the study. The research will also create an Internet survey.

The NIH grant said that the study is necessary due to a lack of research focusing on young African-American males and will be beneficial to preventing HIV.

“The lack of representativeness of AA adolescent males in studies focused on early same-sex sexual relationships contrasted with high rates of HIV in AA adolescent MSM suggests that this project fulfills a need to understand whether these early same-sex sexual experiences impact risk for HIV,” the grant said.

“AA [men who have sex with men] MSM struggle with a sexual identity that is stigmatized in their communities, along with discrimination, and racism,” the grant continued. “As a result, first romantic and sexual experiences are likely to differ from other adolescent groups in ways that make them particularly vulnerable to HIV.”

The study will also examine "why some young African-American gay men seek out older partners, finding that older partners had “emotional maturity,” could expose them to “more life experiences,” and helped young men “sort through sexual position and how to perform in relationships.”

I can just see the Johns Hopkins grant applicants carefully using all the politically correct buzzwords and concepts to get approval for this. But really, the federal government should be declared insane and incarcerated in a mental institution for signing off on this nonsense. I guess the question of why this study falls within the scope of federal jurisdiction was left out of the grant request. Not having to justify the expenditure on simple, Constitutional grounds makes it easy to approve idiotic studies like this.

Besides, I can think of several ways for a government entity to spend $400,000 on far more worthy endeavors:

1. Fly all senior IRS managers out to Vegas for a 3-day bachannal of booze, broads, and gambling.

2. Give it to the Pentagon to search for signs that aliens from other worlds are living among us.

3. Give it to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid to pay for psychoanalysis of Obamacare architects and managers.

4. Give it to the Treasury Department to build a cash bonfire on the Mall so that Wiccans can dance around it and celebrate spring planting.

All worthy projects compared to the NIH study. But, at the very least, the authors of this project should receive  a bonus for creating one of the most inventive ways to waste taxpayer dollars in recent memory.