Letter-to-the-Editor response concerning one's false claims about gay couples/marriage

First, here is the letter to which I will be responding:

"President Barack Obama has done a 180-degree turn from his view in 2008 that marriage should be between a man and a woman.

I find it curious that he says he wants states to legislate this matter for themselves, but when it comes to other issues, such as Arizona’s right to protect its borders, he is against that autonomy.

The real question is: “What’s the big deal about gay marriage?” I mean, it doesn’t really hurt anyone, right?

Wrong. It hurts those who practice the behavior. Studies show emotional and psychological harm not only to the partners, but also to those close to them, including their adopted children. Health risks abound with the AIDS epidemic.

Isn’t it odd that a monogamous, heterosexual couple, celibate until marriage, have zero chance of contracting AIDS (barring intravenous drug use)? Maybe God, who claims infinite wisdom, really knows what he is talking about.

There also are financial repercussions to legalized gay unions, be it marriage or domestic partnerships. The cost of health and other benefits packages is paid by taxpayers and consumers, most of whom do not agree with that lifestyle.

I do not hate the gay community. I just disagree with the behavior.

I think gay marriage undermines the moral foundation of this country. Societies have, and always will have, the basic, God-designed family unit as a building block.

Slowly but surely this country is crumbling due to moral decay as did other great nations of the past.

To read what our Creator has to say on this subject (and, unlike Obama’s, his opinion does not waver), read Leviticus 18:22, Romans 1:26-32, and 1 Corinthians 6:9-11.

BRAD PENCE

Columbus"

http://www.dispatch.com/content/stories/editorials/2012/05/15/obamas-turnaround-wont-fool-americans.html

Now, here is my response:

This letter-to-the-editor is in response to Brad Pence's May 15th letter, entitled, "Obama's turnaround won't fool Americans". If Mr. Pence had stuck to the initial topic of Obama flip-flopping on the issue of gay marriage, I likely wouldn't feel the need to respond. However, after two sentences, the author decides to change his course and ask, "'What's the big deal about gay marriage?' I mean, it doesn't hurt anyone, right?" According to him, it does.

He then attempts to prove this by saying, "Studies show emotional and psychological harm not only to the partners, but also to those close to them, including their adopted children. Health risks abound with the AIDS epidemic."

Mr. Pence didn't stop there, adding, "Isn't it odd that a monogamous, heterosexual couple, celibate until marriage, have zero chance of contracting AIDS (barring intravenous drug use?"

The author went on to say, "There also are financial repercussions to legalized gay unions, be it marriage or domestic partnerships. The cost of health and other benefits packages is paid by taxpayers and consumers, most of whom do not agree with that lifestyle."

He added all of us comfort by saying he didn't hate the gay community, just disagreed with their behavior. Aw, isn't that sweet?

Following that wondrous heartfelt moment, Mr. Pence went on a religious rant, claiming that gay marriage is playing a large part in ruining this country, due to our "moral decay" as he put it. 

Now, I won't get into the religious part of the argument. I didn't write The Bible, so I'm not going to pretend to interpret it as if I did so and speak for "God". However, the author was factually inaccurate in other areas. First off, he didn't cite any sources to his "studies" and claims. Just because I claim a study exists to try and persuade a listener or reader, doesn't make it so and most educated people won't take another's word for it if they name a study without providing any evidence of its existence. If I'm a lawyer, I won't be winning too many cases if I tell the judge that the defendant's fingerprints are on the murder-weapon, but the weapon has not been found. 

It's a shame Mr. Pence failed to cite the studies he claimed showcased that gay partnerships resulted in "emotional and psychological harm not only to the partners, but also to those close to them, including their adopted children". Why? Because in less than five minutes, I've come across five actual studies refuting his claim. One was conducted by Ellen C. Perrin, MD, professor of pediatrics at Tufts University School of Medicine in Boston, at the American Academy of Pediatrics Conference and Exhibition in 2005. Researchers Nanette Gartrell and Henry Bos released a similar study in the journal Pediatrics in 2010. Another such study was released that same year by journal Demography. Yet another like study was released in 2010, this time by researchers at the Universities of Virginia and George Washington. Lastly, a study was released in 2010 which resulted in similar findings - this one conducted by Journal of Marriage and Family.

What did these studies find? As the before-mentioned Ellen C. Perrin, MD, professor of pediatrics at Tufts University School of Medicine in Boston, said, "The vast consensus of all the studies shows that children of same-sex parents do as well as children whose parents are heterosexual in every way. In some ways children of same-sex parents actually may have advantages over other family structures."

Another inaccuracy of the author's is that "monogamous, heterosexual couples, celibate until marriage" have zero chance of contracting AIDS. That is false. One such person I know unfortunately contracted AIDS through a blood transfusion and she isn't the only such person to have fallen victim to this.

The author then claimed that gay marriage would result in some serious financial repercussions. Once again, his claim is false. In a study conducted by the Williams Institute at UCLA Law School, it was estimated that legalizing gay marriage in New Jersey would result in the positive economic impact of $248 million over three years and create 800 new jobs in that same time-frame. In addition, it would bring in an another $19 million in government revenues. 

Lastly, Mr. Pence, more or less, said that the majority of people in this country don't agree with homosexuality. A very recent poll released by USA Today once again shows the author to be misinformed. In this poll, 51% of the people in this country agreed with President Obama's believing that same-sex couples should be given equal-marriage rights and 45% disagreed. I may not have been a math major in college, but I do believe 51 is greater than 45. 

When all is said and done, I suppose I have one question for Mr. Pence and those whom may think like him - What is hindering the moral fabric of our society more? Monogamous couples of the same-sex, whom love one another, being legally recognized as married or individuals spreading lies about such people? The author and people like him may disagree with the homosexual "lifestyle," as they often times refer to it, but I and many others disagree with their lifestyle of spreading falsehoods and I feel that is doing far more damage to the moral fabric of this country than a loving, monogamous same-sex couple being legally allowed to visit one another in the hospital could ever do.

http://www.wellness.com/reference/allergies/blood-transfusion-and-hiv-aids

http://www.webmd.com/mental-health/news/20051012/study-same-sex-parents-raise-well-adjusted-kids

http://www.time.com/time/health/article/0,8599,1994480,00.html

http://news.stanford.edu/news/2010/august/gay-study-083010.html  

http://voices.washingtonpost.com/college-inc/2010/07/study_lesbian_gay_couples_thri.html

http://www.usatoday.com/news/health/2010-01-21-parentgender21_ST_N.htm

http://gaymarriage.procon.org/sourcefiles/NJ-Commission-Civil-Union-Law.pdf

http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/story/2012-05-11/USA-TODAYGallup-poll-Obama-gay-marriage/54905424/1