Peter LaBarbera repeats Paul Cameron lie about homosexuality and cigarettes

Yet more proof regarding what I said last week about the religious right and their links to discredited researcher Paul Cameron has come about via our friend (and I use that as an extreme euphemism) Peter LaBarbera and his phony Christian group American for Truth:

LaBarbera Calls for Federal Studies on the Health Risks of Homosexual Behavior

More Dangerous than Smoking? Men who have had sex with men since 1977 have an HIV prevalence 60 times higher than the general population and 800 times higher than first time blood donors, the FDA reports. When it comes to combating cigarettes, the government not only restricts, taxes and bans smoking, it also funds and encourages anti-smoking messages and advertisements. Given the immense health risks of male homosexual sex, shouldn’t the federal government do a comprehensive study on the matter, tax sodomitic establishments, and educate the public and especially young people about the dangers of “gay” sex?

Speaking Friday at the annual Reclaiming Oklahoma for Christ conference in Edmond, OK, Americans For Truth about Homosexuality (AFTAH) President Peter LaBarbera called for government study on the heath risks of homosexual behavior.

LaBarbera read from a Food & Drug Administration (FDA) report explaining why “men who have sex with men” (MSM) cannot donate blood due to the high incidence of sexually transmitted diseases linked to MSM. He noted that since government agencies and politicians are active in confronting the health risks of smoking (using taxpayer dollars), they should do the same for homosexual sex — especially between men — which appears to be as dangerous or more so than smoking cigarettes.

LaBarbera is linking badly. No study done by any medical group has said that homosexuality is as dangerous as smoking cigarettes. No legitimate researcher or physician has ever said this either.

But Paul Cameron has.

Unless I am inaccurate, it was Cameron who first espoused this lie in 2005.

Of course Cameron's claim was disputed by folks who have actual expertise in the area but he continued to persist with his charade.

Now in all honesty, some folks may dispute my links claiming that since they are "pro-gay" sources, they are biased.

Well another source here from the rightwing Free Republic bear up my contention that Cameron was the first to push the lie that "homosexuality is as dangerous as cigarette smoking:"


Studies have shown that years of smoking shortens the lifespan of the smoker from 1 to 7 years. But analysis of the age of death in Norway and Denmark for gays who are legally married suggests that engaging in homosexual behavior reduces the lifespan by 24 years!

So reported Drs. Paul and Kirk Cameron at the annual convention of the Eastern Psychological Association on March 23.

"What justification is there for condemning smoking and endorsing homosexuality?" asked Dr. Paul Cameron, of the Family Research Institute, a Colorado-based think tank. "Today, all across the Western world, school children are being taught the acceptability of homosexuality and the wrongness of smoking.

So the question here is not whether or not there should be research regarding the supposed health risks of homosexuality.

The question here is why would LaBarbera, who is supposed to be a Christian man, stoop to channeling the research of a total fraud?

But here is the most important thing to remember - While Paul Cameron's name may fall back on the dungheap of ridicule, his lies will always plague the lgbt community unless we call them out every time they pop up.