I was ready to launch into full-on ridicule mode against this recent Iowa Family Policy Center email declaring that acceptance of gay marriage in the state will lead to people dying:
After the past grueling months, and the marathon that has been the last three weeks, it’s good for us to be reminded why we are fighting so hard to save traditional marriage. Unfortunately, due to the Supreme Court opinion, the inactivity of the governor, and the complacency of the state legislature, many young people will experiment with the homosexual “life-style.” People will die.
But then, after watching the accompanying video in which Karl and Judy Schowengerdt discuss their son’s death from AIDS because he was too embarrassed to tell anyone he had contracted HIV and their insistence that he had been “recruited” into a cult that is always looking for “fresh meat,” I just can’t bring myself to do it because the whole thing is just so sad and misguided:
While we are reluctant to criticize anyone who lost a loved one to AIDS, it doesn’t seem as if the Schowengerdt’s see any possible connection between their son’s shame about his homosexuality and illness and their own attitudes toward gays.
While we obviously have no way of knowing, it seems unlikely that parents who were accepting and understanding of their child would then turn around and allow themselves to be exploited by groups like the Iowa Family Policy Center and write things like this:
For years, my wife and I have watched the media and homosexual activists work together to redefine family and marriage in our society. The consistent message has been that homosexual “marriage” will hurt no one, and that those of us who support marriage only between one man and one woman will not be impacted. Nothing could be further from the truth.
Our hearts go out to people caught up in homosexuality. The destruction and pain that homosexuality leaves in its wake is deep and impacts so many more than just the individuals caught up in the activity. We now know several other couples who are struggling with a son who chose to engage in homosexuality. We know the pain they endure, and understand when they reach out for help. One person’s homosexuality causes stress and strain on every friend and relative who truly cares about them.
For the Iowa Supreme Court to sanction homosexual “marriage” is to encourage and underwrite the negative results that naturally come from the homosexual “lifestyle.” Aside from the physical destruction inflicted on those who practice homosexuality and the incredible stress homosexuals cause their extended families, society often pays a hefty price as well. Randy lost his job when he was no longer strong enough to work. With the loss of that job, he lost his ability to insure himself. As a result, you the taxpayer paid for more than $250,000 in medical bills for this one AIDS patient.
For those still uncertain about homosexual “marriage,” please understand that the more accepting we are of homosexuality as a society, the more likely it is that your family, and society in general, will suffer the pain that ultimately results. Homosexuality took the life of our son. We oppose homosexuality and homosexual “marriage” in the hope that we might help another family avoid the pain that we have endured.
