“People who support traditional marriage say they oppose legally recognizing domestic partners, particularly same-sex couples, through benefits because it affords them rights that should be reserved for married people. …Gary Glenn, president of the American Family Association of Michigan and one of the writers of the state’s amendment, says advocates wanted to ban gay marriage after neighboring Ontario, Canada, approved gay marriage in 2003. ‘We didn’t want individuals in homosexual relationships to go across the bridge, get married and then file lawsuits in Michigan demanding recognition of a marriage,’ he says.”

USA TODAY
Washington, D.C.
June 19, 2007

Michigan domestic partners face tough choices
by Marisol Bello, USA TODAY

Five years ago, JoLinda Jach and her partner, Barbara Ramber, had the same worries that every working couple with children faces: how to balance work and day care.

They decided that Ramber would stay home with their son and daughter and work part-time as a city bus driver. They could manage it, they thought, because Jach’s employer, the city of Kalamazoo, offered health benefits to partners of gay employees.

But come June 30, Ramber’s health care benefits will end.

A Michigan court ruled in February that public employers may not offer benefits to same-sex partners of employees because the state’s constitutional ban on gay marriage recognized only a marriage between a man and a woman. Michigan public employers offered domestic partnership benefits only to same-sex couples. Now Jach and Ramber have to decide whether to pay for day care so Ramber can work full-time to get benefits or pay for low-cost insurance that will cover Ramber only in emergencies so she can stay home with the children.

“This is devastating for us,” says Jach, a systems analyst with the city of Kalamazoo for 19 years. “And it’s scary for Barbara. … She changed her whole life based on the fact that we would have benefits. We were doing what we thought was best for our kids.” Jach is one of 21 public employees in Michigan with same-sex partners who have sued the state to keep their health benefits.

Their case, which they are appealing to the state Supreme Court, will set a standard for other states with similar amendments over whether public employers can offer benefits to their employees’ domestic partners, advocates on both sides of the issue say. For gay rights advocates, the pullback on benefits was an inevitable consequence after a flurry of states approved amendments banning gay marriage.

“These amendments are clearly intended to go way beyond the question of who can get married,” says Matt Coles, director of the American Civil Liberties Union’s lesbian and gay rights projects. “We expect these issues to come up in more states, particularly now that the Michigan Court of Appeals has given this extremely broad interpretation.”

People who support traditional marriage say they oppose legally recognizing domestic partners, particularly same-sex couples, through benefits because it affords them rights that should be reserved for married people.

“The other side wants the same recognition as marriage, and obtaining domestic partner benefits is an important step in their overall goal,” says Michael Johnson, senior legal counsel for the Alliance Defense Fund, which has worked to place many of the amendments on the ballots. “That’s why it is so vigorously opposed.”

In Michigan, the ruling covers all unmarried couples, but the state’s public employers did not give partner benefits to straight couples. “They did it that way because they believe heterosexual couples have the option of getting married,” says Jay Kaplan, an ACLU attorney representing the 21 employees. Employers including Kalamazoo and Michigan State University are trying to find other criteria to offer the benefits without contradicting the amendment.

Gary Glenn, president of the American Family Association of Michigan and one of the writers of the state’s amendment, says advocates wanted to ban gay marriage after neighboring Ontario, Canada, approved gay marriage in 2003.

“We didn’t want individuals in homosexual relationships to go across the bridge, get married and then file lawsuits in Michigan demanding recognition of a marriage,” he says.

Court challenges have been filed in other states with constitutional bans on gay marriage. In Ohio, State Rep. Tom Brinkman sued Miami University in Oxford for offering same-sex partner benefits. “I just don’t want there to be a special class for homosexuals,” says Brinkman, a Republican from Cincinnati. “That runs contrary to the constitutional amendment.”

Miami University professor Yvonne Keller and her partner, Susan Gray, say they don’t want a special class for gays and lesbians, either. “We should have as much rights as any family,” Keller says.

If the suit is successful, Gray and the couple’s 1-year-old daughter, Rylie, born to Gray, will not have health coverage through the university. “My heart sinks when I think about it,” Keller says. The couple’s other daughter, Dylan, 2, is Keller’s biological child, so her benefits are not jeopardized. “We have a lot of anxiety and fear and anger over having to deal with it.”

http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2007-06-19-ohio-domestic_N.htm

(more…)

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Mon., June 11, 2007
CONTACT: Gary Glenn 989-835-7978

Former state rep voted against Marriage Protection
Amendment, was endorsed by Triangle Pride PAC

Family values group: Drolet likely to use new civil rights post to push homosexual agenda

A statewide family values group Monday said it expects Macomb County Commissioner Leon Drolet will use a new advisory post
with the U.S. Civil Rights Commission to promote homosexual “marriage,” homosexual adoption, and other elements of homosexual activists’ political agenda.

Drolet announced Monday that he has been appointed chairman of the Michigan Advisory Committee to the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights.

Gary Glenn, president of the American Family Association of Michigan and co-author of the state Marriage Protection Amendment approved by Michigan voters in 2004, expressed disappointment that “a panel controlled by Republican presidential appointees would give a position of power and influence to a politician so committed to promoting homosexual behavior and radically redefining marriage and the family.”

Glenn pointed to Drolet’s track record as a political candidate and member of the Michigan House of Representatives:

* In his 2006 campaign for Macomb County Commissioner, Drolet was endorsed by Triangle Pride PAC, the political action arm of the Triangle Foundation, a homosexual activist group based in Detroit. (See Drolet endorsement at: http://www.pride-pac.org/guide/showall.php)

* Drolet was honored as a “hero” at the 2005 national convention of the Log Cabin Repubicans, a homosexual activist group that in 2004 refused to endorse President Bush’s reelection and spent $1 million in swing states on television advertisements attacking Bush for his support of a federal Marriage Protection Amendment. http://online.logcabin.org/news_views/news_release_040505.html

* In his 2004 campaign for reelection to the House, Drolet was endorsed by both Triangle Pride PAC and Between the Lines, a homosexual activist newsweekly in metro Detroit. Between the Lines quoted Triangle Foundation Director of Policy Sean Kosofsky as saying of Drolet: “Leon’s been a terrific advocate for us in the Legislature. He is the single strongest supporter of equality on the Republican side of the aisle.” http://www.pridesource.com/article.shtml?article=10223&section=news

* Drolet was one of only three Republican members of the state House who in 2004 voted against a Marriage Protection Amendment constitutionally defining marriage as being only between one man and one woman. Closing his floor debate against allowing Michigan voters to decide the issue on the ballot, he characterized the amendment as follows:

“Please stand up for equal protection under the law and for human equality by voting ‘no’ on this proposed amendment. And may the venomous serpent of discrimination and unequal treatment of people never again slither through the doors of this chamber.” http://www.justiceforallmichigan.com/indexB.html#drolet

The amendment was approved in November 2004 by over 60 percent of Macomb County voters. http://miboecfr.nicusa.com/cgi-bin/cfr/precinct_srch.cgi?elect_year_type=2004GEN&county_code=50&Submit=Search

* Drolet was the only Republican sponsor of legislation to change state law to allow homosexual couples to adopt children: http://www.legislature.mi.gov/documents/2005-2006/billintroduced/House/htm/2005-HIB-5399.htm

* Drolet was the primary sponsor of legislation to repeal Michigan’s ban on homosexual sodomy. Only three other lawmakers — one Republican and two Democrats — joined him as cosponsors. http://www.michiganlegislature.org/mileg.asp?page=getObject&objName=2003-HB-4905

* Drolet was the only Republican sponsor of legislation which, according to the Detroit Free Press, “aim(ed) to repeal the state’s law covering gross indecency, which the Michigan Supreme Court has partially defined as oral sex in public, payment for sexual acts, sex with a minor or forced sex.” The law is used by police to prevent homosexual activity in public restrooms, city parks, and highway rest areas. http://www.michiganlegislature.org/mileg.asp?page=getObject&objName=2003-HB-4614

STATE NEWS
Michigan State University
East Lansing, Michigan
June 6, 2007

MSU stops issuing same-sex domestic partnership benefits
by Colleen Maxwell

The university will no longer offer health insurance benefits to employees in same-sex domestic partnerships not covered by a health care agreement between MSU and the Coalition of Labor Organizations.

About 54 people use domestic partnership benefits at MSU, said Pam Beemer, assistant vice president for Human Resources.

The contract they operate under will expire within the next few years.

Some employees might leave the university if their partner’s health coverage permanently expires.

“I know it’s an important reason for lots of people - it’s why people consider MSU a good place to work,” said Kitty O’Neil, a research assistant in the plant and crop soil science department, who uses domestic partnership benefits.

O’Neil and her partner won’t be affected by the ruling until 2009, when her union contract with the university is renewed.

“A lot of individuals will lose health insurance and family security,” she said.

The university’s decision follows a Feb. 2 Michigan Court of Appeals ruling that stated the constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriage also would ban domestic partnership benefits for partners of employees at public universities and institutions.

The city of Kalamazoo will eliminate its domestic partnership benefits because of an order from the Michigan Supreme Court. The court will rule at a later date on a Michigan Court of Appeals decision to uphold state Attorney General Mike Cox’s legal opinion, which stated public employers could no longer offer same-sex domestic partnership benefits. The opinion stems from the passage of Proposal 2.

“The law is the law,” said Rusty Hill, Cox’s spokesman. “We were asked our opinion - that’s the way we ruled.”

Proposal 2 was an amendment to the state constitution that defined marriage as between one man and one woman. Michigan voters passed it in the 2004 general election.

Five MSU employees are part of the lawsuit being bounced through Michigan’s court system - each is vying to keep same-sex domestic partnership benefits statewide. The suit was filed by the state’s chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union.

Public employers can provide same-sex domestic partnership benefits, but they have to use a different approach, such as buying insurance, said Jay Kaplan, staff attorney for the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Project of ACLU Michigan.

“They never said you can’t buy coverage,” he said, adding that places like the city of Kalamazoo chose not to do that.

Kaplan said he doesn’t believe it was the voters’ intention to take away health insurance.

“In some instances, that’s the effect of this decision,” he said.

MSU has done all it can to be responsive to court opinions as they come, Beemer said.

“We worry about all of our employees and maintaining benefits,” she said.

According to the Human Resources Web site, MSU will “continue to monitor legal developments in this area and will revise its policies where appropriate once a final ruling has been provided by the Michigan Supreme Court.”

Beemer said it’s difficult to predict what MSU will do once all rulings are final, but the university is working to determine what options are available.

O’Neil said she could potentially see herself, and other employees, leaving MSU if the potential for same-sex domestic partnership benefits ends.

“Several other states actually made marriage and civil unions legal,” she said.

“It’s going to have more of a negative image against Michigan in the future.”

http://www.statenews.com/article.phtml?pk=41263

“Last month when legislation (for the first time allowing homosexual couples to adopt children in Michigan) was voted out of the House Judiciary subcommittee, religious conservatives began fighting it. ‘We think the law should be changed to not allow homosexuals to adopt as individuals,’ said Gary Glenn, head of the Midland-based American Family Association of Michigan. ‘It is not in the best interest of the child.’ …An internal analysis by the Michigan Department of Human Services showed second parent adoptions, if approved, likely would not have an impact on the state’s foster children available for adoption, spokeswoman Maureen Sorbet said.”

Bill Sparks Culture War
Proposal would allow second adult
in nontraditional family to adopt

by Kim Kozlowski
SOUTHFIELD — Karen Oosterhous is due to give birth to her first child in July and wants her lesbian partner to adopt him, so he can have a second legal parent.

But Michigan law only allows married couples and single people to adopt children, prompting legislation to allow adoptions by a second adult raising a child in a nontraditional family — including unmarried couples, the partners of gay couples or two relatives.

The issue has ignited a culture war between religious conservatives and children’s advocates. Opponents say gay couples are inappropriate adoptive parents and changing the law would threaten the institution of marriage.

“The state should not be lowering their standards so they can unload kids in homes that are not healthy for them,” said Brian Rooney, spokesman for the conservative Thomas More Law Center in Ann Arbor.

Advocates counter that gay people already can adopt children in Michigan, and they provide loving homes.

“This is not a gay issue at all,” said Sean Kosofsky of the Triangle Foundation, a gay advocacy organization. “It is about children’s rights.”

‘I can’t tell you the sadness’

The effort, known as second parent adoptions, is aimed at providing more prospective parents to the 4,500 foster children available for adoption in Michigan, advocates say.

They also say changing the law would offer children who are being raised in nontraditional homes options for better health care, backup benefits in the event of the death or disability of the primary caregiver and a second person who can legally handle emergency or everyday decisions.

“As of now, my partner does not have any legal rights to our child,” said Oosterhous, 36.

“That covers so many things, even the right to pick him up from day care.”

As an attorney who previously did pro-bono work for hospice organizations, bill sponsor Rep. Paul Condino, D-Southfield, had to tell dying mothers that they would have to relinquish their rights to their children in order for their unmarried partners to adopt and raise them.

“I can’t tell you the sadness,” said Condino, adding it has bipartisan support in the House and support is growing in the Senate.

Many child welfare agencies also support it because they often work with relatives and unmarried partners caring for children.

“We can license live-together partners to foster children,” said Robert Ennis, head of the Ennis Center for Children. “They have these kids for three or four years. Then we have to tell them — ‘Only one of you can adopt.’ It’s ridiculous. How you can you be good enough to be foster parents but only one of you can adopt?”

Best interests of child cited

Second parent adoption laws have been passed in nine states, and a handful of other states are considering similar legislation. Local supporters include the State Bar of Michigan Family Law Section, the Michigan Department of Human Services and Gov. Jennifer Granholm.

“The best interests of children are always paramount,” said Liz Boyd, Granholm’s spokeswoman.

But last month when legislation was voted out of the House Judiciary subcommittee, religious conservatives began fighting it.

“We think the law should be changed to not allow homosexuals to adopt as individuals,” said Gary Glenn, head of the Midland-based American Family Association of Michigan. “It is not in the best interest of the child.”

Brad Snavely, executive director of the Michigan Family Forum, added: “It’s really not about whether unmarried people love children or can care adequately for children. The legislation would undermine the institution of marriage.”

If opponents of the legislation invest the same amount of energy into recruiting adoptive parents or adopting children themselves as they do fighting gays, Michigan’s foster care caseload could be dramatically reduced, said Beverly Davidson, head of the Coalition for Adoption Rights Equality, which is working to pass the law.

“We have too many kids in desperate situations to be spewing that kind of nonsense,” Davidson said. “It’s an abomination they want to spend their money and time to ban kids from getting adopted.”

Impact on foster kids

In 2006, 2,589 children were adopted from Michigan’s foster care system. Of those, 1,621 went to married couples, 907 to single females and 61 to single males.

An internal analysis by the Michigan Department of Human Services showed second parent adoptions, if approved, likely wouldn’t have an impact on the state’s foster children available for adoption, spokeswoman Maureen Sorbet said.

Even so, Debraha Watson, a former foster child who aged out of the system, supports the legislation.

The five foster homes Watson lived in were headed by married couples, but she was abused sexually in one and physically in another.

“It’s about stability for the child and having a person that can provide them with guidance and direction and love,” said Watson, a Westland resident. “You cannot blanketly say only a traditional mother and father can give that.”

Hot topic

Legislation that would allow a second adult to adopt a child has come under fire. Here’s what both sides are saying:

Advocates
* It would give adopted children numerous rights from two legal caregivers.
* It would give children more opportunities to be adopted from foster care.
* It is not a gay issue; single gays already can adopt children.

Opponents
* Gay couples are inappropriate parents.
* Institution of marriage would be threatened.

http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070606/METRO/706060394/1009/METRO02

“The City of Kalamazoo no longer will offer health insurance benefits to the partners of gay workers, becoming Michigan’s first public employer to take away such benefits in the wake of a 2004 ban against gay marriage. Kalamazoo City Manager Kenneth Collard confirmed Monday that the city will eliminate domestic partner benefits for four non-unionized employees effective June 30. He cited a May 23 order from the Michigan Supreme Court. …Gary Glenn, president of the American Family Association of Michigan, said public universities and state and local governments should follow Kalamazoo’s lead and ‘honor the will of the voters.’”

ASSOCIATED PRESS
Lansing, Michigan
June 4, 2007

Kalamazoo no longer will provide health benefits to gay partners
by David Eggert

LANSING, Mich. (AP) — The City of Kalamazoo no longer will offer health insurance benefits to the partners of gay workers, becoming Michigan’s first public employer to take away such benefits in the wake of a 2004 ban against gay marriage.

Kalamazoo City Manager Kenneth Collard confirmed Monday that the city will eliminate domestic partner benefits for four non-unionized employees effective June 30. He cited a May 23 order from the Michigan Supreme Court. The high court agreed to hear an appeal of a state Court of Appeals decision blocking same-sex benefits, but it also let the earlier decision take immediate effect. “We have no authority, as being a creation of the state, to ignore the (Michigan) constitution as defined,” Collard told The Associated Press. The affected employees were informed last week and their partners have about a month to get other insurance, Collard said.

Gary Glenn, president of the American Family Association of Michigan, said public universities and state and local governments should follow Kalamazoo’s lead and “honor the will of the voters.” Some public employers have said they will not take away domestic partner benefits until the case is decided once and for all.

The appeals court in February said Michigan’s 2004 voter-approved constitutional amendment against gay marriage also bars domestic partner benefits for the same-sex partners of public employees. Twenty-one gay couples represented by the American Civil Liberties Union of Michigan appealed to the state Supreme Court, arguing the public never intended to ban same-sex benefits. A message seeking comment was left with the ACLU Monday.

Sixteen of the plaintiffs work for employers who offer same-sex benefits — Kalamazoo, various universities and a county health department covering the Lansing area. Another five plaintiffs are employed by the state, which in 2004 agreed to start providing same-sex benefits but delayed them until courts clear up their legality.

Kalamazoo has been at the center of the dispute over same-sex benefits in Michigan. In March 2005, Republican Attorney General Mike Cox interpreted the city’s domestic partner policy as violating the constitutional amendment, prompting a lawsuit by a Washington-based AFL-CIO group called National Pride at Work and others. Democratic Gov. Jennifer Granholm supports providing the benefits.

Up to 20 public universities, community colleges, school districts and local governments in Michigan have same-sex benefits policies. Universities, which employ most of those affected, argue that not being able to offer the benefits will hurt recruitment of faculty and staff.

At least 375 university and government employees in Michigan have partners who qualify for same-sex benefits.

http://www.mlive.com/newsflash/michigan/index.ssf?/base/news-44/1180986013217020.xml&storylist=newsmichigan

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Monday, June 4, 2007

CONTACT: Gary Glenn 989-835-7978
City Manager Ken Collard 269-337-8047
City Attorney A. Lee Kirk 269-337-8185

Amendment co-author welcomes city’s compliance

Family group applauds Kalamazoo cancellation of homosexual benefits,
urges Granholm, universities, local government officials to follow suit

Amendment still allows benefits offered to all employees

KALAMAZOO — A statewide family values group Monday commended Kalamazoo city officials — thirty-one months after Michigan voters approved a constitutional amendment defining marriage as the union of one man and one woman — for finally obeying a court order prohibiting the city from recognizing homosexual relationships as equal or similar to marriage for purposes of providing taxpayer-financed spousal-type benefits to the homosexual partners of city employees.

Gary Glenn, president of the American Family Association of Michigan and one of two co-authors of the Marriage Protection Amendment approved by nearly 60 percent of Michigan voters in 2004, said he is “encouraged that politicians and bureaucrats intent on forcing taxpayers to subsidize homosexual behavior among government employees are finally concluding that legally, they have no choice but to obey the law and honor the will of the people.”

“We urge Gov. Granholm and other state and local government and university officials to follow Kalamazoo’s lead, honor the will of the voters, and obey the Supreme Court’s order that the ruling prohibiting taxpayer-financed government benefits based on recognizing homosexual relationships is now in effect,” Glenn said.

Kalamazoo City Manager Kenneth P. Collard in a May 31st memorandum notified Mayor Hannah McKinney and members of the Kalamazoo City Commission that spousal-type benefits for the homosexual partners of a handful of city employees will end June 30th.

“Therefore, effective June 30, 2007, the City is terminating domestic partner benefits.”

(more…)

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Sat., June 2, 2007
CONTACT: Gary Glenn, Midland - 989-835-7978
Tom McMillin - 248-505-7500

Family values group to fly banner over June 3rd homosexual Motor City “Pride” event

FERNDALE, Mi. — Tens of thousands of individuals involved in the homosexual lifestyle can look heavenward on Sunday, June 3, for a message of hope during the opening ceremonies of Motor City Pride, a Ferndale street festival intended to celebrate homosexual “pride” and promote a political agenda that seeks special rights and legal status for those who engage in homosexual behavior.

The American Family Association of Michigan, a statewide family values organization that characterizes homosexual behavior as wrong and a threat to public health, has hired an aerial advertising company to fly over the event in downtown Ferndale with a banner that reads, “JESUS CHRIST: HOPE FOR HOMOSEXUALS.COM”. Weather permitting, the banner will be flown over West 9 Mile Road from approximately 1:45 pm to 2:15 pm Sunday.

AFA-Michigan President Gary Glenn, co-author of the Marriage Protection Amendment overwhelmingly approved by Michigan voters in 2004, said the group hopes to encourage “even one person among the tens of thousands of poor souls ensnared in this self-destructive lifestyle that homosexual behavior can be abandoned and overcome, as many others have done before them.”

“True Christian compassion does not involve enabling, encouraging, or legitimizing behavior that puts other people’s spiritual, mental, emotional, and physical lives and health at risk,” Glenn said. “The only truly compassionate response, if we truly care for each others’ souls and health and well-being, is to discourage homosexual behavior and offer individuals hope and help in finding a way out.”

The banner points to www.HopeforHomosexuals.com, a Christian web site that provides personal testimonials and other information about “thousands of ex-gays…(who) have now ‘come out’ of homosexuality to lead healthy, fulfilling lives.”

Glenn cited the recent high-profile example of Charlene Cothran, for three decades a prominent lesbian activist in Atlanta who published Venus, an award-winning magazine which focused on African-Americans involved in the homosexual lifestyle.

Cothran wrote in the March issue of Venus: “Over the past 29 years of my life I have been an aggressive, creative and strategic supporter of gay and lesbian issues…(and)…publisher of a 13 year old periodical which targets Black gays and lesbians …But now, I must come out of the closet again. I have recently experienced the power of change that came over me once I completely surrendered to the teachings of Jesus Christ. As a believer of the word of God, I fully accept and have always known that same-sex relationships are not what God intended for us. …I do know that there is someone, possibly reading this very article, who is tired and unhappy living this way. Someone, in your heart of hearts, is searching for a way out, but you just can’t seem to break free on your own. I am speaking to my gay and lesbian brothers and sisters who want real peace; the kind you’ve heard about, sung about, read about.”
http://www.venusmagazine.org/cover_story.html

The Hope for Homosexuals web site includes links to Christian ministries and counseling services in Michigan — including two in metro Detroit — that are staffed by individuals who have abandoned the homosexual lifestyle and assist others in doing so.

Healing Choices, Canton
www.healingchoices.us
Carlton Quattlebaum 734-397 4700

Reconciliation Ministries, Roseville
www.recmin.org
Dan Hitz 586-739-5114

Corduroy Stone, Lansing
www.corduroystone.com
Mike Jones 517-371-1353

Vital Signs, Traverse City
Sara Stargardt 231-947-7645

Glenn said the banner’s purpose “is to offer spiritual hope and help to families and individuals who are involved in self-destructive behavior that not only has spiritual consequences, but which medical science associates with a dramatically higher incidence of domestic violence, mental illness, substance abuse, eating disorders, life-threatening such as AIDS, cancer, and hepatitis, and premature death by up to 20 years.”

“For example, since homosexual behavior among males is by 3-to-1 the single largest cause of AIDS cases in metro Detroit, it’s a fact that helping men escape the homosexual lifestyle altogether is unquestionably the single most effective way to prevent the spread of this deadly disease,” Glenn said.

“Homosexual activists browbeat society to be ‘politically correct’ and ignore the fact that this deadly disease is overwhelmingly a result of homosexual behavior,” he said. “To save lives, society must instead have the moral courage to be scientifically correct and rational about homosexual behavior and AIDS, just as we are about the scientific fact that smoking tobacco causes cancer.”

According to the Michigan Department of Public Health:

* Over 61 percent of AIDS cases in the metro Detroit area are the result of male homosexual behavior: 55.5 percent involving men who were infected by the disease through sexual contact with other men, and another 5.7 percent who were engaged in both homosexual behavior and injecting drugs.

* Twenty percent of AIDS cases in metro Detroit are the result of injecting drugs without involvement in homosexual activity.

* Only 16 percent of AIDS cases in metro Detroit are the result of transmission through heterosexual activity, only 1.6 percent involve babies who acquired the disease from their mothers at birth, and only one percent involve exposure to infected blood.

A Canadian study published in 1997 by Oxford University’s International Journal of Epidemiology reported that “life expectancy at age 20 years for gay and bisexual men is 8 to 20 years less than for all men. If the same pattern of mortality were to continue, we estimate that nearly half of gay and bisexual men currently aged 20 years will not reach their 65th birthday.”

* “Modelling the impact of HIV disease on mortality in gay and bisexual men,” International Journal of Epidemiology, Oxford University, 1997 at: http://ije.oxfordjournals.org/…

* Also cited by Canadian Medical Association Journal, Jan. 2000, at: http://www.cmaj.ca/cgi/content/full/162/1/21#SEC3

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