Andrew Stagg wrote:
I just had a quick read through the 21 reasons why gender matters article.
http://www.gendermatters.org.au/Home_files/21%20Reasons%20Why%20Gender%20Matters(low%20res).pdfWarrick Marsh didn't write the whole thing, he just contributed to it.
It's a good article, because it lays out in plain language some of the issues that have been created by the gender engineering in the last thirty or so years. It's a good article, because it discusses the negative effects often experienced by young girls and young boys growing up in 'non-traditional' homes. It's a good article because it's a valid contribution to the debate. And so you'd think that having someone on a men's health board that was aware of these issues, would be a really good thing. And you'd think that with his knowledge he'd have something valid to contribute to men's health and mental health issues.
It's clear however that while extreme views are increasingly welcome in government (aka Victoria's deferred IVF laws) any view that balances this re-engineering is promptly removed from the debate.
Hi Andrew,
Yes, I've now had a full read of the "Gender matters" document too, and found it of very high quality. The stuff about gender differences and the crucial importance of children having both a mother and a father (preferably in lifelong union) is simply commonsense, but it was great to see it backed up by decades of scientific evidence and research as well.
Also, it's clear that all those so-called "controversial" assertions (homosexuals having a higher incidence of disease and ill-health, drug abuse, partner violence, infidelity, etc. and the fact that homosexual orientation is a potentially curable psychopathology) aren't just a matter of religious opinion, but rather they are facts overwhelmingly backed up by research and evidence -- as the document clearly shows. Indeed, standard clinical guidelines are based on the assumption that the health needs of MSM are different from the needs of straight men -- eg. MSM aren't allowed to donate blood, they are routinely tested for a much larger range of STDs than straight men are.
What we're seeing is the suppression not just of free speech, but of plain facts in the interests of ideology.
In the meantime, men's health is based on the irrefutable premise that men are different from women at every level -- biologically, cognitively, psychologically, behaviourally. We were taught this through med school, it continues to be taught to us in General Practice training, and it starkly evident in everyday clinical practice. It's something clinicians take so much for granted that we usually don't even think twice about it. I'm glad these Christians have been bold enough to produce this great document in the face of the homosexual lobby and their constant distortion of truth. It's a twisted paradox that Warwick Marsh was removed from the men's health team.
At a time when mental illness, drug and alcohol abuse and so on are at alarming rates and the health system is struggling to cope, our society is committing mass suicide by allowing children to be raised in gay families.
Jereth
P.S. here's what Australian Christian Loby had to say:
Last week's dismissal of Fatherhood Foundation head Warwick Marsh as a voluntary Government men's health ambassador highlights ongoing controversy over the issue of homosexuality.
Research findings are often open to challenge and argument and homosexual and lesbian people should be treated with love and respect. However, political correctness should not dictate that discussion of the negative health and social consequences of the homosexual lifestyle should be suppressed.
As homosexual activists push for access to children through artificial reproductive technology and adoption, it is appropriate that there be serious public debate about the best interests of children and the importance of the natural family.
Respectful freedom of speech without fear should be encouraged, not quashed. ACL will be raising these concerns with the Health Minister Nicola Roxon.
In the meantime, ACL remains grateful for the bi-partisan political support of marriage between a man and a woman. This was reaffirmed by Opposition Leader Malcolm Turnbull speaking at ACL's National Conference and by Attorney General Robert McClelland in media comments last month.
