While reading through the most recent “Washington Update” from the Family Research Council, I had to stop and wonder if the organzation had perhaps hired Peter LaBarbera or Matt Barber and put them in charge of drafting the daily email.
But no, this language can be attributed to FRC president Tony Perkins himself, who responds to this Washington Post article claiming that Washington DC’s recognition of marriage equality will be a boon to the District’s economy by claiming that it’ll actually damage the economy due to the “massive health care expenses incurred by taxpayers every year to cope with the diseases spread by homosexual behavior”:
Not so fast, says FRC. The last census counted 3,678 same-sex partner homes in D.C. Assuming that number has stayed roughly the same, then the 150 who applied for marriage licenses yesterday would amount to a whopping four percent of the local homosexual population–hardly the stuff of economic recovery. For the Post’s $52.2 million projection to come true, all 3,678 of those D.C. couples would have to get married and spend over $14,000 per wedding. (I don’t know about you, but my wife and I spent a LOT less!) These “marriages” (which have yet to meet financial expectations in other states) may make a fast buck in the short term, but they will do nothing but drain the economy down the road. Consider the massive health care expenses incurred by taxpayers every year to cope with the diseases spread by homosexual behavior. According to the Kaiser Foundation, federal funding grew to more than $18 billion in 2004 to deal with the HIV/AIDS epidemic. Over half of all U.S. infections are in men having sex with men! That means taxpayers spend roughly $10 billion a year treating the diseases caused by a behavior celebrated in same-sex “marriage.” So much for economic development!
