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By Jerry Newcombe
6/21/11
 
            If you were a Martian and you visited modern America, you would think that about half the population was gay---and the other half wishes it were.
This is bizarre, especially when you look at the actual statistics….where perhaps as few as 2% of the general population identify themselves as gay.
Writing last month in USA Today, conservative radio host Michael Medved noted, "UCLA's Williams Institute on Sexual Orientation Law and Public Policy offered a new estimate of homosexual identification: concluding that 1.7% of Americans say they're gay, and a slightly larger group (1.8%) identified as bisexual..."
Despite the small numbers (and Medved cites a different study that even puts the number at only 1.4%), this issue seems front and center everywhere.
When The Flintstones theme first crowed, "we'll have a gay, old time," it would have been difficult to imagine how the meaning of that phrase has changed to a cultural phenomenon sweeping the nation. 
June might have been the wedding month of yesteryear, but this month the president declared, "NOW, THEREFORE, I, BARACK OBAMA, President of the United States of America, by virtue of the authority vested in me by the Constitution and the laws of the United States, do hereby proclaim June 2011 as Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Pride Month." [Emphasis his]
        Look at TV. In September 2010, the New York Times noted that gay television characters are at a record high.
        Look at schools, where the children might not learn basic historical or mathematical facts, but they do learn that "Heather has two mommies."
From coast to coast, the push for same-sex marriage is in the headlines. The controversial Proposition 8 voter referendum in California to define marriage as between one man and one woman has been overturned in the courts (nullifying the votes of seven million people) and is on appeal. In New York, the legislature is voting on the issue of same sex marriage. Historically, these things have been imposed on "we the people" by judicial fiat.
        The first official same sex marriage in the United States was between two lesbians in Massachusetts in 2004, brought about by an ACLU lawsuit. Thanks to judicial fiat in that state, the 1780 constitution, written largely by John Adams, was twisted by that state's highest court to impose same sex marriage.
        Incidentally, that first legal same sex marriage has already ended in divorce. (That seems to be par for the course for marriage in our society today.)
        What has happened in Massachusetts as a result of the legalization of same sex marriage?
        For starters, the militant homosexual agenda has begun to take over. Already, the Catholic Church, which has helped place orphans in loving homes for centuries, can no longer operate in Massachusetts because the Church cannot in good conscience place them in homosexual homes. So the children are out of luck.
        Meanwhile, Bay State first graders have access to condoms at some public schools. As Peter Sprigg of the Family Research Council notes, What could first graders possibly do with condoms, but maybe have a water balloon fight?
        I think all of this is quite tragic because it puts another nail in the coffin of the American family. As the family goes, so goes society.
        On the other hand, one of the most important, and yet, least trumpeted, stories about gays in America is one of redemption.
In my work in religious broadcasting, I have had the privilege of interviewing about two dozen or so former gays and lesbians. Rather than describing lives of happiness, they describe a lifestyle full of pain, conditional love, and rejection (despite society's full embrace).
        As one of them said to me, "If you separate them, one on one, there are some very wretched people, who are hurting deeply."
        But through the power of the Gospel, these ex-gays and ex-lesbians were freed from their former lifestyle.
        Some have even gotten married (to a person of the opposite sex---I guess you have to clarify these things nowadays). One I interviewed has been married for a decade, and now has three beautiful children.
        They are eternally grateful for the transformation in their hearts and are part of an umbrella group called Exodus International.
One former homosexual told me, "I was never happy that I was gay, but no one ever offered me a way out." But when someone did offer him a way out, he took it and was transformed from the inside out.
As another former gay put it, "I never dreamed that the orientation would go away, that it would change, that it would get me to the point in my life where it's not a temptation anymore….it's never too late to change---because I did when I decided that I was not going to be involved in homosexuality anymore."
        Are there some ex-gays that have fallen off the wagon, so to speak? Sure. It reminds me of ex-ex-smokers. Just because some ex-smokers take up smoking again doesn't mean others are not able to quit for good.
        I could only wish our visiting Martian would learn about the ex-gays and ex-lesbians because they are an important part of this picture.
 
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Jerry Newcombe is the senior producer and host of The Coral Ridge Hour. He has also written or co-written 21 books, including The Book That Made America: How the Bible Formed Our Nation. Jerry co-wrote (with Dr. Peter Lillback) the bestselling, George Washington's Sacred Fire. He hosts the website www.jerrynewcombe.com.