The sad reality for many sexually active young women is how unstable and unreliable young men are. Few male teens accept their responsibility as fathers; some choose not to, others are unable to for a variety of reasons. Census data show nearly 85% of all single-parent households are headed by a female. Now, all these households are not the result of teen pregnancies, but many are. The data also show approximately one-third of female single parents have never been married. Among teens, eight of ten fathers do not marry the mothers of their first children. These absent fathers pay less than $800 annually in child support, often because they are poor themselves (The National Campaign to Prevent Teen and Unplanned Pregnancy). Obviously, teen pregnancy is a disaster (see the report of the NCPTUP, “Why it Matters: Teen Pregnancy and Responsible Fatherhood,” at www.thenationalcampaign.org/resources/fact-sheets, Males and Fatherhood).

Men are promiscuous by nature. Some have argued marriage domesticates men and, thus, by restraining their sexual appetites makes them useful to society. While that theory, albeit attractive, may have no substantive foundation, what is beyond debate is the stabilizing influence marriage has in a society. With the erosion of stable, heterosexual, monogamous marriage comes the erosion of society in general. As long as men remain faithful to their marriage vows, act responsibly as a parent, and function as a productive member of his community, his marriage will remain healthy and secure. Sexual infidelity by men disrupts his own family, affects his children, can disrupt another family, and creates a sense of uncertainty is his larger community. Sexual fidelity is fundamental to a marriage.

Such is not the case among male homosexuals. For them, looking outside their relationship for sexual encounters is more the rule than the exception. In the book The Male Couple, authors David McWhirter and Andrew Mattison present the findings of a study they did among 156 homosexual couples. Of these, 95% had been in a relationship for 5 years or longer. In this group, all had an agreement allowing one or both partners to be involved sexually outside their relationship. Among the remaining 5% of the study group, all reported on or both partners had been sexually active outside their primary relationship.

In a post on Townhall.com, Michael Medved observed the following.  “In their push for government endorsement of same-sex unions, gay advocates insist they only want to extend the institution of marriage, not to change it in any meaningful way. At the same time, some of the leading married activists on this issue (like author and columnist Dan Savage) admit to participating in group sex with their spouses and rejecting heterosexual standards of monogamy. A New York Times Magazine profile of gay “married couples” revealed that nearly all of them practiced “open,” non-exclusive relationships. While man-woman couples often fall short of perfect fidelity, they rarely hold up sexual adventurism as a new ideal. Overwhelming majorities of Americans say cheating is wrong in all cases, so when prominent gay activists openly, proudly stray, they signal their unmistakable intention to redefine marital norms in a radical way.”

That homosexual relationships do not serve the same purpose as heterosexual ones is clear from the above stated observations. For heterosexuals, sex serves to bind husband and wife. The highest ideal for heterosexuals is sexual fidelity. Not so among homosexuals. If heterosexuals were as sexually promiscuous as male homosexuals, the divorce rate would be 100%. Obviously, homosexuals do not seek intimacy in the way heterosexuals do. For them, sex is a recreational activity.

For homosexuals, sex cannot be defined as a normal, natural thing. The human body and the human psyche is not designed for homosexual behavior. The vast majority of human beings do not now, nor have they ever seen sex between two men or two women as a natural, acceptable thing. In fact, for most men and women, the idea of being involved sexually with someone of their own gender is repulsive. Sex between two persons of the same gender requires a humiliating submissiveness on the part of one member at least. Who would want to debase themselves in the way homosexual sex requires?

When a man and a woman enter into a marriage, and honor and abide by the principles defining marriage, especially the biblical ones, the marriage will be healthy, fulfilling, and ennobling to both partners. Marriages fail because individuals break the rules or misuse or abuse their partner by perverting sex. When a husband his sexuality as meant primarily for his wife and not his pleasure, and shows concern and respect for her, then both partners will be ennobled. When both partners are wholly loyal to one another and to the vows upon which their marriage is based, the marriage will work. When one partner, though, indulges his/her desires in a selfish way, either within or outside the marriage, then the other partner is diminished and devalued. Neither is affirmed or ennobled under such conditions.

Sex between a husband and wife is the only normal context for human sexuality. In any other context, sex is selfish, sex destroys, sex degrades.

*Janice Shaw Crouse, Ph.D., is Senior Fellow at the Beverly LaHaye Institute, the think tank for Concerned Women for America. The study she cited was presented in an article published in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine. Five authors from different departments (Psychology, Pediatrics, Maternal and Child Health, Research and Evaluation, and Internal Medicine) at The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (UNC-CH) explored whether "gender-specific patterns of substance use and sexual behavior precede and predict depression or vice versa."