Despite getting the bum rush, Mr. Campfield was the picture of tolerance. "I said in as calm a way as I could that I don't hate gays and the things I have said were backed up by the CDC," he says on his blog. "I offered to send her the links."
Helpfully, Mr. Campfield has posted these links. The gay lifespan "fact" is here:
http://theroadtoemmaus.org/RdLb/22SxSo/PnSx/HSx/hosx_lifspn.htm
Now, perhaps Mr. Campfield should have realized this isn't an official Center for Disease Control website, because the URL would have included stuff like "cdc" and "us" and "gov." Clearly he should have noticed that on this website the letters "CDC" appear less often than "sodomy" or "MTV." Instead, we're just given one curious line:
In 1994, an obituary study revealed that the median age of death for homosexual males was 42 and for lesbians was 49.
You know, just from quickly scanning this, one realizes that it's slightly less believable than a hunchback saying they've bedded Scarlet Johannson. Because we all know how obituaries disclose the sexual orientation of the deceased. I still remember the headline for the New York Times obit of Alan Ginsburg: "ANOTHER GAY ONE, DEAD!!!"
Those still on the fence can easily discover that Paul Cameron, the author of this questionable study, was thrown out of the American Psychiatric Institute. In his defense, Mr. Cameron claims he said, "No, I quit!" several seconds beforehand.
So, is Mr. Campfield a liar or just profoundly stupid? I'm thinking it's the former, but hoping for the latter. It would brighten my life immeasurably knowing one day soon he'll mistake his hat for a waffle iron.
