|
REGULAR MEETING JULY, 10, 2006
<br />meetings and discussions to come to a common solution that will address the concerns
<br />that have been presented here. Rev. Patton asked the Council to do the right thing and
<br />vote against the ordinance tonight.
<br />Jan Torma, 901 Wheatly Drive, South Bend, Indiana, stated that she is full-time nursing
<br />faculty at an area college here. She is a registered nurse and a wellness educator, a
<br />community wellness educator, she is here to summarize and conclude her statement that
<br />she began in this room in May, 2006, with Members of the City Council, in which she is
<br />lovingly opposing the special rights initiatives of the GLBT Community. Medically
<br />speaking the homosexual lifestyle is a chosen lifestyle. There is no proof that people are
<br />born homosexual. No gene has been found or discovered, there are no immutable
<br />characteristics such as race, skin color associated with this lifestyle. GLBT individuals
<br />do not qualify for inclusion in this ordinance as a protected class. By promoting this
<br />revised ordinance, the Council is in fact promoting the homosexual lifestyle. There are
<br />devastating health consequences, for individuals who engage in the GLBT lifestyle and
<br />the promotion of this lifestyle will lower the standard of health in the community. She
<br />spoke of the risk of getting anal cancer soaring by 4,000 % in those who engage in anal
<br />intercourse, according to the March 2006 issue of Health Psychology and the National
<br />Association of Research and Therapy of Homosexuality. She spoke about the realities of
<br />anal penetration with a penis, a human fist, and sex toys, that irreparably damage the
<br />tissue and nerve endings in the anus and the rectum, often requiring an irreversible
<br />colostomy. This presents a drastic change in ones activities of daily living and coping
<br />with an altered body image is a huge psychological challenge. In November, 2005 the
<br />Center for Disease Control, issued a warning about an alarming increase in the spread of
<br />Syphilis nationwide, and attributed most of the grow to gay sexual activities. In addition,
<br />there is evidence that antibiotic resistance among homosexual males, is 23.8%, eight
<br />times the rate for heterosexual males. The genital human papillomavirus (HPV) is the
<br />most common STD in the United States and it has no cure. We know that HPV is the
<br />cause of genital warts, there is a growing body of evidence demonstrating its association
<br />with anogenital cancers. HPV differs from other STDs in it mode of transmission, it
<br />spreads from skin to skin, it is that kind of contact. HPV infects the entire genital area;
<br />the penis, scrotum, vulva and surrounding areas. Condoms do not cover the scrotum, nor
<br />most of the other areas that can be infected with the virus. According to the CDC, there
<br />is an extremely high prevalence of HPV infection among homosexual and bisexual men
<br />and almost universal infection among HIV positive individuals. She stated that she was
<br />lecturing in a pharmacology class for nursing students s a few weeks ago. According to
<br />the text by Lilley, in the United States unprotected anal intercourse among male
<br />homosexuals is still the most common cause of new cases of the Human
<br />Immunodeficiency Virus infection. HIV can have a dormant phase of 10 years or more
<br />before giving rise to AIDS, acquired immunodeficiency syndrome. AIDS is the end
<br />stage of the disease process caused by HIV. There is no cure and it is ultimately fatal. It
<br />results in a severe disorder of the body’s immune system functioning, leading to an
<br />inability of the body to fight off disease. She stated that they want to build a healthy
<br />society, not one that is built of sexually transmitted diseases, for which there is no cure.
<br />They want to build a civilization of life not a civilization of death. She appealed to the
<br />Council, to their intellectual honesty and strongly urge the Council, to vote against
<br />adding sexual orientation and gender identity to the ordinance governing the South Bend
<br />Human Rights Commission.
<br />Mary Grabill, 22361 Kern Road, South Bend, Indiana, stated that she is a nurse and she
<br />teaches, and sometimes does a little counseling She wanted to let the people here tonight
<br />to know that God is a healer, and a deliverer. There is nothing that we can go through
<br />that God is not deeper. He is deeper and a healer and a deliverer and no matter what
<br />people say, that he will give us the strength to go on. She is saying this because she is a
<br />black woman, and it seems like every time that when something comes up, it always
<br />about being black and civil rights, well that’s good because homosexuality and
<br />lesbianism, and bi-sexual and all the other stuff doesn’t come under the subject of human
<br />rights, because black people were born black, being a homosexual, being a lesbian that is
<br />something that you choose to go into. That lifestyle is chosen or introduced into that
<br />lifestyle. God so loved the World, that he gave his own son, not just for black or white or
<br />whatever, for the whole World, because we are all his creation. God wants all of us to be
<br />29
<br />
<br />
|