Back in the mid 1990s my vision of apologetics involved memorizing lists of factoids on countless issues I deemed relevant to the defense of Christianity. When it came to homosexuality, I memorized some facts about the high rates of promiscuity among gays that I learned from the Bible Answer Man. So if the topic of homosexuality ever came up, I could immediately launch into “Did you know the average gay man has _X_ number of sexual partners during his life?” (Not surprisingly, I paid little heed to the low rates of promiscuity among lesbians.)
A couple months ago I was having a conversation with some Christian men about theology, ethics, and LGBT issues when one of them mentioned the high rates of promiscuity among gay men. And it can’t be denied that rates of promiscuity are significantly higher among gay men than heterosexual men. As Robert Gagnon observes,
“a 1997 study of 2,583 homosexually active men in Australia who are 50 years or older, produced by researchers from Macquarie University (discussed on p. 455 of my book). Only 15% of the men reported having fewer than eleven sex partners to date, while on the other end of the spectrum 15% had over 1000 sex partners. A whopping 82% had over 50 partners and nearly 50% had over 100.” (Source)
Needless to say, such highly promiscuous behavior exacts an enormous personal and social cost, not least of which is the proliferation of sexually transmitted diseases.
Having said that, here’s how I replied: “Jesus said, ‘anyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart.’ By that standard, I’m guessing the promiscuity rates among heterosexual men are nothing to be proud of.”
