American Family Association of Michigan 

• It made front page news in Washington, D.C., and was reported as far away as Europe.  (Washington Times National Weekly Edition, April 10-16, 2000) and [LINK].
• Fifteen thousand Michiganians signed a petition demanding it be cancelled. [LINK]
• Fifty-two members of the state House of Representatives voted to cut 10 percent from a major state university's budget because of it. [LINK]
• And the homosexual professor who taught it told reporters, "If I had the magical power to turn heterosexuals into homosexuals, I wouldn't be wasting my time teaching at a university. I'd engage in world domination." (Washington Times National Weekly Edition, April 10-16, 2000)

So it is was noteworthy that when classes resumed this month at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, the subject of the controversy -- a Fall 2000 class by Professor David Halperin titled "How to be Gay: Male Homosexuality & Initiation" -- had been dropped from the schedule.

The American Family Association of Michigan -- whose demand last spring that the class be cancelled ignited a controversy that drew media and public attention throughout the year --declared victory, while promising to generate renewed public opposition if the victory proves temporary.

"Michigan families were outraged when they learned that UM officials forced taxpayers to pay for a class openly advertised as an experiment in the initiation of young men into the high-risk, self-destructive, and deadly lifestyle of homosexual behavior," said AFA-Michigan President Gary Glenn.

The UM Fall 2000 course catalogue itself said "this course will examine the general topic of the role that initiation plays in the formation of gay identity...the course itself will constitute an experiment in the very process of initiation that it hopes to understand." (English 317, Section 001 at: [LINK])

"Thanks to public outcry from concerned citizens, UM's tax-financed homosexual lifestyle initiation class has been dropped," Glenn said. "We call on the governor, the Legislature, and the UM board of regents to ensure our tax dollars are never again used to promote homosexual behavior, and we will aggressively educate Michigan taxpayers about any future such abuses."

Glenn said he was advised Friday by a staff member in UM President Lee Bollinger's office that (1) the class was not being offered this semester, and (2) university officials are doubtful it will be offered again. However, he said UM's media office reportedly told one journalist that the class is not being offered this semester only because Halperin is on leave, and that it may be offered again this fall.

"UM officials are free to spin the cancellation of their homosexual initiation class however they need to save face and make it appear they're not yielding to public pressure, but the fact is a state-funded public university should respect and respond to the concerns of taxpayers who foot the bill," Glenn said. "Spin all you want, so long as you're no longer forcing Michigan taxpayers to pay for openly recruiting and teaching teenagers how to engage in behavior that is not only illegal but most people believe wrong, that further increases the burden on taxpayers to pay for its severe personal and public health consequences," he said.

Glenn said the class was particularly irresponsible given that health threat, so severe it threatens to cut up to 20 years from the lives of college age men who engage in homosexual behavior. He cited a study published by the International Journal of Epidemiology in 1997, in which Oxford University researchers found that "life expectancy at age 20 years for gay and bisexual men is 8 to 20 years less than for all men. If the same pattern of mortality were to continue, we estimate that nearly half of gay and bisexual men currently aged 20 years will not reach their 65th birthday." [LINK]

# # #