by Frank York and Robert H. Knight

About the authors: Frank York is a former editor in the public policy department of Focus on the Family. He is coauthor of When the Wicked Seize a City, a history of the gay rights movement in San Francisco. Robert H. Knight is director of cultural studies at the Family Research Council.

No question about it: both ends of the cultural spectrum acknowledge that self-avowed, practicing homosexual teenagers run grave health risks. Research demonstrates that these adolescents face significantly higher risks of suicide, drug abuse, alcoholism, and sexually transmitted diseases (STDs), particularly acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS).

But why homosexual teens face such dangers is widely disputed. Scholars with homosexual sympathies and especially homosexual political activists look to society at large for scapegoats...