Although one pro-family advocate has nothing against a smoking ban imposed by the Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education on all state-owned universities, she says the state system is condoning a more dangerous lifestyle.
Diane Gramley of the American Family Association of Pennsylvania agrees that smoking imposes health risks. But she argues that the State System of Higher Education condoned a riskier lifestyle last year when it voted to extend domestic partner benefits -- including tuition and health benefits -- to same-sex partners of faculty members. According to a press release from Gramley's group, The New England Journal of Medicine reported that men who smoke shorten their lives by up to 7.2 years. But Gramley says according to the Oxford Internal Journal of Epidemiology, the homosexual lifestyle can shorten a man's life by up to 20 years. "A recent study by the CDC says that 71 percent of all HIV cases are, in fact, men who have sex with men," she points out. In addition, the family advocate notes the same study reports that more than half of all new HIV/AIDS infections in 2006 occurred among homosexual men. Gramley contends that the Board of Governors of the State System of Higher Education -- in addition to not reading health risk statistics for men in homosexual relationships -- is sending a mixed message to students. "...I think it was probably a good idea that...the schools banned smoking," she offers. "But still, they're giving the kids a [mixed] message that that's more dangerous than engaging in homosexuality." Gramley says her organization has sent letters to the chairman of the Board of Governors, alerting them to the facts. Until that group stops promoting the homosexual lifestyle, she believes it does not have in mind the best interests of the students, faculty, or taxpayers of Pennsylvania.
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