Mohave County Supervisor and former Arizona state senator Ron Gould is under fire for remarks he made to the local newspaper Kingman Daily Miner (subscription).
Gould told the newspaper that gay men have a life expectancy of 42 years.
Asked if he believes they die younger because of their sexual orientation, Gould replied, “That’s why they die. We all have our sins, but we should try to suppress them. Alcohol is harmful, too, but we don’t see groups promoting alcoholism.”
Gould also said that marriage is not a civil right for gay people, adding, “It used to be ‘tolerate us,’; now it’s ‘accept us.'”
Of the ‘gays die at 42’ claim, the Phoenix New Times writes, “Gould probably got the number from an unscientific study conducted by the anti-gay Family Research Institute in 1994. Researcher Paul Cameron — who was terminated from the American Psychological Association over his research methods — counted obituaries in newspapers serving the LGBTQ community and allegedly found an average life span of 43 for gay men.”
