Dakota Beacon

Type letters “GLBT” on a web search and here’s an example of what you will find:

“Welcome to GayFriendlyBiz.com. We strive to provide a venue for those of us in the GLBT community to find businesses, resources and services that are friendly to the Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender community. Meaning that are supportive of our issues and our equal rights in all aspects of life, including marriage, employment, housing and all other respects.

Here you can find anything from gay friendly professionals like counselors, attorneys, accountants and doctors to glbt friendly travel resources, like inns, bed & breakfasts, hotels, travel agents and cruises to gay and lesbian friendly resources for weddings, commitment ceremonies or civil unions. You can also find supportive and charitable organizations within our community and religous organizations that are open and affirming.”


“Tolerance” is not Enough

Your first clue upon reading the above website home page introduction should be the misspelling of the word “religious”. The degree of sincerity of religious expression is revealed immediately; it’s not even important enough to spell correctly.

Note that being “friendly” to the GLBT community includes being supportive of their issues, including GLBT “marriage”; that GLBT “weddings” are referenced along with “commitment ceremonies” and “civil unions” as if they were one and the same; and lastly, that to be “supportive” a business must be “open and affirming”. The point here is that just BEING TOLERANT IS NOT ENOUGH, a business must be AFFIRMING to be listed as a “friendly business”! Webster defines “affirm” as “to say positively; declare firmly; assert to be true”. Webster defines “affirmative” as “a word or expression indicating assent or agreement. For GLBT’s, tolerance is not enough, they want us to agree with them, even convert to their lifestyle.

Early Exposure

My first exposure to homosexuality was in high school. As a naive young man, I had no idea of its presence in my life. A star performer on our high school’s hockey team was chumming around with an un-athletic young man of similar short stature. I found it odd that they began to talk to each other and to others with a slight lisp and in a somewhat condescending and sarcastic manner, neither of them having displayed this oral infirmity before. I was always struck by his distant and slightly arrogant demeanor, but attributed it to his “hockey star” persona. I found out recently that the star performer was and is gay. Research and clinical literature demonstrate that same-sex sexual and romantic attractions, feelings, and behaviors are normal and positive variations of human sexuality, regardless of sexual orientation identity. This is also consistent with the animal kingdom.

The Lesbian “Wedding”

A couple years ago, we attended a commitment ceremony in northern California. The beloved daughter of my first cousin was joined together forever with her lesbian soul mate. All four of the “first born” cousins attended; and in a special twist, all four of their “first born” daughters also attended, including the beautiful bride of my first cousin. Unfortunately, the parents of my niece’s soul mate from India did not fly over to attend the ceremony because they did not approve of it. I believe they will live to regret that decision for the remainder of their lives.

Throughout the lavish three-day affair, we were amazed by the unconditional love that was present among us. I’ve never been quite so proud of my family as we offered up tolerance and love in sincere abundance. I can now look back clearly and say that the ceremony and all of the associated events revealed the true grace of God. He loves ALL of His children and wants the best for ALL of them! The bride commented at the reception that she had never previously felt such an abundance of love generated towards her and her “wife”. I tear up even now at the thought of her gracious comment accepting His expression of love through her entire extended family.

When choosing the card, we were careful to select one which did not use the word “wedding” or “married”, our subtle and instructive way of reminding the young couple that we did not confuse “marriage’ of a man and woman at a “wedding” with the commitment they were to make to each other. We did not mean to imply that a wedding is more important than a commitment, just different from one; equal in importance, perhaps, but not the same. Likewise, we were careful to refer to the beautiful “ceremony” or “joining together”, not the beautiful “wedding”.

The young couple has adopted two babies that will be likely showered with love by their parents and grandparents. The jury in my mind is still out concerning GLBT adoption, but we’re talking California here, not your grandmother’s home town.

There were two negative mini-events that marred the occasion. The husband of the bride’s mother’s sister became intoxicated and used the opportunity of an open mike to practice his stand-up comedy routine, which needed a lot of work. The bride diffused the situation by calming walking up to him, giving him a big hug and deftly transferring the mike from his hand to her dad’s, who returned the event to normalcy. The second mini-event was a highly inappropriate speech concerning gay rights that was delivered at the reception by one of the more militant members of the local gay community. My cousin was visibly upset during the diatribe. We heterosexuals just bit our lips and endured.

My fondest memory, as for any wedding, is of the dancing we enjoyed. On the occasion of noticing a lesbian couple next to practicing “dirty dancing”, I spontaneously yelled out, in true North Dakota fashion, “Get a Room”. The couple immediately looked over at me with initial disdain, but, upon seeing the wide grin on my face and my obviously harmless intent, they laughed and accepted the good-natured “jab” as any couple would!

The main point to be made concerning the three-day event is this; if you are asked to attend such an event, do so with all of the unconditional love you can muster, be yourself, and be ready to both learn and teach a little tolerance and love. Your rewards will be many, as were ours!

The Hard Sell

As stated above, for GLBT’s, tolerance is not enough, they want us to agree with them, even convert to their lifestyle. Further, they are promoting their GLBT lifestyles as if by doing so, they can some day convince enough people to embrace it for it to be considered “mainstream”. The combining of gays, lesbians, bisexuals and transsexuals into one group is an obvious attempt to maximize numbers but presents an interesting dichotomy. While the combining of the four groups (really only three groups since transsexuals are an extreme rarity) increases the number, the total is still documented at only about1.51% of the United States population*.

*The National Health and Social Life Survey (NHSLS), published in the book The Social Organization of Sex: Sexual Practices in the United States (1994), by Laumann, Gagnon, Michael and Michaels is referenced. 1.51% of the total U.S. population identifies themselves as gay, lesbian or bisexual, or 4.3 total million Americans. Lesbians make up 0.32% and Gay men make up 0.70%, leaving 0.49% as Bisexual.

A coalition of leading pro-homosexual activist groups recently claimed in a legal brief that 2.8 percent of the male population and 1.4 percent of the female population (4.2% in total) identify themselves as gay, lesbian, or bisexual. In fact, the referenced NHSLS report that was cited in the homosexual groups’ brief refers as well to “the myth of 10 percent,” a historic attempt to make such sexual practices more universally accepted.

So only 1.51% of the population can be substantiated as GLBT, yet 4.2% of the population identify themselves as GLBT, and many GLBT websites insist on the 10% myth. Claims by the GLBT community of numbers higher than can be documented are indicative of their desire that the numbers be large enough to substantiate to the general public what researchers already know, that same-sex sexual and romantic attractions, feelings, and behaviors are normal and positive variations of human sexuality.

The above information is presented to provide some insight as to why the GLBT community seems to be insistent on PROMOTING their “variant” (not deviant) behaviors. They want the percentages (and their self-image) to increase!

LGB Adoption

In the U.S., LGB people can legally adopt in all states except for Florida. There is no scientific basis for concluding that gay and lesbian parents are any less fit or capable than heterosexual parents. Public opinion, however, is another matter. The Australian Family Association (AFA) on November 30, 2009 said that Queensland government plans to allow gay couples to access altruistic surrogacy is not supported by the wider community. A Galaxy Poll commissioned by the association reportedly indicates nine out of ten people believe children should be raised by a mother and father.

A Word to the Wise

GLBT’s should rightly demand their constitutional civil rights as have minorities, women, the disabled, and others. GLBT’s should learn to understand that the majority of Americans do not consider a union between those of the same sex as “marriage”. The Webster definition of marriage is “The state of being married; relation between husband and wife; married life; wedlock; matrimony.” They insult us when they call their lifelong commitments “marriage”. They are a variant portion of the population; as such they should get together and agree to the most appropriate term(s) to employ in describing their lifelong commitments. “Civil union” seems cold and institutional; “commitment ceremony” sounds like a gathering of friends before being locked up. My own favorite is to call it what it is, a “Spiritual Coupling” of two individuals toward mutual lifelong spiritual growth.

GLBT’s should understand that we heterosexuals love them and cherish their varied and numerous contributions to society, as long as they do not “promote” their lifestyles to our children.

While the mental health community has almost uniformly insisted that homosexuality is biological, most Americans are skeptical of this belief. We all know of instances where confused teens are introduced by outside forces to homosexuality as an “easy way out” of the stress of male-female dating and other pressures.

My Personal Beliefs

Some people, whom we call homosexual, are driven to resist nature’s overwhelming hormonal mating signals at puberty.

I believe that no one is born gay. The mere idea that that is possible is a flimsy fabrication of sloppy journalists, lazy therapists, and distracted (by larger issues) geneticists, unwilling to delve deeply and diligently into the human psyche or to prove a definitive genetic connection. I believe that any person, male or female, who cannot feel the sexual allure of the opposite sex, has been traumatized by some early combination of social circumstances.

I also believe that we must all be tolerant and accepting of those who choose this path, but we must draw the line at the promotion of such lifestyles as “mainstream” when we know them to be a variation of the human sexual condition and contrary to our spiritual mandate to procreate. Homosexuality must be tolerated, even embraced, for the diversity it brings. Promotion and marketing of the lifestyle and attempts toward conversion of heterosexuals to increase GLBT numbers, however, is contrary to our values as a Judeo-Christian society.




Lynn Bergman was born and raised in Grand Forks, receiving his Civil Engineering degree from UND. He worked as a municipal engineer in four cities (Grand Forks, Bismarck, Yuma, Arizona, and Colorado Springs, Colorado) over a period of almost 20 years. He then worked for a mining company in North Dakota for another 15 years, retiring in 1998. Development and demonstration of Portland-pozzolan cement and optimally durable concrete has been one of his life’s passions. Political activism is another interest and he is a Director of “Citizens for Responsible Government”, an organization devoted to fiscal responsibility in government. He is President of DuraCement, LLC and is employed part-time by a regional engineering firm.