Nobody's going to force anyone to engage in gay sex (Penn State locker rooms and rectories notwithstanding)
It's a common misconception that molesting boys = gay, but it's a rather viscous lie caused by equating boys with men. Gay men like men, which operationally means post-pubescent males--something like age 15-16+. Young boys on the other hand are essentially feminine and appeal to straight men if anyone. So while it may be penis-in-male-butt sex, it's not gay sex in the proper sense since the man is not gay and not attracted to men. Almost no child molesters are homosexual in their adult relationships (just around the fraction you'd expect), even those who have no reason to hide it. A more detailed account of this can be found here.
Interestingly the number of lesbian child molesters is essentially 0, which is lower than you'd expect based on the heterosexual female numbers. It's hard to measure such a tiny population though since women are so rarely child molesters anyway, and lesbian child molesters are then expected to be a small part of a small part of a small population.
You first offer a generalization I assume you can't prove ("how children learn to relate to the opposing gender has a lot to do with how mom and dad interact") and then you complain about the rigor of studies. That strikes me as rather hypocritical. I also intensely dislike the foolish argument presented: children of gay couples are not raised in isolation, but rather interact with many adults, from other family to teachers to friends' parents. To seriously make that argument work, you have to show that these relationships are in some sense insufficient for children. I don't buy it on faith and I don't believe it on intuition.
The limitations of social scientific studies are well known, and yet they're what we have. Experts from numerous professional organizations have reviewed the research and found it conclusive enough to put out statements supporting gay marriage from a child-rearing perspective, saying there is no significant difference. There's also the rather strong argument that gay couples never accidentally have children--they are planned for, and so all else being equal gay couples can do better on the whole even in a properly randomized setting.
B. It sounds like he's right, but in any case, yes the gay man stereotype is feminine, but they're just the most visible tip of the iceberg. Part of liking men means liking masculinity. Gimme a sweaty hairy jock who just finished football practice over some guy with a lisp any day.
I know he claimed that he was going to announce it anyway. I just don't believe it. How convenient. [...] Biden left him in a situation where he was virtually forced to make an statement of support or risk pissing off the gay community in an election season
Actually I was surprised he felt the need to clear things up. I expected him to continue "evolving" until after the election, but with Biden showing open support which would have been at least something for the gay community. Also, don't forget, Don't Ask Don't Tell was repealed under Obama. Gay people weren't exactly angry with him to start, and many of us were alright with him not getting into the issue in such a close election year with the presumption of relatively strong support for the next four years afterward.
As you say, the political calculation is difficult to make and the fallout unclear. That said I also suspect Obama wanted to give his base a symbol to get more fired up about. His youth vote is much more apathetic this time around, and gay marriage support might help that. His fundraising certainly hasn't been hurt by it (though Romney may have been helped by it too). It doesn't appear that African Americans are alienated by it enough to really matter. They grumble and some of their louder, more conservative speakers denounce him, but those are fringe effects that don't change the fact that most black people would like a black man in office rather than a rich white businessman.
As to Romney's stance on a constitutional amendment -- it really doesn't matter. The president has no say in the matter. It's like saying you want every little girl to have her own pony.
My Romney quote was in response to you saying, "meaning in reality his [Obama's] position is no different than Romney's."--I was just illustrating how their positions differ. Also, I think you unfairly downplay a president's influence, but of course there are many, many people with hands in running the country, not just one person.
A sine curve goes off to infinity, or at least the end of the blackboard. -- Prof. Steiner
