The housing crisis is gays' fault

Right-wing nutcase Robert Knight has carefully examined the causes of the low numbers of families with children in San Francisco, and he's figured it out:

Robert Knight, director of the Culture and Family Institute, believes a major reason for this statistic is that San Francisco's dominant subculture is prompting families to flee the city. That subculture, Knight contends, is largely made up of childless adult singles and couples -- many of them homosexuals -- who live well and who live mainly for themselves. "The homosexuals have enormous influence," he says. "It's a very artsy city, and everything's very expensive. That's one reason families can't afford to live there anymore. It's all geared toward either the single life or the two-income adult life without kids."

Even with the high economic standard of living in the City by the Bay, Knight observes, "I know a lot of families that would probably like to live in San Francisco -- except that they don't think it's a good environment for their kids, even though it's a very pretty city." He feels many families that are moving out have chosen to do so because of what the City Council has done to groups like the Boy Scouts of America -- that is, kicked them out of all city buildings, including the public schools.

If Gavin Newsom wants to have more families moving into his city instead of fleeing it, Knight asserts, then the San Francisco mayor is going to have to stop being a servant of homosexual marriage activists and the city's own selfishly oriented homosexual subculture. According to the CFI director, public officials and policy makers who promote same-sex marriage and other pro-homosexual causes in the name of tolerance are not being compassionate, but are in fact making a "declaration of indifference over the tragic results of homosexuality and a direct threat to marriage and the well being of children."

Ironically, in coming to some truly asinine conclusions, he actually comes within hailing distance of the truth. Families with children do find it hard to live in San Francisco, it's true, and it is primarily related to cost of living (housing, I think, specifically). But as many of us who actually live in San Francisco know, the latest housing crisis is tied not to an influx of gay folks, but an influx of (mostly straight) rich people. Oh, and not incidentally, an assault on cities by Republican administrations in Sacramento and Washington, DC.