APA 'ignoring the science' on homosexual reparative therapy

http://www.onenewsnow.com/Culture/Default.aspx?id=634346 ^ | 8/7/2009 | Jim Brown and Charlie Butts

[Morgana]

A Christian attorney says the American Psychological Association's rejection of therapy designed to help homosexuals leave their lifestyle is "devoid of science, reality and the common practices of a counselor."

On Wednesday, the American Psychological Association (APA) issued a strong condemnation of reparative therapy, declaring that mental health professionals should not tell homosexual clients they can change their sexual behavior through therapy or other treatments.

Mat Staver, founder and chairman of Liberty Counsel, says the APA is a political organization that has chosen to leave science behind.

"When it declassified homosexuality in the 1970s, it did it against the background of a lot of science that continued to classify it as a mental disorder. It also ignored over 120 years of research, which by the way has recently been published showing that individuals who are same-sex attracted can change," he notes.

[Morgana]

FDRQ......still mental as always....

[Burkean]

Behavior can always be changed. Even the most basic of drives and needs can be controlled, altered, or redirected.

[Clint N. Suhks]

Even after they admit the practice of perversion is not genetic

[parsifal]

Has anybody told Ann Heche this yet?

parsy.

[parsifal]

Opinion. Some gays are just plain born that way. I don’t know that is or isn’t a gene anymore that someone being born retarded or autistic, or whatever. There are a few gaysthat I have known who I can not imagine being any other way. They say they always felt different from the time they could remember anything. I don’t see any reason to doubt them.

Other gays, are that way for a multitude of reasons, including getting duped into thinking they were gay, and lifestyle choices and just plain orneryness.

I don’t see any other explanation for gay indians wanting to dress up in squaw dresses, etc.

And do I think you can change your orientation? Yes.

parsy.

[parsifal]

Here’s a link I just found:

http://ne2ss.typepad.com/northeast_twospirit_socie/2006/08/homosexuality_a.html

I remember learning this on Little Big Man starring Dustin Hoffman. (Hey, its still true)

parsy.

[Chode]

since they say homosexual/lesbian sex is normal, i guess the only real perverts left are the bisexuals, is that what they are saying???

[TomOnTheRun]

Behavior can always be changed. Even the most basic of drives and needs can be controlled, altered, or redirected.

But it isn't always wise to mess around with those things. I do not believe that psychological or psychiatric therapy is the course that should be pursued here.

When you open the Pandora's box of changing sexuality you open it to be changed in both directions. Psychologists might start trying to orient men to a more "natural and less stressful" bi-sexuality. They might decide that this or that troubled child requires "realignment to homosexuality" to end confusion. I don't see this going well.

By all means homosexuals that wish to re-orient shouldn't be turned away from communities and churches that are willing to assist but I don't think psychologists need to be encouraged to start thinking about re-orienting patients.

[fwdude]

When a case of authentic change is presented, the homo-activists quickly retort that the person was simply “bi”, and actually hasn’t changed a bit. They have a standard hack talking point for every bit of overwhelming evidence; everything except the truth.

[fwdude]

There are a few gaysthat I have known who I can not imagine being any other way. They say they always felt different from the time they could remember anything. I don’t see any reason to doubt them.

This is a standard answer given by gay activists, that they can't remember a time when they weren't "gay." Really?! Don't they remember their childhood, if it wasn't full of sexual abuse, when they were innocent and free of sexuality of any kind? Or does "gayness" morph into an adult form from other states of differentness in childhood? How do they know they were "born gay" when sexuality doesn't manifest itself until later in childhood/early adolescence?

[parsifal]

Yeah, but I tend to believe them. I mean when a nine year old boy is sewing clothes and making clothes and dressing up in mommy’s clothes, instead of baseball you gotta kinda figure something went wrong when the doctor first slapped his *ss.

parsy, who has known people like this

[parsifal]

Here’s kinda one reason why I think there is genetic component:

http://www.library.csi.cuny.edu/dept/history/lavender/wewha.html

Apparently We’Wha went to DC back then and everybody thought was a woman. Supposedly some shock.

parsy, who is afraid to go to some of these googled sites because of possible viruses.

[Burkean]

To some extent I agree with Freud’s theory of innate bisexuality (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Innate_bisexuality). I think we all have the capacity to have our sexual needs met through a number of different channels. Most of us adapt to the norm, but some don’t due to a number of factors.

I do agree that it’s very difficult to reassign someething that is a core feature of our personality, but I think it can be done. I don’t think for the forseeable future we need to worry about people trying to re-orient themselves to be homosexual—well, maybe in prison, but not in the regular walk of life.

[TomOnTheRun]

... I don’t think for the forseeable future we need to worry about people trying to re-orient themselves to be homosexual—...

I didn't say I would worry about people choosing doing that. I'd be worried about therapists saying "Here - let me fix that for you." Once given leave to do that I wouldn't bet that they would restrict it to re-orientation to heterosexuality.

[TomOnTheRun]

Don't they remember their childhood, if it wasn't full of sexual abuse, when they were innocent and free of sexuality of any kind? Or does "gayness" morph into an adult form from other states of differentness in childhood?

I believe that the current theories are that sexuality is a bit like a dimmer switch on a lightbulb. (Please forgive this horrible horrible analogy.) The light is on at a very very low level even at a very young age because of very basic things like touch and responsiveness. The light brightens over time until a full stable sexuality is developed over time. So it might well morph from other states of differentness as a child - maybe even things we don't think of as explicitly sexual. I suppose it depends on how much you think the very early experiences, good, bad & indifferent, define boundaries for what comes later. I've read some but not enough to have a full picture of the ideas in question. Sorry.