Posted on 09/27/2005 11:25:37 AM PDT by JZelle
A 2003 study on whether homosexuals can change their sexual orientation has become a central issue in the Montgomery County sex-education debate. The study conducted by psychiatrist Robert L. Spitzer of Columbia University found that some homosexuals "can and do change." Interviewing 200 former homosexuals, Dr. Spitzer conducted the study in response to a request by the American Psychiatric Association (APA) in 2000 to determine the risks and benefits of "reparative therapy." Reparative therapy is psychiatric or religious counseling that former homosexuals, or "ex-gays," say has helped them overcome "unwanted same-sex attraction." "There is evidence that change in sexual orientation following some form of reparative therapydoes occur in some gay men and lesbians," Dr. Spitzer, 73, reported. Groups seeking to influence the development of Montgomery County's sex-education curriculum have argued over the validity of the study, which was published as a peer-reviewed article in the October 2003 issue of the "Archives of Sexual Behavior."
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtontimes.com ...
Gay penguin goes straight From correspondents in New York 26-09-2005 From: The Australian THE animal kingdom's most famous gay couple has split up. Silo and Roy, the cohabiting penguins of Central Park Zoo, are no longer an item. The pair rose to prominence six years ago when they came out with their same-sex relationship. Since then, they have successfully hatched and raised an adoptive chick (after an uncertain start that involved trying to incubate a rock). They blazed a trail for six other gay penguin couples at the zoo. But the affair ended when Scrappy, a new female penguin, moved into the neighbourhood and caught Silo's eye. "Silo and Roy stopped spending as much time together or building a nest," John Rowden, the zoo's head curator, told The New York Post. Silo promptly moved in with Scrappy, building a new nest with her. Zookeepers are at a loss to explain Silo's sudden conversion.http://www.news.com.au/story/print/0,10119,16722427,00.html
Case #1: A man marries and has children. After 15 years of marriage, he decides he is homosexual and leaves his family and moves in with a man. Can this happen? Sure. Happens all the time.
Case #2: A woman goes to college. Her roommate is a lesbian. They begin a relationship. She becomes politically active in a Gay Rights group. She graduates. Meets a man, marries and leaves her homosexual life behind. Can this happen? NEVER! NEVER! NEVER! HERETIC! SACRELIGE! HOW CAN YOU EVEN ASK? IT"S JUST NOT POSSIBLE!!!!!
Seems slightly one-sided.
Not surprising. Humans are not robots hard-wired with certain behavior. People have self-determination. Who would have thunk?
NEVER! NEVER! NEVER! HERETIC! SACRELIGE! HOW CAN YOU EVEN ASK? IT"S JUST NOT POSSIBLE!!!!!
Well, I suppose Hitlery Clintoon might be an example, but then, are we sure...........?
Sexuality is mostly between the ears, not hardwired in your DNA. How else would some people end up with their weird fetishes? I would image like Pavlov's dogs, you could get people sexually arosed by ringing a bell with the proper positive reinforcement.
I agree with you. Sex is a behavior, like smoking.
You do whatever you get in the habit of doing.
For your Sociology Classes.
And there's a large body of science to support this view.
Where's Clint N. Suhks?
"Sexuality is mostly between the ears, not hardwired in your DNA."
And because of this both sides of the story will always be suspect. Ex gays may get married and raise children but we can never know what is going on in their mind. If they fantasize about the same sex while making love with their spouse, have they really changed?
We, on the outside of an ex gays mind, can never know this. This subject will ALWAYS be controversial.
I disagree. Just because the average person does not switch from being attractive to females then to males or vice versa, does not mean the average person does not have similar changes in what they are attracted to. What someone found sexually attractive 10 years ago is probably very different than what he/she does today. I know what I find attractive today is much different than when I was a teenager. And even different than what I found attractive in my 20's. There are just too many things that change to say sexual attractions are purely genetics or for that matter even mostly genetics. Certainly there is probably a role genetics plays, but human behavior suggests it is not hardwired as 'conventional wisdom' of the professional communities have decreed.
Jody Foster rang Hinkley's bell.
You didn't read my post correctly....I was agreeing that sex is in the mind, not genetic.
Peope think about murder all the time. It does not mean they all grab the pistol in the house and go postal.
It boils down to demonstrating behavior in keeping with the proper design for the human body.
This is why the homoadvocates want to use the word "orientation" not "preference". Preference indicates choice, while orientation is supposed to imply lack of choice.
Consider the behavior in prisons and what they do when released. Far more indicative of choice over any BS dna-behavior link.
I know, I was just kind of disagreeing with your assertion that it would always be controversial. I think an honest examination would explode the conventional wisdom that sexual preference is 'hardwired'. But you may be right that it will remain controversial because an honest examination is not going to happen anytime soon.
LOL. I think if you rang a bell and brough Ana Kournakova in five minutes later, it would not take me long to react to the bell.
". . . but we can never know what is going on in their mind . . . "
True. But we can ask them, especially in confidential settings.
And not ALL of them would boldly lie.
"And not ALL of them would boldly lie"
Denial has a way of making falsity seem true, in fact, that is the subconcious reason for denial.
However, I believe that some people have actually sincerely changed.
Very good answer-Yet I always will argue that "orientation"
is and will ever be but the way one chooses to look at something.ANyone of hteir modern deceptions cannot change what the Scripture says about that unnatural choice of behavior.Back in 92-93 the homosexuals were saying in the
Advocate and similar publicaitons that target homosexuals that they change orientation all the time. But such admissions are not meant for public consumption as it would not help their "Cause" .
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