Homosexuality
in a Changing World: Are We Being Misinformed?
|
By
Dr. Nadia El-Awady
IslamOnline’s
Health & Science Editor
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17/02/2003
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Therapy
Today,
children all over the developed world from kindergarten through
college are being taught that homosexuality is a normal, healthy
lifestyle option with no disadvantages other than society’s
disapproval. Sexually confused teenagers are encouraged to
investigate homosexual relationships when they are too young to make
critical lifestyle decisions. If they seek counseling, they are told
that change from homosexuality is impossible.
Gender-disturbed
children are no longer helped to become more comfortable with their
own biological sex, or with the same-sex peers they have been
avoiding. Instead, counselors tell their parents, “Your child is
fine-the only problem is with society.”
When
gay advocates reframed the public debate as a discussion about
“who one is” rather that “what one does”, they successfully
intimidated dissenters by casting them as personally bigoted and
hateful. As a result, most people who defend the reality of
male-female design have been embarrassed into public silence.
Dr.
Byrd, Vice President of NARTH, asks in an article published in the Salt
Lake City Tribune:
Is
homosexuality immutable? Is it fixed, or is it amenable to
change? The 1973 decision to delete homosexuality from the
Diagnostic Manual of the American Psychiatric Association had a
chilling effect on research. The APA decision was not made based
on new scientific evidence, in fact, as gay activist researcher
Simon LeVay admitted, “Gay activism was clearly the force that
propelled the APA to declassify homosexuality.”
In
reviewing the research, Satinover reported a 52% success rate in
the treatment of unwanted homosexual attraction. Masters and
Johnson, the famed sex researchers, reported a 65% success rate
after a five-year follow-up. Other professionals report success
rates ranging from 30-70%.
(http://www.narth.com/docs/innate.html)
Dr.
Robert L. Spitzer, better known as the architect of the 1973 APA
decision to delete homosexuality from the Diagnostic Manual,
revealed a provocative new study in the APA’s annual meeting of
May 9, 2001. After meeting a group of ex-gays that gathered at the
1999 APA annual meeting to prove that homosexuality could be
changed, Dr. Spitzer decided to perform a study on ex-gays to see
whether or not homosexuality could actually be changed. To the
surprise of the researchers’ themselves, good heterosexual
functioning was reportedly achieved by 67% of the men who had rarely
or never felt any opposite-sex attraction before the change process.
Nearly all the subjects said they now feel more masculine (in the
case of men) or more feminine (women).
Dr.
Spitzer concluded his study by saying, “Contrary to conventional
wisdom, some highly motivated individuals, using a variety of change
efforts, can make substantial change in multiple indicators of
sexual orientation, and achieve good heterosexual functioning.”
Most
of the subjects in the study revealed that their religious faith was
very important in their lives, and about three-quarters of the men
and half of the women had been heterosexually married by the time of
the study. Most had sought change because a gay lifestyle had been
emotionally unsatisfying. Many had been disturbed by promiscuity,
stormy relationships, a conflict with their religious values, and
the desire to be (or to stay) heterosexually married.
Typically,
the effort to change did not produce significant results for the
first two years. Subjects said they were helped by examining their
family and childhood experiences, and understanding how those
factors might have contributed to their gender identity and sexual
orientation. Same-sex mentoring relationships, behavior- therapy
techniques and group therapy were also mentioned as particularly
helpful. (http://www.narth.com/docs/spitzer3.html)
