It’s is obvious that REAL is not an academic and did not keep abreast of the research field.

Readers who are concerned with REAL’s rantings are advised to read my referenced post “Homosexuality and reparative therapy”. The link is below:
http://notsostraight.wordpress.com/2006/01/19/homosexuality-and-reparative-therapy/

If you would like to know more about sexual identity, i have another post “sexual identity and identity development”. The link is below:
http://notsostraight.wordpress.com/2005/12/30/sexual-identity-and-identity-development/

As the article on sexual identity is written a few years ago, it does not include some of the more updated information from the research field. It’s also unfortunate that i did not do a summary of sexual identity talk i held 6 months ago. Nonetheless, the article will give you something to bite on if you are starting on a journey of self-discovery.

All the best, if you are LGBT and coming out to yourself.
With love,
Anj

First, you only mention 1972 (which it was ACTUALLY 1973, in point of fact) where homosexuality is declassified as a mental illness by the American Psychological Association.

The APA is NOT the only organization to say that homosexuality is not a mental illness. Not by a long shot. Every mental health organization actually says. Most AFTER 1973. It is also impossible that all these professionals are going to be persuaded to remove homosexuality as a mental illness by activism. So many people claim that gay activism caused that, it’s impossible for a minority to influence all those professionals and ALL those studies, which there are THOUSANDS of studies.

Also, you say that some members of the APA protested the decision to declassify homosexuality as a mental illness. I’m sure they did. There are some people so hateful and so biased against homosexuality that no matter what kind of evidence they see about it, they will always believe what they want instead of this objectable evidence.

You also mention no “gay gene”. More specifically no “SINGLE gay gene”. Well eye color is genetic and there is no SINGLE gene for eye color (it is a combination of genes). Besides, if no gay gene is grounds for calling homosexuality abnormal, but you still consider heterosexuality normal, then tell me where the straight gene is.

And dysfunctional family ethics do not cause homosexuality. That’s not only an uneducated untruth, but also a LIE. A lie that you probably wish to perpetuate. How many heterosexuals also have dysfunctional families? Do you even take into account the homosexuals that do not have dysfunctional families? Plenty exist in and of itself to disprove this vile untruth.

And no, sexual orientation cannot be changed. Sometimes, if someone thinks they are gay, or is confused, “therapy” may work because it will suppress the confusion and let the person focus on their heterosexuality. There are so many homosexuals who enter this kind of therapy (called reparative therapy) that do not benefit from it. Many even engage in self-destructive behavior afterwards. Clearly, most homosexuals, only feel better about themselves once they accept themselves for who they really are. Even when mainstream mental health DID consider homosexuality to be a mental illness, the rates of “treatment” still were not that high.

You also said that reputable mental health professionals admit that homosexuality is a mental disorder? I find that VERY hard to believe, considering that most of the “scientific” evidence against homosexuality has not ever been peer-reviewed, while the mainstream mental health communities have in fact been peer-reviewed.

And you said, that if you look at the gay community you can actually see some kind of “dysfunction”? I don’t think so. There are many different types of gays, just like many different kinds of heterosexuals. Some homosexuals appear “dysfunctional” but most are not. Heck, there are heterosexual guys who cheat on their wives with hookers and spend their entire paycheck on porn and alcohol. What if I said that all heterosexuals are like that because of the few that really are?

Your comment has a lot of ignorance, “Real”. I’m sorry that you let it get the best of you, and I’m sorry you’d rather believe what you want instead of truth, and I’m sorry for all the lives you will ruin BECAUSE of that. I bet you didn’t even read this article. I bet you don’t even care. It’s better to not educate yourself, so you can just plead ignorance later, isn’t it? Because that’s exactly what you are doing here.

It is true that the APA no longer includes homosexuality as a mental illness in their Diagnostic and Statistical manual. But, even as their advisory board was issuing this proclamation, many of the APA’s members were protesting it.

The problem is that most people do not know what a mental illness is. Depression, schizophrenia, autism, etc are mental illnesses resulting from malfunctions within the brain. The APA simply stated that homosexuality is not the result of a malfunction in the brain and, therefor, should not be treated as such. They did not, however, say that homosexuality is normal.

When I hear someone say that “up-to-date” mental health professionals do not consider homosexuality to be a disorder, I understand that the speaker doesn’t know many mental health professionals. This is because the statement is patently false. All reputable psychologists, psychotherapists understand that exclusive homosexual orientation is a disorder. There is a distinct difference between a mental disorder and an illness.

Obsessional-compulsive disorder, histrionic personality disorder, psychopathy, etc. are disorders; they are abnormal deviations from expected personality development and expression. People suffering from them are not mentally ill, but they are not normal and often seek treatment for their disorders. Were we to apply the same logic that so many people now insist should be applied to homosexuals, we’d tell them to learn to embrace their situation and live positive, happy, and productive lives. Yes, of course that is idiocy and so is telling a homosexual that he must accept his orientation as normal and untreatable.

No one is born homosexual. That is a myth. There is no homosexual gene. That too is a myth. In fact, there is not one single direct biological advantage to homosexuality and all of our motivations and behaviors must perforce map to a biological imperative. There are indirect biological advantages, however. Humans are social animals with a hierarchical social structure. We have dominant males, who are more successful at winning mates than others and all males compete for mates. This breeds aggression and homosexual behavior decreases the aggression. Among females, a cooperative society is more advantageous to the rearing of offspring and homosexual behavior among females bonds them more closely. This societal structure is seen in the great apes, early hominids and humans. It is a part of our evolution. In modern human society, homosexual behavior has been largely supplanted by non-sexual behaviors, but not in all cultures.

So homosexual behavior is normal. All of us have the capacity to enjoy same-sex erotic contact. Yet, homosexual orientation is not, since it is the antithesis of our biological imperative to reproduce. It serves no purpose. Though there are debates about the exact origins of homosexuality, it is generally agreed that it is the result of a pycho-sexual maladaptation that is laid down sometime between the first and fourth year of life. This is true of all aspects of personality and personality disorders. Homosexuality is the result of a derangement of the same-sex parent/child bond. Freud blamed it all on the mother, but it is now understood that male homosexuality is more the result of a lack of sufficient bonding of the baby boy to his father than an over-controlling mother. Too close a bond to the mother during these formative years does appear to be a factor, though. As the male matures, his subconscious need for a healthy father/son bond may be inappropriately eroticized and manifest itself in homosexual fixation.

Can homosexuality be cured? Perhaps if a very young boy is given appropriate therapy when he has been the victim of dysfunctional family dynamics, it can. But by the time homosexuality manifests itself, like all other personality traits, it is immutable. Is it treatable and should it be treated? That is a subject of quite a bit of debate. Each case must be considered individually. It is quite common for a gay man to live a homosexual lifestyle for years only to come to the realization that is not gay. There may be numerous factors that lead a man to erroneously conclude he is gay and good psychotherapy can “cure” him. I believe most “ex-gays” fall into this category. If a man is accepting of his homosexuality, there is no need or desire for him to be “cured.” However, a majority of gay men are not, in reality happy or completely accepting of their orientation. They simply do not want to be gay, but feel they are trapped in it. It is cruel to tell these men that they must learn to accept what they know to be abnormal and offer nothing else. Yet that is precisely what we are doing in the name of political correctness and in the forwarding of a gay activist agenda. It isn’t working. Just saying “it’s okay to be gay” has not made gays any happier or healthier. One close look at the gay community and it’s horrific dysfunction is a proof of this. We need to do more and sticking our heads in the sand and pretending that there is no problem is not the answer.