Posted on 08/25/2006 2:56:54 AM PDT by FairOpinion
NEW ORLEANS (BP)—Approximately 50 people from various pro-family groups protested the American Psychological Association’s convention Aug. 11, opposing the organization’s position that says homosexuality cannot be changed.
“The fact of the matter is that there are tens of thousands of men and women just like me who have overcome homosexuality. ... We’re living proof,” Alan Chambers, president of Exodus International, a ministry to homosexuals and ex-homosexuals, told Baptist Press. He took part in the protest in New Orleans.
APA has been one of the leading organizations to back the claims of homosexual activists. A statement on its website says that homosexuality “does not require treatment and is not changeable.” In addition, the statement says that “close scrutiny” of conversion therapies “cast doubt on their claims” that people have been freed from homosexuality. APA even has a Lesbian, Gay, & Bisexual Concerns office.
“The American Psychological Association is concerned about such therapies and their potential harm to patients,” the statement says.
But that statement also says clients have a “right to unbiased treatment and self-determination” — something that Chambers and others say is not the case when it comes to APA’s stance on homosexuality.
Caleb Price, research analyst at Focus on the Family, called APA’s position “hypocritical.” Price says he identified himself as a homosexual for about 14 years but now is a Christian and heterosexual.
“If they are about science and not about politics, then they should be willing to look at issues involving homosexuality … in an intellectually honest way,” Price, who also took part in the protest, told BP.
APA’s position on homosexuality has given homosexual activists a significant boost in the national debate over such issues as homosexuality and “gay marriage.” The Human Rights Campaign, the nation’s largest homosexual activist organization, lists APA’s position statements on its website, along with similar statements from the American Psychiatric Association and the American Medical Association.
“I think the most harm that the APA is doing is they’re using their position to steer the debate in the media and in the public to cast doubt on the tens of thousands of men and women who have changed,” Chambers said. “That’s unfortunate and it’s unfair. But what the governing board of the APA is doing doesn’t resonate with the members of the APA.”
Chambers said the majority of the psychologists they came in contact with were “very supportive and very interested in what we were saying.”
“But as far at the governing board of the APA, they are the ones who don’t talk about a client’s right to self-determination,” Chambers said. “They basically say homosexuals can’t change and that’s the end of the story. That’s very different from what the psychologists within the movement say.”
Clinton Anderson, director of the APA’s Lesbian, Gay and Bisexual office, told the Associated Press that there “is simply no sufficiently scientifically sound evidence that sexual orientation can be changed.”
Price, though, strongly disagreed.
“The reality is that people’s lives are changed,” Price said. “We are living testimonies of the fact that people can and do change.”
Exodus International, Focus on the Family and other likeminded groups will protest APA’s meetings in the future, Chambers said.
“We hope to do these every single year until we reach our goal, which is to help the APA understand that they need to respect every client’s rights,” he said.
For information about the national debate over “gay marriage,” visit www.bpnews.net/samesexmarriage.
It is all the 'exotic becomes erotic' priniciple.
The same way people have sex with animals,
The same way people have fetishes about pain,
The same way people swap wives,
The same way people have a fetish about leather,
it is the same with people who have a fetish about poping an orgasm with a member of the same sex.
There is no mystery. Normal people are born with specific parts. (save the BS example of birth defect children born with both since they are generally sterile and non-functioning sexually)
How you CHOOSE to use those specific parts for recreation after learning their proper use is your business. You have hands, you don't have to use your hands to be a shoplifter. We are talking about a behavior not an organ.
Back at ya! Even members of the APA are now saying it's possible to leave the homosexual lifestyle: Sexual Orientation Change Is Possible— But Only Outside Of Therapy, Says APA Office Of Gay Concerns
Besides that, there is no scientific evidence anybody is born gay. If you think so, I'm more than interested in any article you can reference. You can't, but I had to make the offer.
You continue to demonstrate a profound ignorance on the subject. Fortunately, there's a cure for that. It's called an education and you can get that education by clicking the links provided on this thread. Get back to me after you've read some of the links. That is, if you dare to get educated on the issue.
The answer to your question is YES. the follow up question of course is WHO would WANT to? Quite different from a homosexual wanting to live a normal life.
There are all SORTS of things out there that we have no evidence for (yet). Doesn't make them untrue. We are still a mighty primative species...and, I have no doubt that the future will show what I proffer is true.
I have no agenda. I'm not gay and I think that being gay is unhealthy and, in many cases unnatural.
But, I still KNOW that some folks just are.
And, as I said, I think many - if not most gays are not actually "gay".(if you actually READ my post earlier you would see that I agree that many gays aren't gay - they are just "indoctirnated").
But, some are born to be gay. Period.
I remember from school, doing ANYTHING will cure 40% of all mental illnesses. Thus if you talk to a friend, engage in shoping therapy, or some new age quakery, it will make you feel better for having tried SOMETHING.
Homosexuals who are activists don't want treatment the same way a crack addict does not want treatment.
This is about love...which is one of the main purposes of THIS universe. Some folks just happen to love the same sex.
And, if you don't think there are differences between men and women and that some traits are "feminine" and some are "masculine" and we all have both to varying degrees, then, you don't live on the same planet as me. Or, rather, you stick your head in the sand so as not to see the obvious.
And with all the right coaching, he will.
Regarding the I Do Exist video:
A 22-year-old man stands before a classroom of middle schoolers, describing how he came out as a homosexual and going so far as to declare, "there are gay students in this classroom."Gutierrez realized how confused he was and got the help he needed.The young man is Noé Gutierrez, Jr., and the scene is one from It's Elementary, an award-winning 1996 video (widely aired in 1999) which aims to give "practical lessons on how to talk with kids about gay people."
You won't find that scene in Gutierrez's latest video, however. Although he requested permission to use it, producer/director Debra Chasnoff turned him down. Apparently, she doesn't want school children knowing what's happened since then.
You see, Gutierrez is no longer gay.
Here's a pointer to more information: How Might Homosexuality Develop? Putting the Pieces Together
Here's a collection of articles on Homosexuality and Genetics
This is not about "love". You are just spouting a Prof. Lackoff talking point.
Howdy, EdR!
BTTT!
Great discussion.
Even members of the APA are now saying it's possible to leave the homosexual lifestyle...
Indeed. And that includes the former President of the American Psychological Association, Dr. Robert Perloff:
Former APA President Supports NARTH's Mission Statement, Assails APA's Intolerance
"Dr. Perloff noted the growing body of research that contradicts the popular notion that change in sexual-orientation is not possible. He concluded, 'The research on sexual conversion is, therefore, very much a work in progress, an open question, and efforts to declare that conversion is 'doomed to failure' and is 'futile' are irresponsible, reactionary and intellectually flawed.'"
Good to see you again. Hope all is well!
Good to see you again. Hope all is well!
It reminds me of the good 'ol days. J
That is some great documentation you put together. I often forget about Perloff (and there's another that slips my mind) in addition to Spitzer--as far as I know he's still a member of the APA.
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