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.
Sure.
(1)I could cultivate erotic and romantic feelings for other women, seek the company of lesbians, and participate in the aspects of "lesbian culture"--- concerts and dances, discussion groups, literary activities, "womyn's spirituality" prayer groups and lesbian-affirming churches, and so forth--- which are found in great abundance in big cities and University towns; and
(2)I could no doubt find a woman I was fond of, and pursue a sexual relationship with her.
In fact, there are many young heterosexual women in Women's Studies and other lesbian milieux who are doing exactly that. At the local State University they call them LTG's (Lesbians 'Til Graduation.)
And the number of lesbians who are divorced, with children, shows that they were at one time functioning as heterosexuals.
Feelings fluctuate and can be modified --- sometiems more, and sometimes less-- by expectations and experience. But behavior is always a choice. That's what it means to be a rational being.
" There are billions of genetic variations which lead to billions of different definitions of "normal"."
Clinton logic...."depends on what IS... Is." SHEESH!!
God's words are in the universe around you. Observe it. Live it. Love it.
Stop placing so much power in a book written by men, for men.
No... just reality. Which, of course, doesn't fit in your little box.
Words, inspired by God!
It's true. In fact, we're flawed. Every one of us. That is the one doctrine of Christianity (The Fall of Man) which is proved on a daily basis. Just watch the news.
It takes an effort for ANYONE to abstain from morally offensive thoughts, words, and deeds. And not just in the realm of illicit sex, but also in relation to other issues like pride, anger, envy, gluttony, greed, laziness, and the one which brings down so many otherwise virtuous people, (ta-daaah!) self-righteousness.
That being said, every one of us is in charge of learning to master their own appetites, overcome their own flaws and weaknesses, and be reponsible for their own behavior. Nobody is "born to be gay" and more than they're born to be pastry chefs. Or bank embezzlers. Or sculptors. Or sluts.
It's always an interplay fo heredity, environment, grace, and choice.
Let's try to help each other be our best. That seems the most decent thing to do.
Denial is not reality!
Help each other OVERCOME, and NOT SUCCUMB, to any abnormal behavior albeit sexually or socially predisposed.
This is the most loving thing you can do for another.
If you want to call your statement that "some are born gay" a non-point that's entirely up to you. That's what I'm arguing. Your "non-point" isn't supported by science but you KNOW some are born that way.
I've asked you to provide a reference, any reference, that supports you statement and you didn't. Well, you can't. You know it. I know it. And now everybody knows it.
Robert A. Heinlein.
Humans are not dung beetles.
You are confusing choices in behavior with biology and specifically anatomy.
Anatomy defines function. Use of function defines behavior.
Urination is a function of removing waste material from the body. HOWEVER, some humans have adapted that function into a sexual gratification behavior.
The real question should be how does sexual gratification become associated with a behavior outside the design of the human body. (see also why do lions jump through flaming hoops? Why do skydivers jump out of funtioning airplanes?)
There is no issue if this was dealt with in a true scientific manner. Homoactivists assume that if ONE person is allowed to choose to modify their own behavior using established science, somehow it will somehow impede their ability to do "whatever" in the privacy of the bedroom.
Um, no.
Yet no scientific evidence exists to support your statement. In other words, "Your personal beliefs do not change reality."
I don't think so... could be though, as that name sounds really familiar. I'll remember it, eventually.
Actually there are some studies that show that abnormal amounts of testosterone in the fetus can cause homsexuality. Other studies show that fetus that were flooded with adreneline have a muich higher chance of becoming homosexual. There is also a definite link between the relationship of the length of the 2nd and 4th fingers and homosexuality. In most homosexuals, the ring finger is longer than their index finger. The opposite is true for most heterosexuals.
Now where are your proofs that homosexuality is NOT a genetic trait? (your opinion does not count as a scientific study)
Um, yes:
"Aversion therapy has been used in attempts to convert homosexual individuals to heterosexuality. While more common past decades, is still utilized in some situations."
"Psychologist Martin E.P. Seligman reports that while aversion therapy to "treat" homosexuality is controversial, it can be safely reported that, in some instances, the process "worked surprisingly well," with up to 50% of men subjected to such therapy not acting on their homosexual urges. (Seligman, p. 156) These results produced what Seligman describes as "a great burst of enthusiasm about changing homosexuality [that] swept over the theraputic comunity" after the results were reported in 1966. (Seligman, p. 156) However, Seligman notes that the findings were later demonstrated to be "flawed": most of the men treated with aversion therapy who did in fact stop homosexual behaviour were actually bisexual. Among men with an exclusive or near-exclusive homosexual orientation, aversion therapy was far less successful. (Seligman, p157)"
Actually there are some studies that show that abnormal amounts of testosterone in the fetus can cause homsexuality.
Show me the study and I'll show you one that debunks it.
Other studies show that fetus that were flooded with adreneline have a muich higher chance of becoming homosexual.
Show me the study and I'll show you one that debunks it.
There is also a definite link between the relationship of the length of the 2nd and 4th fingers and homosexuality.
Show me the study and I'll show you one that debunks it.
In most homosexuals, the ring finger is longer than their index finger. The opposite is true for most heterosexuals.
Show me the study and I'll show you one that debunks it.
Your personal opinion does not count, either.
That's a good one. Aversion therapy was abandoned over 30 years ago.
THey exist.
They have both a penis and a vagina.
Who should they be with..a man or a woman??? Or did God make "a mistake" when he allowed Hermaphrodites?? Oh, God doesn't MAKE mistakes. So, they MUST be here for a reason.
Pride, anger, envy,etc.,etc., etc., have NOTHING to do with love. Or, is LOVE one of your sins now too???
And, using your logic...since "noone is born to be gay"...then "no one is born to be heterosexual either" (logic sucks when you put your faith in a flawed book written by men). Show me the gene or the study. So, if noone is born to be gay or born to be hetero...it would follow that there is nothing wrong with either..... "Inspired by GOd!!" What a laugh. So was the Son of Sam. So is Osama. Great company.
I put my faith in the God I see and talk to everyday.
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