gopbol
|
I can tell you right off the bat that I have had a sexual developmental experience throughout my adolescence & adulthood that is in stark contrast to this statement. I`ve never been pressured by any religious groups into experiencing a shift in my sexual orientation towards heterosexuality. On the contrary, they either didn`t want to hear about it (i. e., evangelicals) or they casted aspersions my way about my self-report via testimony (gay-friendly churches & religious pro-gay activists). This was a common experience for anyone in my shoes throughout the 70`s & the 80`s. Today, it appears to me that folks from both sides of the socio-political aisle are becoming a little more, if not much more, tolerant about hearing what I, & others like me, have to say, & even more so, now that most traditional church-goers have taken their head out of the sands of fear, & actually agree & support us. Contrary to this misleading APA statement, it wasn`t this way at all for decades in the 20th century.
And, sadly APAs came to this conclusion not for 1 of the reasons they even exist as professional guilds, due to the results of scientific research; No, it was purely because of socio-political reasons; If 1 does an inquiry of who was on the committee that formulated this APA statement, you will find that they are either on Caucus for gay & Lesbian Concerns, or are strong supporters of their particular view of human sexuality. Where`s the objectivity here, let alone upholding the value of diversity that they are otherwise known to promote?! In fact, shortly after American Psychiatric Association struck homosexuality from their Diagnostic Statistical Manual (DSM) in 1973, a questionnaire was sent to all It`s 5,000+ members; the reason for this was because there was, & still is, approximately only 1% to 2% of It`s members that ever directly or indirectly become involved administratively with the DSM & decisions regarding what entails It`s sexual disorders section; Approximately 85% replied with about 67% saying it was sexual disorder, & only little over 25% actually agreed with action taken by the APA Committee of Nomenclature. And, guess who was head of this committee to have it stricken then? It was Dr. Spitzer, who now has indicated by his 1999 study that there are exclusively same sex attracted people who in fact do go on to experience change of their sexual orientation to complete or predominantly heterosexual. He stated that most of those folks, approximately 93%, did this through daily practicing their religious faith for years, starting from an age range of young adulthood up to their middle years (20 to 35). This indicates fluidity & flexibility of the human sexual drive, & not It`s constitutionality, as what this APA statement purports & thereby misinforms the public; Laumann (1994) confirms this characteristic, & states clearly that it is a natural tendency for humans who start out homosexual in their inclinations to gradually move towards heterosexuality as they mature (btw, APA G&L Caucus outrightly lied to state of Texas Supreme Court about what the Laumann study concluded).
A mega study (results from comparisons & contrasts of a multiplicity of studies on this issue) was done that confirmed Laumann study`s findings by reporting that on average 25% of 12 year old boys in these studies stated that they were `gay`, then 12% of 16 years old boys reported to being `gay`, 8% of 18 year olds doing same, & finally less than 4% betwen the ages of 21 & 25 stated that they identified themselves as being `gay`. So, given Spitzer study of adults & also that approximately 21% of boys developmentally transit through this identity towards heterosexuality, most likely due only to an internal & very natural psychosexual process, without any external efficient cause, why in world is the APAs, with the primary mental health & medical guilds now echoing this misinformative & misleading position, that sexual orientation is at least immutable, if not constitutional in nature? Professional research & anecdotal evidence saliently indicates just opposite! And, why are we not concerned, & in fact are ignoring the very negative ramifications of labeling our adolescents in such manner, as GLSEN sadly promotes in our schools, when their psychosexual development is clearly shown not to be complete even by their HS graduation, let alone postpubertal adolescence? This is unfortunate result of placing political views, one`s own selfish goals, over scientific fact. What in the world are we doing to our American youth?
 Posted 747 days ago
|