Beliefs and professional associations'
statements about homosexual orientation
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Overview:
Until the 1950s, people were of a common opinion about sexual orientation.
Lesbians and gays stayed firmly in the closet. Same-sex behavior was considered
a criminal act by legislatures and a very serious sin amongst almost all faith
groups. Mental health professionals considered them mentally ill. Then, Evelyn
Hooker, a research psychologist, decided to study gays and lesbians in their
natural habitat. (Previous studies had been done among lesbians and gays in
prison or who were mentally ill).
She found that gays and lesbians exhibited a normal range of mental health.
Two decades later, professional mental health associations agreed.
Today, there is a difference of opinion between most:
Gays, lesbians, bisexuals, mental health professionals, religious liberals
and progressives, who consider the three sexual orientations --
heterosexuality, bisexuality, and homosexual -- to be all normal and natural,
unchosen and fixed, while
Religious and social conservatives who consider the three sexual
orientations to be abnormal, unnatural, chosen and changeable.