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Homosexuality:

This webmaster/author's personal opinions

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Personal opinions of B.A. Robinson the webmaster/main author:

I normally try to be objective when writing for this website, by carefully explaining the beliefs of others and not letting my own beliefs intrude. But, sometimes, I need to let fly with my own opinions in order to protect my own sanity.

During the battles over homosexuality between religious conservatives and progressives, between supporters and opponents of reparative therapy, etc. reality has somehow become ignored. Within the religious and the therapeutic communities, "experts" are absolutely certain that their beliefs are true. Yet it is obvious that many of their beliefs are mutually exclusive. So, some must be just plain wrong.

Reparative therapy is probably either safe and effective, or dangerous and ineffective. We don't know for certain because no meaningful study of this form of therapy has ever been studied and reported upon in a peer-reviewed journal.

The root cause of homosexuality is probably either genetic or a personal choice. Conservative religious experts say the latter; others say the former.

Poor parenting and/or having been sexually molested as a child, and/or other environmental events, and/or a person's genes may or may not have been a principal factor in determining adult sexual orientation.

Some suggest that the higher levels of depression and suicide among gays is primarily caused by homosexuality itself. Others suggest that the root causes are the homophobic culture in which a gay person must live, and the gay person's internalized homophobia absorbed from others.

At least some religious leaders, mental health practitioners. gays, lesbians, and human sexuality researchers have the ability to dialogue together, tackle some of the diverse beliefs listed above, and reach some form of consensus. To use one of my favorite phrases from the Law and Order TV program, to not dialogue is to exhibit "depraved indifference," towards sexual minorities. Considering the high suicide rate among gays and lesbians, the stakes are extremely high.

We have a motto in this office: "whenever someone deviates from reality, others get hurt." I think that it applies, in spades, to homosexuality. All sides need to work together to determine what reality is. Right now, both sides generally hide behind their barricades and throw rocks at each other.

In the present situation, everyone suffers:

• Those who are hated because of their homosexuality,
• Those who hate themselves because of their own homosexuality,
• Those who dislike homosexuals and are being damaged by their degree of hatred,
• Parents who wonder if they caused their child's homosexuality,
• Those who are aware at some level that they might be teaching falsehoods, etc.

 All will continue to suffer until some meaningful effort at dialog happens.

To our knowledge, the only overture to dialogue occurred in the 1990s. It was proposed by the National Association of Research and Therapy of Homosexuals (NARTH), a small professional organization of conservative therapists, and rejected by the much larger American Psychological Association (APA). The joint effort would have conducted a detailed study of the effectiveness of reparative therapy. Again, the term "depraved indifference" comes to mind.

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Initial posting: 2008-AUG-17
Latest update: 2008-AUG-17
Author: B.A. Robinson

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