Homosexuality is not a mental illness

For more than twenty-five years, mental health practitioners and researchers have recognized that homosexuality is not a mental illness. Moreover, they are highly critical of attempts to change sexual orientation. These professional associations include:

The American Academy of Pediatrics
The American Counseling Association
The American Psychiatric Association
The American Psychological Association
The National Association of School Psychologists
The National Association of Social Workers.

These are not fringe groups. They represent about a half-million health and mental health professionals supporting homosexuality not being a mental disorder. The American Psychiatric Association rejected reparative therapy as ineffective and destructive, risking depression, anxiety and destructive behavior.

The argument of sexual orientation from nature or nurture needs to remain within the bounds of science. Including religious tenets, doctrines and dogmas only furthers to incite discrimination against homosexuals, including physical attacks that sometimes even result in murder. The ridiculous notion that homosexuality can be cured through reparative therapy is not based on science, but religious dogma. The reported success rates of the conversion of homosexuals to heterosexual orientation prove false under close scrutiny. These reports are from an ideological perspective on sexual orientation, not from the scientific perspective of genetics, biology and real mental health researchers. It does more harm than good and any attempt at orientation conversion should be ethically questioned.

Homosexuals deserve unreserved participation in all aspects of American life and discrimination of any kind against our homosexual neighbors needs to be relegated to the same status as racial discrimination, and not just on paper. Religious doctrines that spew hatred and intolerance toward homosexuality should be treated just as those doctrines that advocate slavery and the belief that black people are an inferior people group. Those who openly preach for the denigration and biblical murder of homosexuals should be arrested and imprisoned.

This brings me to a concept known as “Reparative Therapy,” which is an ideological based method that is practiced primarily by fundamental Christian counselors, sometimes known as Neuthetic Counselors, for the express purpose of curing homosexuality.  There are different methods of reparative, including heinous exorcisms to “loose the gay demon” from the alleged victim. The goal, as stated, is to “cure” the individual of homosexuality. Reparative therapies are often touted as medical science by their practitioners, and there are several organizations that present themselves as legitimate practitioners of mental health. This is in spite of the fact that every single legitimate mental health organization has repositioned itself to state that homosexuality is not a mental illness, thus requiring no cure. These “therapies” are religiously motivated pseudo-sciences based on the erroneous premise that homosexuality is an unnatural disease or disorder. These programs run the gamut from lengthily structured sessions in a clinical atmosphere which include immersion in prayer, bible study and repetitive mantras all the way to decidedly unstructured programs involving a call to “repent” or suffer a cure that has a very familiar “final solution” ring.

Reparative therapies are mainly offered by “ex-gay” ministries which are usually run by actual homosexuals who are in denial of who and what they are. It is not uncommon for religious homosexuals to be homophobic themselves, and the recent exposure of several prominent, anti-homosexual ministers caught with their pants down, so to speak, screams fabulously about the futility of lying to everyone except, of course, the people you are having sex with.

At the core of these “ex-gay” ministries lie the doctrinal statements that homosexuality is an especially egregious sin, and thus an abomination to god. In many countries, those who are found “guilty” are punished by death. As I have pointed out, science does not yet fully understand how a particular sexual orientation presents in any individual, but there are many hypotheses being studied, including genetic or inborn hormonal factors and complex interactions of biological, psychological and social factors. What we do know is that sexual orientation is not a choice. It emerges for most people in early adolescence without any prior sexual experience, and psychologists do not consider sexual orientation to be a conscious choice nor associated with any emotional or social problems.

There have also been many comparative studies between homosexual parents and heterosexual parents that reveal no developmental differences between the two groups of children in their intelligence, psychological adjustment, social adjustment, popularity with friends or their sexual orientation. In fact, it has been shown in many cases where children of homosexual parents have fared better in several areas of development. The reported success rates of the conversion of homosexuals to heterosexual orientation proves false under close scrutiny. These reports are from an ideological perspective on sexual orientation, not from the scientific perspective of real mental health researchers. Their treatments are poorly documented and the post-treatment follow-up time is too short.

This issue rings like an organized crime scheme where the mob collects protection money from local merchants to pay for protection against the mob. It’s circular logic, which is a cornerstone of religious belief. The church offers reparative therapy to homosexuals to cure them of an imaginary illness that they have invented. Homosexuals are not broken, and do not need repair. These “ministries” prey on those who’ve been emotionally wounded by religion and many who turn to these  ministries end up with a life of guilt and despair. Including teenagers who attempt suicide from being guilt-ridden by self-loathing education that is the result of two-thousand years of church-inspired homophobia. Reparative therapy is nothing more than snake oil being sold to the homosexual community to cure a non-existent illness.

Any Christians or Muslims reading this should know nearly everything they’ve been taught about homosexuals and homosexuality by your religious leaders and your doctrines is wrong. Period. End of story.

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