Gay by nature: Part two

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By Adrian Tippetts • December 2, 2009 – 15:11

In part one, published yesterday, Dr Qazi Rahman of Queen Mary University London discussed the impact of genes and hormones on homosexuality. Here, he addresses the isse of gay stereotypes and refutes psychoanalytic theories of why some people are gay. He also suggests that research into gay brains may help combat homophobia. Adrian Tippetts reports.

On the subject of gay stereotypes, Dr Rahman said: “[These] might originate from the observation that as children, gay men tend to be gender non-conforming; they are more feminine on average, and that is seen across cultures. These preferences may have their basis in neurobiology during early development (gender roles are partly organised by prenatal sex hormones and develop even before children can label the sexes and ascribe gender roles to them).”

Gay by nature: Part one

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By Adrian Tippetts • December 1, 2009 – 16:01

Dr Qazi Rahman of Queen Mary University London

What causes homosexuality? Can sexual orientation be changed? And are the brains of gay people different from those of straight people? Adrian Tippetts meets Dr Qazi Rahman, an assistant professor in Cognitive Biology from Queen Mary University London, to find out more.

While almost all scientists accept homosexuality has purely natural causes, the debate has been mired in confusion. There have been conflicting reports about the existence of ‘gay’ genes and their significance. Religious propagandists have tried to promote the myths that sexuality is changeable. And the mainstream media, more interested in causing controversy than holding rational debate, has done little to raise public understanding about the issue. For Dr Rahman, who heads QMUL’s Biological and Experimental Psychology Group, it is quite clear: you’re born gay, and that’s that.

APA: Insufficient evidence that sexual orientation change efforts work

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August 5, 2009

TORONTO—The American Psychological Association adopted a resolution Wednesday stating that mental health professionals should avoid telling clients that they can change their sexual orientation through therapy or other treatments.

The “Resolution on Appropriate Affirmative Responses to Sexual Orientation Distress and Change Efforts” also advises that parents, guardians, young people and their families avoid sexual orientation treatments that portray homosexuality as a mental illness or developmental disorder and instead seek psychotherapy, social support and educational services “that provide accurate information on sexual orientation and sexuality, increase family and school support and reduce rejection of sexual minority youth.”

More On The AWARE Affair

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29 April 2009

Just an appendix to yesterday’s first entry. Christian ministries and organizations claiming that homosexuals need ‘curing’ and that they can be ‘cured’ through faith and prayer, have been around for a while. But as with so many other things, the gap between their galloping optimism and the reality, is a wide one. Take Exodus International, which seeks to convert homosexuals, both religiously and behaviorally. Three years after it started, two of its original founders ‘reverted’. In 2000 its long-term chairman, John Paulk, was removed for ‘engaging in behavior which has negatively impacted on the credibility of Exodus’; which is another way of saying that he had been caught visiting gay bars. In the 1990’s in the US a man named Michael Johnston, who was HIV positive, was widely promoted by the American Family Association as a sterling example of a homosexual ‘transformed by the Lord’. He spoke widely on radio and TV and in churches. In 2002 it was revealed that he had been having unprotected sex with other males. Another Christian ministry called Love In Action started in 1973 by Frank Worthen, John Evans, and Kent Philpott, claimed that homosexuals could become heterosexual if only they would pray hard enough. McIntyre eventually committed suicide in despair over his inability to change and Evans left the project and denounced it as dangerous. He was quoted as saying: ‘They’re destroying people’s lives. If you don’t do their thing, you’re not of God, you’ll go to hell. They’re living in a fantasy world’. The third of the three founders, Kent Philpott, wrote a book called The Third Sex? in which he claimed that he had ‘cured’ hundreds of gays. Some of these ‘cured’ gays, including Evans, filed a suit against Philpott for misrepresentation (i.e. lying) and he was forced to remove his book from the market. Until 2006 Pastor Ted Haggard was head of the 14,000 member congregation New Life Church in Colorado in the US, and leader of the powerful National Association of Evangelicals. He was also well-known for his strong condemnation of homosexuality. In 2006 Haggard was forced to resign when confronted with evidence that he had been taking drugs and engaging in sex with other men. A year later Haggard announced that he had been ‘completely cured through the Lord’s grace’ and almost immediately new evidence emerged of his homosexual behavior.

SMH: Virginity pledge no guarantee

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December 30, 2008

TEENAGERS in the United States who pledge to remain virgins until marriage are just as likely to have premarital sex as those who do not promise abstinence and significantly less likely to use condoms and other forms of birth control, a study published yesterday says.

Feature article on homophobia in Malaysian newspaper

Source: New Straits Times, (Malaysia)
16 Nov 2008

ISSUES: Why do you want to hurt me?

When we fear, can’t understand or accept something, we may try to ignore, change or lash out at the very thing or person we fear, often without thinking of the consequences, writes TAN CHOE CHOE

JAY was hospitalised for two weeks last year after he was attacked by a group of Mat Rempit at a public park that was fast gaining the reputation as a notorious gay-haunt.

It was around 10pm when he stepped out from his parked car for a smoke and saw three men heading towards him. His partner remained in the car.

Suddenly, they were all over him — bashing him with helmets and fists. He heard curses and he could smell the rank odour of alcohol on his assailants.

But that was all he could gather before he lost consciousness. His partner escaped the assault by locking himself in the car.

Indonesia: Anti-gay campaign sweeps Jakarta

Source:  Website – Action in Solidarity with Asia and the Pacific
Date: Not precisely dated, probably July 2008

Indonesia: Anti-gay campaign sweeps Jakarta

According to Rido Triawan, the chairperson of Arus Pelangi (“Rainbow Current”), an Indonesian LGBTI rights organisation, a new anti-gay and lesbian campaign is sweeping Indonesia’s capital, Jakarta, in the wake of hysterical media coverage about a so-called “Gay mutilation murder case”.

Verry Idam Henyansyah, better known as “Ryan” confessed to the murder and mutilation of a gay man, Heri Santoso, in Jakarta a few weeks ago. He has subsequently confessed to 10 other murders.

DSM controversy could overshadow opportunities

Source: Edge Boston
2 June 2008

DSM controversy could overshadow opportunities

by Zak Szymanski

When Julia Serano first heard of psychologist Kenneth Zucker’s appointment to the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM) revisions group, she saw it as an opportunity to strategize.

Zucker’s work at Toronto’s Clarke Institute for Psychiatry (now the Centre for Addiction and Recovery) has been hailed by ex-gay groups for his claims that too-tolerant parents enable gender disorders in children and that gender-conforming therapies – forbidding boys from playing with dolls, for instance – are effective treatments for young people.

Catholic forum part 4: Paul Goh’s presentation

Editor’s note: This is Gwo Yinn’s personal report of a talk presented by Father Paul Goh at a Catholic forum on homosexuality, held on 29 May 2008.

Source: Live today as if there’s no tomorrow – blog
30 May 2008

Fr Goh’s presentation is entitled Counselling and Psychotheraphy to Homosexuals.

He started by saying he’s not there to pass judgement on anyone. He said his presentation is based on his professional experience. He didn’t say whether it’s as a priest or as a clinical psychologist.

His first slide is on rapport and relationship building which requires empathy, genuinenness and positive regard, caring and acceptance. According to him, a person can be trained to be empathetic. Genuineness requires consistency between the words, feelings, expressions and gestures. In the case of a person whose parents do not show unconditional positive regards, the person shows psychological problems. I think he quoted a study by a Karl Roger on this.

Do children of gay parents develop differently?

Source: Los Angeles Times
30 October 2006

Do children of gay parents develop differently?

Research suggests there’s no distinction. But the field is a young one, and studies are often colored by politics.
By Kevin Sack, Times Staff Writer

Despite three decades of research on gay parenting, social scientists cannot conclusively determine whether children raised by homosexuals develop differently, for better or worse, than those raised by heterosexuals.

Though the early consensus is that they do not, even the investigators acknowledge the field is too young, the numbers too few, the variables too many and the research too values-laden to qualify as definitive.

As gay marriage and parenting have moved to the forefront of national discourse, what has emerged, some experts say, is a political debate masked as a sociological one.