The fact that Perez Hilton could look at that girls ass and not be swayed is enough proof to me that gayness is biological, and not a choice.
If it was a choice, 99% of all the gay people would be hot lesbians and 1% would be very, very confused dudes.
DEAC wouldn't want to let facts get in the way of his biases...
@)
Genetics and Claims of the immutability of homosexuality
A common argument is that an inclination to homosexuality is inborn and immutable. It is widely believed that the public will become more accepting of homosexuality if they are convinced that it is inborn and immutable. For example,
neuroscientist and homosexual Simon Levay stated: "...people who think that gays and lesbians are born that way are also more likely to support gay rights."<sup id="cite_ref-2" class="reference">
[3]</sup>
Research into the issue of the origins of homosexuality suggests that adoptive brothers are more likely to both be homosexuals than the biological brothers, who share half their
genes which suggests that homosexuality is not genetically caused. <sup id="cite_ref-3" class="reference">
[4]</sup><sup id="cite_ref-4" class="reference">
[5]</sup><sup id="cite_ref-5" class="reference">
[6]</sup> This data prompted the journal
Science to report "this . . . suggests that there is no genetic component, but rather an environmental component shared in families".<sup id="cite_ref-6" class="reference">
[7]</sup><sup id="cite_ref-7" class="reference">
[8]</sup><sup id="cite_ref-8" class="reference">
[9]</sup> However, in regards to
psychosocial and biological theories in regards to the origin of homosexuality,
Columbia University psychiatry professors Drs. William Byrne and Bruce Parsons stated in 1994: "There is no evidence that at present to substantiate a
biological theory. [T]he appeal of current biological explanations for sexual orientation may derive more from dissatisfaction with the present status of psychosocial explanations than from a substantiating body of experimental data".<sup id="cite_ref-9" class="reference">
[10]</sup>
Dr. Tahir I. Jaz, M.D., Winnipeg, Canada states: "The increasing claims of being "
born that way" parallels the rising political activism of homosexual organisations, who politicise the issue of homosexual origins . In the 1970s, approximately ten percent of homosexuals claimed to be "born homosexual" according to a large scale survey....However, in a survey in the 1980s, with the homosexual rights movement increasingly becoming active, thirty-five percent claimed to be born that way.<sup id="cite_ref-10" class="reference">
[11]</sup>
Religious Upbringing and Culture Can Strongly Affect Rates of Homosexuality
Dr. Neil Whitehead is a research scientist and
biochemist from
New Zealand and is his wife Briar Whitehead is a writer.<sup id="cite_ref-11" class="reference">
[12]</sup> Dr. Whitehead coauthored a book with with his wife entitled
My Genes Made Me Do it - a scientific look at sexual orientation which argues that there is no
genetic determinism in regards to homosexuality (homosexuals are "not born that way") and that there is abundant documentation that individuals are able to leave homosexuality and become heterosexuals.<sup id="cite_ref-12" class="reference">
[13]</sup>
Homosexuality appears to be rare in
Orthodox Jews.
Dr. Whitehead and Briar Whitehead state in their aforementioned book the following: regarding various cultures:
<table style="border-style: none; border-collapse: collapse; background-color: transparent;" class="cquote"> <tbody><tr> <td style="padding: 10px; color: rgb(178, 183, 242); font-size: 35px; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-weight: bold; text-align: left;" valign="top" width="20"> “ </td><td style="padding: 4px 10px;" valign="top"> If homosexuality were significantly influenced by
genes, it would appear in every culture, but in twenty-nine of seventy-nine cultures surveyed by
Ford and
Beach in 1952, homosexuality was rare or absent. It was very rare in the
Siriono, even though there were no prohibitions on homosexual relationships in that culture. The researcher observed only one man displaying slight homosexual traits but apparently not sexually involved with another man. Homosexuality appears to be rare among
Orthodox Jews [Orthodox Judaism forbids homosexuality], so much so that learned rabbis, the interpreters of
Jewish law, usually allowed men to sleep in the same bed, because likelihood of sexual contact was considered negligible.
Kinsey also found very low homosexual incidence among Orthodox Jews... This evidence comes from missionaries who commonly spend 25 years of their lives living in one culture, far more than almost any anthropologist....Overall they can be considered as reliable witnesses. For example, in contrast to groups like the
Sambia in the
New Guinea highlands, where homosexuality was compulsory, only about 2-3 percent of Western
Dani (also in the New Guinea highlands) practiced it. However, in another group of Dani who were genetically related, homosexuality was totally unknown. Missionaries report that when they were translating the
Bible into Dani for this group, their tribal assistants, who knew their own culture intimately, were nonplused by references to homosexuality in
Romans 1; they did not understand the concept. Another missionary, with the same group for 25 years, overheard many jests and sexually ribald exchanges among the men, but never a single mention of homosexuality in all that time. When Dani went to help with missionary work among the Sambia, they were astounded at some of the homosexual practices they saw for the first time. Although it is always difficult for a foreigner to be completely sure whether a rare and stigmatized behavior exists, it is certainly true that if three such different experiences of homosexuality can occur in groups of people so closely related genetically, genetically enforced homosexuality is an impossibility.<sup id="cite_ref-13" class="reference">
[14]</sup>
</td><td style="padding: 10px; color: rgb(178, 183, 242); font-size: 36px; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-weight: bold; text-align: right;" valign="bottom" width="20"> ” </td></tr> </tbody></table> In 1976, Gwen J. Proude and Sarah J. Green published a study in the journal
Ethnology which echoed the work of
Clellan S. Ford and
Frank Ambrose Beach. <sup id="cite_ref-14" class="reference">
[15]</sup> The journal article by Proude and Green stated that there were societies in which homosexuality was rare or absent. <sup id="cite_ref-15" class="reference">
[16]</sup> In addition, Proude and Green in the aforementioned journal article had data which showed a positive correlation between cultures which accepted or ignored homosexuality in their cultures and cultures which were more likely to have homosexuality not be uncommon.<sup id="cite_ref-16" class="reference">
[17]</sup>
In 1993, M. Baron wrote in
BMJ (British Medical Journal) the following:
<table style="border-style: none; border-collapse: collapse; background-color: transparent;" class="cquote"> <tbody><tr> <td style="padding: 10px; color: rgb(178, 183, 242); font-size: 35px; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-weight: bold; text-align: left;" valign="top" width="20"> “ </td><td style="padding: 4px 10px;" valign="top"> Some cultures - for example, the Assyrian and Graeco-Roman - were more tolerant of homosexuality. The behavior was practiced openly and was highly prevalent. Sexual patterns are to some extent a product of society's expectations, but it would be difficult to envisage a change in the prevalence of the genetic trait merely in response to changing cultural norms.<sup id="cite_ref-17" class="reference">
[18]</sup> </td><td style="padding: 10px; color: rgb(178, 183, 242); font-size: 36px; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-weight: bold; text-align: right;" valign="bottom" width="20"> ” </td></tr> </tbody></table>
Dennis Prager
Dennis Prager wrote the following regarding Orthodox Judaism and homosexuality:
<table style="border-style: none; border-collapse: collapse; background-color: transparent;" class="cquote"> <tbody><tr> <td style="padding: 10px; color: rgb(178, 183, 242); font-size: 35px; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-weight: bold; text-align: left;" valign="top" width="20"> “ </td><td style="padding: 4px 10px;" valign="top"> In the
Syballine Oracles, written by an
Egyptian Jew probably between 163 and 45 B.C., the author compared Jews to the other nations: The Jews "are mindful of holy wedlock, and they do not engage in impious intercourse with male children, as do
Phoenicians,
Egyptians, and
Romans, specious
Greece and many nations of others,
Persians and
Galatians and all
Asia." And in our times, sex historian Amo Karlen wrote that according to the sex researcher
Alfred Kinsey, "Homosexuality was phenomenally rare among Orthodox Jews."<sup id="cite_ref-18" class="reference">
[19]</sup> </td><td style="padding: 10px; color: rgb(178, 183, 242); font-size: 36px; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-weight: bold; text-align: right;" valign="bottom" width="20"> ” </td></tr> </tbody></table> Herbert Hendin wrote in the
Journal of American Academy of Psychoanalysis the following:
<table style="border-style: none; border-collapse: collapse; background-color: transparent;" class="cquote"> <tbody><tr> <td style="padding: 10px; color: rgb(178, 183, 242); font-size: 35px; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-weight: bold; text-align: left;" valign="top" width="20"> “ </td><td style="padding: 4px 10px;" valign="top"> Anthropologists had observed that relatively uncompetitive primitive cultures such as those that do not distinguish or reward the best
hunters in distinction to the other men in the tribe have virtually no homosexuality."<sup id="cite_ref-19" class="reference">
[20]</sup> </td><td style="padding: 10px; color: rgb(178, 183, 242); font-size: 36px; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-weight: bold; text-align: right;" valign="bottom" width="20"> ” </td></tr> </tbody></table>
Individuals Raised in Large Cities Versus Individuals Raised in Suburbs, Towns, and Countryside
In 1994, the book
Sex in America: A definitive survey by
Robert T. Michael,
John H. Gagnon,
Edward O. Laumann, and
Gina Kolata stated the following:
<table style="border-style: none; border-collapse: collapse; background-color: transparent;" class="cquote"> <tbody><tr> <td style="padding: 10px; color: rgb(178, 183, 242); font-size: 35px; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-weight: bold; text-align: left;" valign="top" width="20"> “ </td><td style="padding: 4px 10px;" valign="top"> We discovered that people who were raised in large cities were more likely to be homosexual than people who were raised in suburb, towns, or the countryside. This relationship also showed up in the General Social Survey, an independent national sample.<sup id="cite_ref-20" class="reference">
[21]</sup> </td><td style="padding: 10px; color: rgb(178, 183, 242); font-size: 36px; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-weight: bold; text-align: right;" valign="bottom" width="20"> ” </td></tr> </tbody></table> The aforementioned authors Dr. Whitehead and Briar Whitehead similarly wrote:
<table style="border-style: none; border-collapse: collapse; background-color: transparent;" class="cquote"> <tbody><tr> <td style="padding: 10px; color: rgb(178, 183, 242); font-size: 35px; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-weight: bold; text-align: left;" valign="top" width="20"> “ </td><td style="padding: 4px 10px;" valign="top"> There is a much higher incidence of homosexuality among those who have been raised in large cities, rather than in rural areas, arguing that the environment is much more powerful than genes in the development of homosexuality.<sup id="cite_ref-21" class="reference">
[22]</sup> </td><td style="padding: 10px; color: rgb(178, 183, 242); font-size: 36px; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-weight: bold; text-align: right;" valign="bottom" width="20"> ” </td></tr> </tbody></table>
Sexual Abuse as a Contributing Factor For Homosexuality
Dr.
Jeffrey Satinover, M.D.
In 1999, Dr.
Jeffrey Satinover, M.D. wrote the following regarding the position of
sexual abuse being a contributing factor for homosexuality:
<table style="border-style: none; border-collapse: collapse; background-color: transparent;" class="cquote"> <tbody><tr> <td style="padding: 10px; color: rgb(178, 183, 242); font-size: 35px; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-weight: bold; text-align: left;" valign="top" width="20"> “ </td><td style="padding: 4px 10px;" valign="top"> Many studies demonstrate a sadly disproportionate extent of sexual abuse in the childhoods of homosexual men, suggesting at the least that both homosexual unhappiness and homosexuality itself derive from common causes...<sup id="cite_ref-22" class="reference">
[23]</sup> </td><td style="padding: 10px; color: rgb(178, 183, 242); font-size: 36px; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-weight: bold; text-align: right;" valign="bottom" width="20"> ” </td></tr> </tbody></table> In 2001, the journal
Archives of Sexual Behavior published a study entitled
Comparative data of childhood and adolescence molestation in heterosexual and homosexual persons. The abstract for this article states the following:
<table style="border-style: none; border-collapse: collapse; background-color: transparent;" class="cquote"> <tbody><tr> <td style="padding: 10px; color: rgb(178, 183, 242); font-size: 35px; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-weight: bold; text-align: left;" valign="top" width="20"> “ </td><td style="padding: 4px 10px;" valign="top"> In research with 942 nonclinical adult participants, gay men and lesbian women reported a significantly higher rate of childhood molestation than did heterosexual men and women. Forty-six percent of the homosexual men in contrast to 7% of the heterosexual men reported homosexual molestation. Twenty-two percent of lesbian women in contrast to 1% of heterosexual women reported homosexual molestation. This research is apparently the first survey that has reported substantial homosexual molestation of girls.<sup id="cite_ref-23" class="reference">
[24]</sup> </td><td style="padding: 10px; color: rgb(178, 183, 242); font-size: 36px; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-weight: bold; text-align: right;" valign="bottom" width="20"> ” </td></tr> </tbody></table> The authors of the above medical journal article entitled
Comparative data of childhood and adolescence molestation in heterosexual and homosexual persons also stated that childhood sexual molestation may not be a causal factor for homosexuality and that the abuse molestation may be occurring after the individual is a homosexual and the medical researchers speculated that the victims of molestation may be engaging in behaviors that put them at greater risk for molestation.<sup id="cite_ref-24" class="reference">
[25]</sup>
In 1998, Dr. William C. Holmes, M.D. and Dr. Gail B. Slap, M.D. reported in the medical journal
JAMA the following:
<table style="border-style: none; border-collapse: collapse; background-color: transparent;" class="cquote"> <tbody><tr> <td style="padding: 10px; color: rgb(178, 183, 242); font-size: 35px; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-weight: bold; text-align: left;" valign="top" width="20"> “ </td><td style="padding: 4px 10px;" valign="top"> Adolescent boys, particularly those victimized by males, were up to 7 times more likely to identify themselves as homosexual or bisexual than peers who had not been abused (P<.001). <sup id="cite_ref-25" class="reference">
[26]</sup> </td><td style="padding: 10px; color: rgb(178, 183, 242); font-size: 36px; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-weight: bold; text-align: right;" valign="bottom" width="20"> ” </td></tr> </tbody></table>
The
occultist Aleister Crowley was a
bisexual and was dubbed in his lifetime "the most wicked man on earth". Aleister Crowley stated: "I was not content to believe in a personal
devil and serve him, in the ordinary sense of the word. I wanted to get hold of him personally and become his chief of staff."<sup id="cite_ref-26" class="reference">
[27]</sup>
Dr. Holmes and Dr. Slap also pointed out that "No
longitudinal studies examined the
causal relationship between abuse and gender role or sexual orientation, however. Gender role nonconformity and gay or
bisexual identity may precede abuse." <sup id="cite_ref-27" class="reference">
[28]</sup> Dr. Holmes and Dr. Slap also offered a speculative scenario in respect to how a homosexual adolescent exploring his sexuality may put himself at risk but offered no empirical studies in regards to their speculative scenario.<sup id="cite_ref-28" class="reference">
[29]</sup>
In 1997, the researcher Gundlach studied the issue of childhood sexual molestation in respect to lesbians and according the medical researchers Gundlach found the following:
<table style="border-style: none; border-collapse: collapse; background-color: transparent;" class="cquote"> <tbody><tr> <td style="padding: 10px; color: rgb(178, 183, 242); font-size: 35px; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-weight: bold; text-align: left;" valign="top" width="20"> “ </td><td style="padding: 4px 10px;" valign="top"> Gundlach (1977) surveyed 225 lesbian and 233
heterosexual women, and found that 30% of the heterosexual women and 21% of the lesbians had been raped. Of the 30 women who had been raped before the age of 14, 26 had an adult homosexual orientation while 9 had an adult heterosexual orientation.<sup id="cite_ref-29" class="reference">
[30]</sup> </td><td style="padding: 10px; color: rgb(178, 183, 242); font-size: 36px; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-weight: bold; text-align: right;" valign="bottom" width="20"> ” </td></tr> </tbody></table> In addition, the abstract for the Gundlach study states the following additional detail:
<table style="border-style: none; border-collapse: collapse; background-color: transparent;" class="cquote"> <tbody><tr> <td style="padding: 10px; color: rgb(178, 183, 242); font-size: 35px; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-weight: bold; text-align: left;" valign="top" width="20"> “ </td><td style="padding: 4px 10px;" valign="top"> Sixteen of the 17 girls, age 4 to 16, molested or seduced (6 for a long time) by a relative or close family friend are lesbians as adults. The subjects' attitudes about the incident were highly determined by parental reactions.<sup id="cite_ref-30" class="reference">
[31]</sup> </td><td style="padding: 10px; color: rgb(178, 183, 242); font-size: 36px; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-weight: bold; text-align: right;" valign="bottom" width="20"> ” </td></tr> </tbody></table>
Failure of Experiments to Show Genetic Determinism For Homosexuality
Dr.
Dean Hamer is a researcher often cited to show that there is empirical data supporting the notion of genetic
determinism in regards to homosexuality. News organizations like
National Public Radio and
Newsweek have done news stories regarding his work.<sup id="cite_ref-31" class="reference">
[32]</sup> In respect to the press trumpeting various findings genetics-of-behavior research uncritically the science journal
Science stated the following in 1994:
<table style="border-style: none; border-collapse: collapse; background-color: transparent;" class="cquote"> <tbody><tr> <td style="padding: 10px; color: rgb(178, 183, 242); font-size: 35px; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-weight: bold; text-align: left;" valign="top" width="20"> “ </td><td style="padding: 4px 10px;" valign="top"> Time and time again, scientists have claimed that particular genes or
chromosomal regions are associated with behavioral traits, only to withdraw their findings when they were not replicated. "Unfortunately," says Yale's [Dr. Joel]
Gelernter, "it's hard to come up with many" findings linking specific genes to complex human behaviors that have been replicated. "...All were announced with great fanfare; all were greeted unskeptically in the popular press; all are now in disrepute."<sup id="cite_ref-32" class="reference">
[33]</sup> </td><td style="padding: 10px; color: rgb(178, 183, 242); font-size: 36px; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-weight: bold; text-align: right;" valign="bottom" width="20"> ” </td></tr> </tbody></table> Martin A. Silverman, M.D. wrote regarding a famous study of Dr.
Dean Hamer:
<table style="border-style: none; border-collapse: collapse; background-color: transparent;" class="cquote"> <tbody><tr> <td style="padding: 10px; color: rgb(178, 183, 242); font-size: 35px; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-weight: bold; text-align: left;" valign="top" width="20"> “ </td><td style="padding: 4px 10px;" valign="top"> On July 16, 1993, it was reported in Science (pp. 291, 321) that
geneticist Dean Hamer and his team at the
National Cancer Institute had reported on a study involving 40 pairs of brothers both of whom were gay that had led them to conclude that they had discovered a factor on the X
chromosome through which gayness was genetically transmitted to them from their mothers. This was hailed as proof that homosexuality in men is biological in origin. Two years later, however, Eliot Marshall reported in
Science (June 30, 1995, p.268) George Ebers and George Rice of the
University of Western Ontario had unsuccessfully attempted to replicate Hamer's findings and had "found no evidence that gayness is passed from mother to son" genetically. He also reported that the Office of Research Integrity in the Department of Health and Human Services was investigating Hamer's work.<sup id="cite_ref-33" class="reference">
[34]</sup> </td><td style="padding: 10px; color: rgb(178, 183, 242); font-size: 36px; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-weight: bold; text-align: right;" valign="bottom" width="20"> ” </td></tr> </tbody></table> In May of 2000, the
American Psychiatric Association issued a fact sheet stating that "..there are no replicated scientific studies supporting a specific biological
etiology for homosexuality."<sup id="cite_ref-34" class="reference">
[35]</sup>
Given the existence of
ex-homosexuals and given the
existence of human cultures where homosexuality has apparently not existed, the position that homosexuality is ultimately a choice in individuals or at the very least can be a choice in individuals has strong evidential support.
Volition as a Causal Factor of Homosexuality - Homosexuality as a Choice
In regards to the issue of
homosexuality and choice, given the existence of
ex-homosexuals and given the
existence of human cultures where homosexuality has apparently not existed, the position that homosexuality is ultimately a choice in individuals or at the very least can be a choice in individuals has strong evidential support. In short, there is a strong argument that one can
leave homosexuality. In addition, given that the
homosexual population has significantly higher rates of many diseases and the homosexual population also has significantly lower rates of various measures of mental health it can be strongly argued that engaging in homosexual acts is a bad choice for individuals. Another other factor that makes engaging in homosexual acts a bad choice for individuals is the significantly higher rates of
domestic violence in homosexual couples. In addition, according to experts
homosexual murders are relatively or quite common and often homosexual murders are very brutal. Also, the
homosexual population has a greater propensity to engage in illegal drug use.
A 2003 poll done by Ellison Research of
Phoenix,
Arizona stated that 82% of all
American Protestant ministers agreed with the statement “homosexuality is a choice people make".<sup id="cite_ref-35" class="reference">
[36]</sup>
The
Roman Catholic Church's position is that having homosexual desires can be a choice in individuals but having homosexual desires is not a choice in respect to all individuals.<sup id="cite_ref-36" class="reference">
[37]</sup><sup id="cite_ref-37" class="reference">
[38]</sup> However, according to the
Vatican individuals should not engage in homosexual acts as they are acts of serious depravity.<sup id="cite_ref-38" class="reference">
[39]</sup>
Dr. Nadia El-Awady reflects the view of many adherents of
Islam when he stated the following:
<table style="border-style: none; border-collapse: collapse; background-color: transparent;" class="cquote"> <tbody><tr> <td style="padding: 10px; color: rgb(178, 183, 242); font-size: 35px; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-weight: bold; text-align: left;" valign="top" width="20"> “ </td><td style="padding: 4px 10px;" valign="top"> Much research has been done over the years to discover the scientific origins of homosexuality. Mostly it has been to disprove the fact that homosexuality is a matter of choice.<sup id="cite_ref-39" class="reference">
[40]</sup> </td><td style="padding: 10px; color: rgb(178, 183, 242); font-size: 36px; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-weight: bold; text-align: right;" valign="bottom" width="20"> ” </td></tr> </tbody></table>
Ex-Homosexuals
St.
Paul defends his preaching (Giovanni Ricco)
In regards to the question of whether or not homosexuality is a permanent condition, one of the earliest historical records regarding of the existence of
ex-homosexuals is a letter of the
Apostle Paul to the
Corinthian Christian church.
The Apostle Paul taught that
homosexuality is a sin when he wrote the following:
<table style="border-style: none; border-collapse: collapse; background-color: transparent;" class="cquote"> <tbody><tr> <td style="padding: 10px; color: rgb(178, 183, 242); font-size: 35px; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-weight: bold; text-align: left;" valign="top" width="20"> “ </td><td style="padding: 4px 10px;" valign="top"> Do not be deceived: Neither the sexually immoral nor idolaters nor adulterers nor male prostitutes nor homosexual offenders nor thieves nor the greedy nor drunkards nor slanderers nor swindlers will inherit the
kingdom of God. And that is what some of you were. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were
justified in the name of the Lord
Jesus Christ and by the
Spirit of our
God." - I Corinthians 6:9-11 (NIV) </td><td style="padding: 10px; color: rgb(178, 183, 242); font-size: 36px; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-weight: bold; text-align: right;" valign="bottom" width="20"> ” </td></tr> </tbody></table> Today people still report leaving homosexuality and becoming heterosexual through their
Christian faith.<sup id="cite_ref-40" class="reference">
[41]</sup><sup id="cite_ref-41" class="reference">
[42]</sup><sup id="cite_ref-42" class="reference">
[43]</sup><sup id="cite_ref-43" class="reference">
[44]</sup><sup id="cite_ref-44" class="reference">
[45]</sup><sup id="cite_ref-45" class="reference">
[46]</sup> <sup id="cite_ref-46" class="reference">
[47]</sup><sup id="cite_ref-47" class="reference">
[48]</sup><sup id="cite_ref-48" class="reference">
[49]</sup><sup id="cite_ref-49" class="reference">
[50]</sup>
Ex-Homosexual and ex-"gay rights" leader
Michael Glatze speaking to the mother of
Matthew Shepard.
Peter LaBarbera is the President of
Americans for Truth which is a organization which counters the
homosexual agenda. Peter LaBarbera stated the following regarding Christian ex-homosexuals who reported being transformed by the power of God:
<table style="border-style: none; border-collapse: collapse; background-color: transparent;" class="cquote"> <tbody><tr> <td style="padding: 10px; color: rgb(178, 183, 242); font-size: 35px; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-weight: bold; text-align: left;" valign="top" width="20"> “ </td><td style="padding: 4px 10px;" valign="top"> Another factor from my experience as a close observer of the “ex-gay” phenomenon is that many former homosexuals do not linger in “
reparative therapy” programs, or participate in them at all. They attribute their dramatic and (relatively) rapid transformation to the power of God, and likely would not show up in a study of this kind. In fact, these “unstudied” overcomers would appear to be the most successful ex-homosexuals because they’ve moved on with their lives — as “reborn” Christians move on after overcoming any besetting sin.<sup id="cite_ref-50" class="reference">
[51]</sup> </td><td style="padding: 10px; color: rgb(178, 183, 242); font-size: 36px; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-weight: bold; text-align: right;" valign="bottom" width="20"> ” </td></tr> </tbody></table> In respect to Peter LaBarbera's statement above regarding homosexuals overcoming homosexuality through the power of God, in 1980 a study was published in the
American Journal of Psychiatry and eleven men participated in this study. The aforementioned study in the
American Journal of Psychiatry stated that eleven homosexual men became heterosexuals "without explicit treatment and/or long-term psychotherapy" through their participation in a
Pentecostal church.<sup id="cite_ref-51" class="reference">
[52]</sup> The results of this study are not surprising since Christian faith has shown itself to be effective in combating drug addiction. For example, Christian group
Teen Challenge reported the following:
<table style="border-style: none; border-collapse: collapse; background-color: transparent;" class="cquote"> <tbody><tr> <td style="padding: 10px; color: rgb(178, 183, 242); font-size: 35px; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-weight: bold; text-align: left;" valign="top" width="20"> “ </td><td style="padding: 4px 10px;" valign="top"> Teen Challenge claims of a 70% cure rate for the drug addicts graduating from their program attracted the attention of the U.S. Federal Government in 1973. Most secular drug rehabilitation programs only experienced a cure rate of 1-15% of their graduates. The National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA), part of the U.S. Department of Health, Education, and Welfare, funded the first year of this study to evaluate the long term results of the Teen Challenge program.<sup id="cite_ref-52" class="reference">
[53]</sup> </td><td style="padding: 10px; color: rgb(178, 183, 242); font-size: 36px; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-weight: bold; text-align: right;" valign="bottom" width="20"> ” </td></tr> </tbody></table> Teen Challenge has a number of studies that indicate the high effectiveness of their drug treatment program compared to other programs.<sup id="cite_ref-53" class="reference">
[54]</sup>
Dr. Whitehead and Briar Whitehead state in their aforementioned book the following regarding ex-homosexuals
overcoming homosexuality:
<table style="border-style: none; border-collapse: collapse; background-color: transparent;" class="cquote"> <tbody><tr> <td style="padding: 10px; color: rgb(178, 183, 242); font-size: 35px; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-weight: bold; text-align: left;" valign="top" width="20"> “ </td><td style="padding: 4px 10px;" valign="top"> The sexology literature reports a huge number of examples of change of all degrees from homosexuality to or toward heterosexuality. These studies have been so numerous that West (a gay man) in 1977 took an entire chapter in his classic book, Homosexuality Re-examined, to review them, and commented: “Although some militant homosexuals find such claims improbable and unpalatable, authenticated accounts have been published of apparently exclusive and long-standing homosexuals unexpectedly changing their orientation.” West mentions one man who was exclusively homosexual for eight years, then became heterosexual...
Another well known author in the field, Hatterer, who believes in sexual orientation change, said, “I’ve heard of hundreds of ... men who went from a homosexual to a heterosexual adjustment on their own.”<sup id="cite_ref-54" class="reference">
[55]</sup>
</td><td style="padding: 10px; color: rgb(178, 183, 242); font-size: 36px; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-weight: bold; text-align: right;" valign="bottom" width="20"> ” </td></tr> </tbody></table> The classic biblical commentator
Matthew Henry wrote the following regarding the forgiveness and
sanctification in Christ for those who
repent of the above sins listed in the letter of Paul to the Corinthians (which includes the sin of homosexuality):
<table style="border-style: none; border-collapse: collapse; background-color: transparent;" class="cquote"><tbody><tr><td style="padding: 10px; color: rgb(178, 183, 242); font-size: 35px; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-weight: bold; text-align: left;" valign="top" width="20"> “ </td><td style="padding: 4px 10px;" valign="top"> How glorious a change does grace make! It changes the vilest of men into saints and the children of
God. Such were some of you, but you are not what you were. You are washed, you are
sanctified, you are
justified in the name of
Christ, and by the
Spirit of our God. Note, The wickedness of men before conversion is no bar to their
regeneration and reconciliation to God. The blood of Christ, and the washing of regeneration, can purge away all guilt and defilement. Here is a
rhetorical change of the natural order: You are sanctified, you are justified. Sanctification is mentioned before justification: and yet the name of Christ, by which we are justified, is placed before the Spirit of God, by whom we are sanctified. Our justification is owing to the merit of Christ; our sanctification to the operation of the
Spirit: but both go together.<sup id="cite_ref-55" class="reference">
[56]</sup></td></tr></tbody></table>
