Homosexuality: Disorder or Innate?
Homosexuality: Disorder or Innate? Is homosexuality an innate, normal sexual orientation or something one becomes through life’s trials? Leonardo da Vinci, Michelangelo, Francis Bacon, Herman Melville and Fredrick the Great all had one thing common, other than their famous personas. Every one of these men were homosexuals. In today’s society, homosexuality has grown to be labeled as a “sin” and/or something that one chooses to be rather born with. From religious leaders to medical doctors, homosexuality is thought to be a “disease” in society. Many even believe that homosexuality is a sexual orientation caused by how one was raised. I, on the other hand, believe otherwise. I believe that sexual orientation, or more specifically homosexuality, is something one is born with and not a disorder or choice. Charles Socarides, M.D., founder of NARTH (National Association for Research & Therapy of homosexuality wrote:
By declaring a condition [homosexuality] a 'non-condition, ' a group of practitioners had removed it from our list of serious psychosexual disorders. The action was all the more remarkable when one considers that it involved the out-of-hand and peremptory disregard and dismissal not only of hundreds of psychiatric and psychoanalytic research papers and reports, but also of a number of other serious studies by groups of psychiatrists, psychologists, and educators over the past seventy years... In essence, this movement within the American Psychiatric Association has accomplished what every other society, with rare exceptions, would have trembled to tamper with--a revision of a basic code and concept of life and biology; that men and women normally mate with the opposite sex and not with each other. (Socradies)
More generally, Dr. Socarides believes that for the medical world to remove homosexuality from the list of mental disorders is astounding. He believes that there is something mentally wrong with humans that prefer same sex partners. I, on
By declaring a condition [homosexuality] a 'non-condition, ' a group of practitioners had removed it from our list of serious psychosexual disorders. The action was all the more remarkable when one considers that it involved the out-of-hand and peremptory disregard and dismissal not only of hundreds of psychiatric and psychoanalytic research papers and reports, but also of a number of other serious studies by groups of psychiatrists, psychologists, and educators over the past seventy years... In essence, this movement within the American Psychiatric Association has accomplished what every other society, with rare exceptions, would have trembled to tamper with--a revision of a basic code and concept of life and biology; that men and women normally mate with the opposite sex and not with each other. (Socradies)
More generally, Dr. Socarides believes that for the medical world to remove homosexuality from the list of mental disorders is astounding. He believes that there is something mentally wrong with humans that prefer same sex partners. I, on
Cited: American Psychological Association. 2008. 5 Aug. 2009 <http://www.apa.org/topics/sorientation.html>. Dailey PhD, Timothy J. "Homosexuality and Child Sexual Abuse." OrthodoxyToday. 4 Aug. 2009 <http://www.orthodoxytoday.org/articles/DaileyHomosexualAbuse.htm>. Pawelski MD, James G. "The Effects of Marriage, Civil Union, and Domestic Partnership Laws on the Health and Well-being of Children." 1 Nov. 2006. Pediatrics. 1 Aug. 2009 <http://pediatrics.aappublications.org/cgi/content/full/118/5/2264>. Socradies, Charles W. "Sexual Politics And Scientific Logic: The Issue of Homosexuality." Digital Archive of Phychohistory Articles & Texts. 4 Aug. 2009 <http://www.geocities.com/kidhistory/homopolo.htm>. Stacey PhD, Judith. "(How) Does the Sexual Orientation of Parents Matter?" American Sociological Review (2001): 51-53.