Just another reason I hate Religion.

'Ex-Gay' Camps, Therapy Programs Attract Controversy.

The American Psychological Association says there are a number of theories about the origins of a person's sexual orientation, but that most scientists agree that sexual orientation is most likely the result of a complex interaction of environmental, cognitive and biological factors. The APA says homosexuality is not a choice and that in most people, sexual orientation is shaped at an early age.

"A lot of harm is done by these programs," said Dr. Jack Dreshcer of the American Psychological Association. "It creates shame and guilt feelings that can lead to suicidal behavior."

Love in Action was the center of an investigation by the Tennessee Department of Mental Health for touting its program as therapy but not servicing the facility with licensed mental health professionals. Since then Love in Action has changed the wording on their Web site. Prior to this, the program was cleared of abuse allegations by the Tennessee Department of Children Services.

Yes, better to have people who don't actually understand actual reality and science behind human sexuality, and take their knowledge from a millenia old book that advocates killing rape victims or forcing them to marry their assailants, or stoning your own children to death, or sacrificing them to your imaginary god... that doesn't even understand human anatomy etc etc... yes, let's believe those people and let's trust unlicensed and untrained people to brainwash otherwise perfectly healthy children into hating themselves and driving them to suicidal behavior for feeling that what they feel naturally is "a sin"... that they are simply choosing this "wrong" behavior etc. Let's just push our archaic and narrow minded bigoted morality down everyone else's throat.

The American Psychological Association says homosexuality is not a choice and that in most people, sexual orientation is shaped at an early age.

Maybe we should send all the Christians to gay camps and force them to see how it feels to be told that your sexuality is just a choice and that you are a confused person making a depraved and immoral choice that you have to change... and bring in god and eternal salvation and other fantasies into it to deepen the psychological effects etc.

GRRRR.

And just to clarify, this isn't just a Christian thing...

Go read up on Homosexuality please. Try actually educating yourselves and not maintaining your ignorance while you screw up people who aren't what you wish they were, in part because you simply don't know any better.

Iranian youths Mahmoud Asgari and Ayaz Marhoni on the scaffold. (Mashhad, July 19, 2005). At the ages of, respectively, 15 and 17 they had been discovered having sexual relations. They were imprisoned for fourteen months and sentenced to 228 lashes each, followed by death by hanging. (read the full story here)

An estimated 700,000 participants (AFP) march through Paris, France, chanting "Marriage, Adoption, and Equality" during 2005 Gay Pride festivities.

Make sure you actually read the story behind that first picture. It paints a very clear picture of the result of bigoted religious mindsets. This is something that we as a Humans should be progressing away from, not regressing into or perpetuating. It is fairly easy to see with a little research how the advancement of science, literacy and free thought has dramatically increased the understanding and acceptance of Homosexuality throughout the world. It's just sad that we obviously have so far to go... and it only increases my animosity towards the abject willful ignorance of religion that it is such a strong promoter of this primitive mindset and behavior.

Religious Beliefs Underpin Opposition to Homosexuality. (download the full report as a .pdf with demographic information etc.)

It's sad that both those activities can be taking place in the world at the same time. What crime are people committing who love each other as adults, or even as teenagers? Who are NOT making a CHOICE to be that way, but following their feelings, NO DIFFERENTLY than a heterosexual person would feel for a person of the opposite sex. They are doing nothing wrong except not living by the moral standards preached by a particular religion, or not living like someone who doesn't feel the same would want them to.

It almost makes me cry that people can be so bigoted.

big·ot
n.
   One who is strongly partial to one's own group, religion, race, or politics and is intolerant of those who differ.

Their only arguments are "It's not natural.", which has been proven to be false. It is, by definition, natural, which they would know if they actually STUDIED for a change and didn't make baseless statements based on their willful ignorance. Hard to argue a point when you've bothered to study and find out that you're completely wrong.

nat·u·ral
adj.
   1. Present in or produced by nature.

(And along with that definition, an article covering many aspects of Non-Human and animal sexuality, including Homosexuality.)

Or they argue that God says it's a sin. Also hard to argue when you realize that your imaginary god is a fantasy and that not all people believe in your imaginary sky god, or in any god for that matter... or that even if they do, that they believe that god would have any reason to hate them for being as he made them to be.

How tiny your minds are about the world you live in.

A closing note from the conversation I'm having with Jen after writing this:

phreadom: I had to go through this with my own parents, who said to me "we're praying for you because we feel you're going down paths god didn't intend."
phreadom: I know for a fact that if I had been gay, my parents would be far worse than they are now. They have stated flat out that homosexuality is a sin and an abomination in gods eyes, and that gays are going to burn in hell.

So you can probably see why this is a touchy subject with me. My mother has flat out stated that she is right because the bible says so, and that because God says so, she has the right to legislate HER ideas of what morality should be, onto other people. To be able to make it illegal for people to have any sexual behavior outside of what her and the bible deem appropriate. Centuries of scientific and psychological study and advancement be damned! Post Kinsey breakthroughs into the understanding of human sexuality? PSHAW!! We have a millenia old book to tell us how to live!

*shakes head sadly*

Once more, in closing... from the Wikipedia entry on Sexual Orientation:

Clinically, heterosexuality is considered typical (statistically most likely), but the concept of "normal" and "abnormal" with its connotations of sickness or moral judgment are no longer considered valid by most medical professionals. In 1998, the American Psychological Association stated, "the reality is that homosexuality is not an illness. It does not require treatment and is not changeable."