Summary of my Attitude towards Gays

     I have discussed with quite a lot of people about my attitude towards homosexuals, and of course I have received some irrational comments, after posting my thoughts in some other blogs. In this article, I would like to summarize what I think about homosexuals and gay activists. I hopes to stress that these two things are different, with the latter being much more aggressive and demanding.

Proper Places

     There are two main positions on homosexuality in our society:

1. Homosexuality is a sin that should be condemned.

2. Homosexuals deserve exactly equal rights as heterosexuals.

     I support neither position. Let me tell you why.

     Even in countries in which gay rights are most rampant (e.g. Netherland), homosexual couples are still much more likely to break up than heterosexual ones, for both gay men and lesbians. Moreoever, there is strong evidence that homosexuals, statistically speaking, are more likely to adopt pathological behaviors such as substance abuse and suicidal behaviors. Some of you may tell me that this is due to homophobia.

     Ah really?

     One study have found that this trend persists in Netherland and other countries that are remarkably tolerant of homosexuals. Even after controlling for experience of social stigma and rejection, homosexuals are still more likely than heterosexuals to exhibit pathological behaviors. This suggests that homophobia can't explain everything, instead some scholars suggested that there may be something intrinsically wrong with homosexuality itself.

     Let's see how the APA (American Psychological Association) define mental disorder:

-- A mental disorder is a condition which is un-normative, distressful and causing impairment.

     Obviously as we have discussed, homosexuality fits into this definition perfectly.

(Saghir & Robins, 1978; Bell & Weinberg, 1981; Ross ,1988; Herrell et al., 1999; Sandfort et al. 2001)

     Therefore, my conclusion is that homosexuality is probably indeed a mental illness, and some APA staff even admitted that the removal of same-sex attraction from their list of mental disorder was based more on politics rather than science. Hence, homosexuals deserve treatment of mental patients, not that of normal people nor that of criminals. That's why I don't agree with both of the above positions.

     Someone told me that homosexuality caused some other problems, which would in turn lead to pathology, and thus it is these problems rather than homosexuality itself, that need to be dealth with. However, we know that depression doesn't cause pathology directly either, but instead cause irrational thoughts, but we still prefer to treat depression rather than merely removing those thoughts, this is because if we knows that the former is causing the latter, changing the latter only won't bring any long-term benefits. If we deal with the former intead, we could completely uproot the problems (in theory).

The Movement

     While homosexuals themselves are not condemnable, I strongly believe that there are something wrong about the gay "rights" movement.

     Reason?

     See this article:
http://www.blogherald.com/2003/09/09/profs-anti-gay-blog-returns-to-university-website/

     That's the point: the gay "rights" movement have already attained such a powerful position that criticism of homosexuals become politically incorrect, even if those comments are perfectly rational. Read some history and you will know that letting a group (be it religious or not) hold the power to shut off rational criticism can lead to very disastrous results. In my opinion, some gay activists are merely exploiting homosexuals to attain the power, and things that can potentially follow are just too morbid to imagine.
     Of course, promoting gay marriage and all those politically correct "gay-is-not-an-illness" things is not going to help homosexuals either. If they are indeed mental patients, letting them roam around with their problematic behaviors won't bring them any good.

Conclusion

     In sum, I believe that there are some good reasons to consider homosexuality to be a mental disorder, rather than criminal behaviors nor a normal orientation. Although I won't blame homosexuals of anything, there are some signs of gay activism being the cult for the next generation. I sincerely hope that this is not going to happen.

Reference

     Bell, A.P.; Weinberg, M.S. (1978): Homosexualities. A Study Of Diversity Among Men And Women. Simon and Schuster, New York.
     Herrell, R.; Goldberg, J.; True,W.R.; Ramakrishnan, V.; Lyons, M.; Eisen,S.; Tsuang, M.T. (1999): Sexual orientation and suicidality: a co-twin control study in adult men. Arch. Gen. Psychiatry 56, 867-874.
     Ross, M.W. (1988): Homosexuality and mental health: a cross-cultural review. J. Homosex. 15(1/2), 131-152.
     Sandfort, T.G.M.; de Graaf, R.; Bijl, R.V.; Schnabel (2001): Same-sex sexual behavior and psychiatric disorders. Arch. Gen. Psychiatry. 58, 85-91.
     Saghir, M.T.; Robins, E. (1973): Male and Female Homosexuality, A Comprehensive Investigation. Williams and Wilkins, Baltimore Maryland. 335 pages.