Sunday, April 01, 2007

Homosexuality and the Logic behind its Prohibition

I would request that (along with this article) you also read the article “Sexually Transmitted Diseases” on this website, because both these articles are interlinked. Thanks.

Born Gay?
The majority of homosexuals believe that they were born "gay." This belief often supplies them with comfort, relieving them of any responsibility to change. However, there is no solid scientific evidence that people are born homosexuals. The overwhelming majority of gay people are completely normal genetically. They are fully male or female. The thing to note is that it is only a theory (and not a scientific fact such as moon reflects light or heart pumps blood), so unless someone can prove it is a scientific fact it will remain in question. Theories and researches have a history of taking u-turns. For example, a report published almost eight years ago in Science magazine refuted earlier claims by scientists to have discovered the so-called "gay gene." Those who argue that there is genetic predisposition to homosexuality fail to read the evidence which demonstrate the contrary. The point is that if someone says I am a born gay or I developed into a homosexual due to my genetic makeup, is basing his argument on theories and researches (and he does not realise that there is evidence contrary to his claims as well).

Learned Behaviour
Homosexuality is learned behaviour which is influenced by a number of factors: a disrupted family life in early years, a lack of unconditional love on the part of either parent, a failure to identify with the same-sex parent. Later, these problems can result in a search for love and acceptance, envy of the same or the opposite sex, a life controlled by various fears and feelings of isolation. (Please note that someone might object that what is the fault of that person if say, for example, his father was unloving and that drove him to homosexuality; I would like to remind him or her that if someone murders or steals and then a psychological analysis reveals that this criminal behaviour was a result of an unloving parent, will they still consider that criminal innocent). One thing that does seem clear is that homosexuality is brought about by a multitude of root causes. It is simplistic thinking to lay the blame on any single area. Fears of the opposite sex, incest, molestation, dominant mothers and weak fathers, demonic oppression: all of these may play a part in causing homosexuality, but no individual factor alone can cause it. Along with outside factors in a person's life (e.g. influence of the media), his own personal choices have played a key role in forming and shaping his homosexual identity, though few will admit this.

The Four Components of Homosexuality
Homosexuality involves much more than simply a sexual act. Those caught up in this usually have entered the homosexual lifestyle to some degree. To better understand the circumstances of the homosexual person seeking help, homosexuality can be divided into four components: behaviour, psychic response, identity and lifestyle.

Behaviour
Often, it is assumed that all homosexual people engage in homosexual acts, but this is not always the case. Because of fears or strong religious convictions, some may refrain from sexual behaviour, yet experience an intense battle with homosexual attractions. Another wrong assumption is that all people who engage in homosexual acts are homosexuals. There are a huge number of heterosexual men who engage in homosexual acts for a variety of reasons, such as being in prison or anywhere where heterosexual sex is unavailable (such as an all male hostel where children have just entered puberty and sexual desires are abundant).

Also, a child who is involved in homosexual acts early in his life will not necessarily become a homosexual unless these acts fulfill needs that are not being met in other ways, such as needs for love, acceptance, security and significance. In these cases, the child's involvement in the act is viewed as a "trade-off" for the non-sexual needs he is obtaining. It is possible that the act and the fulfilled needs could become synonymous, which could lead to the development of a homosexual orientation. However, statistics have shown most children who experience homosexual acts leave them behind, growing up to lead a normal heterosexual life.

Psychic Response
A brief definition of this term is, "sexual excitation (stimulation) caused by visual perception or fantasy speculation." Psychic response is also what people refer to as a "homosexual orientation." Though many people claim that they have experienced visual or sexual attraction for the same sex "as long as they can remember," there is a progression in a person's life that leads to a homosexual psychic response. A child may start out with a need to compare himself with others to see if he measures up to societal standards. When he feels he doesn't compare favourably with others, he develops admiration for those traits and physical characteristics he feels he does not possess. Admiration, which is normal, may turn to envy. Envy leads to the desire to possess others and finally, to consume others. This strong desire becomes eroticised somewhere along the way, eventually leading to homosexual psychic response. As psychic response begins to grip someone's life, a certain amount of scheming takes place; sexual situations are pictured in the mind. When the first sexual encounter takes place, it may be the result of several years of planning and fantasy. However, homosexual behaviour can precede psychic response, which may develop as a conditioned response to pleasant encounters with those of the same sex.

Identity
Some people enter into homosexuality through "identity". These are people who may not have experienced sexual attraction for the same sex or have had any homosexual encounters. However, from an early age, they have felt they were "different" from other people. They feel abnormal, like they do not fit into the heterosexual world. They reason, "If I'm not heterosexual, then I must be gay" and they accept the homosexual label onto their lives. Of course, this is a misinterpretation. A person troubled with shyness, fear of the opposite sex, lack of athletic or social skills need not accept the label "homosexual." However, people do grow into labels. Once a label is accepted, the implied characteristics of that label begin to develop in a person's life. What we believe about ourselves is of extreme importance.

Lifestyle
A homosexual may insist that he bears no responsibility for his identity, his psychic response or even his first sexual encounter, which may have been forced upon him. However, every homosexual person must bear the responsibility for his or her choice to enter the homosexual lifestyle. People enter this lifestyle to varying degrees. Some live in the heterosexual world for the most part, seeking out only sporadic, impersonal sexual encounters. Others immerse themselves in the total "gay subculture," a setting in which the person works, lives and socialises in a totally gay environment. There are all the varying degrees in between these two extremes, but the gay lifestyle, for many people, is the first place where they have experienced any form of acceptance on a below-the-surface level. In spite of the acceptance that is available, however, the homosexual lifestyle often proves to be a painful and unrewarding way of life, particularly for older gays who are no longer desirable sexually.

As you can see from looking at these four components, homosexuality is a complex problem with many definitions and variations. If someone tells you, "I am a homosexual," he has really told you very little about himself. It takes a deeper look into his life to determine the degree to which homosexuality has become a part of his identity. This also illustrates why homosexuality can be a difficult problem to overcome.

In fact, the common belief that one is ‘either a heterosexual or a homosexual’ and that physical or other clear reasons for this difference usually exist is not supported by research. The empirical research evidence indicates that for most people the sexual drive exists in a diffused state in the early stages, solidifying only much later. Sexual development occurs primarily between the second year of life and the onset of puberty. During the first few years it is rather undefined and can develop through learning so that it can be stimulated, or at least influenced, by a wide variety of objects, although at first the primary stimulus is tactile stimulation of the genital area.

Thus children’s sexual development is highly influenced by early experiences in a process similar to imprinting. This system enables a person to become sexually attracted to their own race, national group or culture. Thus, Chinese men generally find Chinese women most erotic. Black men relate to black women in the same way, etc. This is not to say that people cannot find those in other groups attractive, but that the general preference tends to be towards one’s own national and cultural group. Because the original sexual drive is diffused, it can thus be conditioned in many different directions.

For this reason, a variety of experiences, many of which have little to do with the person himself, can cause one to become a homosexual, depending on the degree that one’s early diffuse sex drive is conditioned toward persons of the same sex and away from persons of the opposite sex. Holmes noted that “In many women, particularly, sexual attraction tends to follow on the heels of strong emotional attachments with partners of either sex.”

Furthermore, Masters’ and Johnson’s scientific studies of those labelled homosexuals and lesbians have found that both groups consistently listed heterosexual encounters as highly erotic, actually at the top of a list of their erotic fantasies. In one study both male and female homosexuals listed a ‘heterosexual encounter’ as their third most common sexual fantasy! This finding also supports the conclusion that most of those persons labelled gay are, at best, in varying degrees bisexual—especially in view of the fact that many also have heterosexual relations, and many were once married and had families (but a pure heterosexual will feel disgusted even at the thought of a homosexual encounter).

The level of the population that is exclusively homosexual has traditionally been placed at 10%, partly as a result of the 1940s Kinsey studies. Numerous new empirical studies in the United States, Canada, Denmark, Norway, Britain and other countries reveal the rate is less than 3% and as little as below 1%.That the number varies from 0.9% of males in Norway to 2.8% found by the national opinion research centre at the University of Chicago for the United States of America, indicates that cultural factors are likely very influential. Further, according to a Minnesota adolescent health survey, only 0.6% of the boys and 0.2% of the girls surveyed identified themselves as ‘most of 100% homosexual’, 0.7% males and 0.8% females as bisexual, and 10.1% of the males and 11.3% of the females were ‘unsure’. This indicates that many individuals do not have a firm sexual orientation as an adolescent, and reveals the importance of social and sexual experiences in development.

Although many factors are involved, a person is not a prisoner to his or her sexuality and to a large degree chooses a homosexual lifestyle. The unfortunate factor in this debate is that it is very difficult to reason about this topic with those who advocate that a ‘sexual orientation’ called ‘homosexual’ exists. They simply reject, ignore or distort the enormous amount of empirical data against their position. A clear need exists to understand the reasons why people adopt this lifestyle, and the difficulties of doing so in our, or any, society.

The claim is often made that those who involve themselves in homosexual behaviour cannot help the way that they are, and are biologically attracted to the same sex, not the opposite sex. Despite claims, no gene causing homosexuality has yet been shown to unambiguously exist, nor has any clear evidence of a biological basis yet been located. This argument that homosexuality is biological also provides other perverts (e.g. pedophiles) a justification for their behaviour. You sometimes hear from drug addicts, alcoholics etc, that they have no control over what they do (in other words it is biological): which is an untrue and lame justification for their acts.

Further, it is not only homosexual behaviour that is objectionable, but also much of the sexual behaviour that is common among homosexuals. Bell et al. found that 43% of white male homosexuals reported having sex with more than 500 partners and a whopping 28% with over 1,000 partners. Also, the sexual practices that homosexuals engage in (a major one is labelled sodomy, from the scriptural example of Sodom and Gomorrah) are generally regarded as unacceptable in Christian or Muslim societies even for heterosexuals (i.e. anal sex is not allowed between married couples).


Logic behind Prohibition of Homosexuality

A major problem relative to homosexuality is that many venereal and other diseases are far more a problem with homosexual behaviour than heterosexual. For non-promiscuous couples who take proper cleanliness measures, the transmission of disease among heterosexuals is extremely rare, and then usually almost always due to lack of hygiene. During homosexual behaviour, sperm can penetrate the partner’s colon wall. When inside the body, the sperm adversely affects the immune system, resulting in the person being more vulnerable to disease. This is especially a problem, in that homosexual practices commonly transmit many diseases which are uncommon among heterosexuals. For example, homosexuals as a group are far more apt to have rare bowel diseases, which are generally lumped together under the designation ‘gay bowel syndrome’. One study indicated that one half of homosexuals eventually contract the colon disease parasitic amebiasis, while rectal gonorrhea and infectious hepatitis A are far higher among the homosexual population. Fox, in response to this concern, noted: ‘First, the colon and rectum are made for the elimination of fecal matter and not for sexual experience. Fecal matter is eliminated because it is indigestible and contains disease-causing materials. With sexual penetration, the rectal muscles are often torn or over-expanded, and the fragile lining of the colon is almost always torn. The tearing of the colon allows fecal matter to penetrate into the body, bringing with it infectious disease.’

Many homosexuals frequent medical doctors who specialise in treating homosexuals in order to best deal with their special health concerns. While these doctors may not advertise themselves as such in the telephone book, the homosexual social network as well as the homosexual press is a common source patients use to contact these specialised physicians. Estimates of the infectious disease rate among homosexuals is about ten times higher than that of the general population—not only venereal diseases, but also hepatitis B and others. Other common diseases include AIDS, urethritis, viral herpes, pediculosis infestation and others. Of course, it is not only the type of behaviour that they indulge in which puts them at a much higher risk, but also their high level of promiscuity—one survey indicated that homosexual males have an average of over 50 sexual partners in their lifetime. Another study found that 28% had more than 1,000 partners, 15% had 500 to 1,000, 32% from 100 to 500, and only 25% had less than 100 partners in their lifetime. While surveys in this area vary, depending upon the sampling population, sample size and specific questions asked, all reveal that an enormous amount of promiscuity is a normal part of the gay lifestyle.

From a medical standpoint, they are fraught with health dangers, including infections, bleeding and disease transmission problems. While promiscuity among heterosexuals also carries many dangers, they are generally far less than sodomy, and infections from sexual relations are actually relatively rare in monogamous couples who practice appropriate hygiene. A major reason why this is true is that numerous genital secretions produce high levels of germicides which minimise enormously the chances of infection from heterosexual relations. On the other hand, no such secretions are produced for sodomy relations, which would be expected if heterosexual behaviour were designed and sodomy were not (meaning it is biologically wrong and God did not create us that way). Consequently, studies reveal that homosexual behaviour produces a rate of venereal disease 22 times higher than the national average. The major anatomical problems with sodomy (for example, tearing of mucosa) are generally not a problem in heterosexual relationships.

Let’s say for the sake of argument that all gays start to go into monogamous relationships (which is highly unlikely as statistics have shown) after their rights are recognised and they have the right to marry and get divorced. A number of problems will arise in a society due to this scenario in the years to come. Firstly, it is estimated that gays outnumber Lesbians in the ratio of four to one: i.e. for every four gays there is one lesbian. This means that millions of women all over the world will never find a partner for themselves. Secondly, in many societies the population growth will start to slow down and go into negative (which west is facing now because people are not willing to marry because of unfair divorce laws or have more than two children as more and more women are going into the workforce, and therefore, they are unable to take care of a lot of children, and hence many countries like Australia and Canada have relaxed their immigration laws so that their population can grow steadily and the skill shortages are minimised. Note that there are many other reasons why majority of western women are not having more than two children or why more and more couples are not marrying which is beyond the scope of this article). This will also result in an increase in ageing population (which is already the case in the west, but with the introduction of homosexual marriage laws this problem will get worse). Why is increasing ageing population a problem? To get a general idea please visit http://www.pc.gov.au/projects/study/ageing/docs/finalreport I do not want to discuss this here as this topic requires an article of its own.

Finally, gay argument is illogical and self destructive: if everyone becomes homosexual, then the human race will cease to exist in 150 years. If you argue that people can artificially inseminate and produce babies to keep the population going, then you have to realise that the population growth will be negative which will result in all sorts of problems (such as lack of skill shortages in many fields).

All in All, God did not design human beings to be homosexuals. It is a lifestyle which many adopt because of external factors. This confirms that revelation guides people in the right path and if humans turn away from it, they eventually learn it through their intelligence (but this learning comes at a much higher cost).

No comments: