Showing posts with label GAY. Show all posts
Showing posts with label GAY. Show all posts
Friday, 16 July 2010
Thursday, 15 July 2010
Argentina Approves Gay Marriage
BUENOS AIRES — Argentina’s Senate narrowly approved a law early on Thursday authorizing same-sex marriages, making Argentina the first country in Latin America to allow gay couples to wed.
After 15 hours of debate, the Senate voted 33 to 27 in favor of the measure, which was sponsored by the government of President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner. For weeks, she waged a bitter war of words with the Roman Catholic Church over the issue, saying that it would be a “terrible distortion of democracy” to deny gay rights and that religious leaders needed to recognize how socially liberal the nation had become.
In its race to derail the change, the church had organized large protests throughout the country involving tens of thousands of opponents of the law, with Cardinal Jorge Bergoglio, the archbishop of Buenos Aires, declaring it a “destructive attack on God’s plan.”
Portugal and Iceland also legalized gay marriage this year, adding to the small but steadily expanding list of nations, most of them in Europe, to do so.
But in a region where the separation of church and state is not always so clear, the law demonstrated a rare but increasing willingness by some Latin American nations to confront the church on fundamental issues, like Chile’s legalization of divorce and Brazil’s public distribution of contraceptives in recent years.
“There is no question that the law is unusual for a country that is not as secular as Western European democracies,” Javier Corrales, a political science professor at Amherst College, said of Argentina’s same-sex marriage measure. “There’s a clear conflict with the church. Very seldom do we see presidents willing to fight the church so strongly on this particular issue in Latin American,” even in countries led by left-leaning governments.
Argentina’s new law will give gay people the same marital rights as heterosexuals, including adoption and inheritance rights, and reflects the broadening legal recognition of same-sex relationships across Latin American.
Mexico City became the first jurisdiction in the region to legalize gay marriages last year. At least two other countries in Latin America, Uruguay and Colombia, allow civil unions for same-sex couples.
But the trend is not universal. Honduras banned same-sex couples from marrying or adopting children in 2005, and refused to recognize same-sex marriages from other countries. The anti-gay atmosphere in Honduras is so intense, according to human rights groups, that more than 20 gay and transgender people have been killed there in the last five years.
“How wonderful for them,” Oscar Amador, a spokesman for Violet Collective, a gay rights group in Tegucigalpa, the Honduran capital, said of Argentina’s gay and lesbian couples. “This inspires us to fight even more. Maybe one day we’ll have the same.”
Source By ALEXEI BARRIONUEVO
Published: July 15, 2010 - The New York Times
After 15 hours of debate, the Senate voted 33 to 27 in favor of the measure, which was sponsored by the government of President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner. For weeks, she waged a bitter war of words with the Roman Catholic Church over the issue, saying that it would be a “terrible distortion of democracy” to deny gay rights and that religious leaders needed to recognize how socially liberal the nation had become.
In its race to derail the change, the church had organized large protests throughout the country involving tens of thousands of opponents of the law, with Cardinal Jorge Bergoglio, the archbishop of Buenos Aires, declaring it a “destructive attack on God’s plan.”
Portugal and Iceland also legalized gay marriage this year, adding to the small but steadily expanding list of nations, most of them in Europe, to do so.
But in a region where the separation of church and state is not always so clear, the law demonstrated a rare but increasing willingness by some Latin American nations to confront the church on fundamental issues, like Chile’s legalization of divorce and Brazil’s public distribution of contraceptives in recent years.
“There is no question that the law is unusual for a country that is not as secular as Western European democracies,” Javier Corrales, a political science professor at Amherst College, said of Argentina’s same-sex marriage measure. “There’s a clear conflict with the church. Very seldom do we see presidents willing to fight the church so strongly on this particular issue in Latin American,” even in countries led by left-leaning governments.
Argentina’s new law will give gay people the same marital rights as heterosexuals, including adoption and inheritance rights, and reflects the broadening legal recognition of same-sex relationships across Latin American.
Mexico City became the first jurisdiction in the region to legalize gay marriages last year. At least two other countries in Latin America, Uruguay and Colombia, allow civil unions for same-sex couples.
But the trend is not universal. Honduras banned same-sex couples from marrying or adopting children in 2005, and refused to recognize same-sex marriages from other countries. The anti-gay atmosphere in Honduras is so intense, according to human rights groups, that more than 20 gay and transgender people have been killed there in the last five years.
“How wonderful for them,” Oscar Amador, a spokesman for Violet Collective, a gay rights group in Tegucigalpa, the Honduran capital, said of Argentina’s gay and lesbian couples. “This inspires us to fight even more. Maybe one day we’ll have the same.”
Source By ALEXEI BARRIONUEVO
Published: July 15, 2010 - The New York Times
Saturday, 20 February 2010
Thursday, 4 February 2010
Pentagon starts process of lifting gay ban
WASHINGTON -- The Defense Department starts the clock next week on what is expected to be a several-year process in lifting its ban on gays from serving openly in the military.
A special investigation into how the ban can be repealed without hurting the morale or readiness of the troops was expected to be announced Tuesday by Defense Secretary Robert Gates and Adm. Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
While the review is likely to take the better part of this year to complete, and even more time to implement, its initiation will advance President Barack Obama's goal of repealing the ban and bring a divisive issue for the military back to the fore.
At the White House, officials continued reviewing options to repeal the Clinton-era policy that the president vowed to repeal. The administration still believes that any repeal should start in Congress and have the backing of top military leaders.
To that end, Obama and Gates planned a meeting next week to discuss, among other topics, ending "don't ask, don't tell" policies. The president was also likely to speak with Mullen, who has signaled he would carry out a repeal if ordered by Obama and Congress.
Lifting the ban poses some emotional questions that go to the heart of the military's command structure and the trust relationships within military units. Among them: Will U.S. troops and leaders tolerate openly gay members in their midst? And if they don't, what should the Pentagon do about it?
The military's "don't ask, don't tell" policy was imposed by a 1993 law intended as a compromise between President Bill Clinton, who wanted to lift the ban on gays entirely, and a reluctant Congress and military that said doing so would threaten order.
Under the policy, the military can't ask recruits their sexual orientation. In turn, service members can't say they are gay or bisexual, engage in homosexual activity or marry a member of the same sex.
Between 1997 and 2008, the Defense Department discharged more than 10,500 service members for violating the policy.
The review to be announced next week was expected to delve into practical issues that surround changing the law: Can a soldier be forced to room with someone who is openly gay if they are the same sex? Would the military recognize civil unions and how much would it cost to extend benefits to a service member's partner? Would quotas be imposed to ensure openly gay service members aren't passed over for promotions?
Obama has promised to repeal the law but did little to press the issue in his first year as president. In his national address on Wednesday, Obama received a standing ovation from some members of Congress and Gates when he suggested that would change.
"This year, I will work with Congress and our military to finally repeal the law that denies gay Americans the right to serve the country they love because of who they are," Obama said during his State of the Union address. "It's the right thing to do."
While his promise is being hailed as a good start by gay rights' activists, Obama is finding resistance in several corners. Some high-ranking military officers are reluctant to embrace the change while the forces are stretched thin at a time of two wars.
Democrats in Congress are also unlikely to press the issue until after this fall's midterm elections.
This will probably satisfy Gates, who has long suggested that change shouldn't come too quickly. In a speech last year at the Army War College in Carlisle, Pa., Gated noted that the 1948 executive order for racial integration took five years to implement.
"I'm not saying that's a model for this, but I'm saying that I believe this is something that needs to be done very, very carefully," he told the audience.
By ANNE FLAHERTY
The Associated Press
Saturday, January 30, 2010; 10:23 PM
Associated Press writer Philip Elliott contributed to this report.
Source by www.washingtonpost.com
Sunday, 13 December 2009
LE PREMIER BAISER GAY DE BOLLYWOOD: I AM OMAR
Pour la première fois un film indien ose une scène de baiser gay. Il s'agit du nouveau film du réalisateur ONIR, un film qui a pour titre I AM et qui est composé de cinq histoires distinctes qui s'intéressent chacune à une thématique que la société indienne évite généralement d'aborder. L'une d'entre elles, intitulée I am Omar raconte les vexations policières que doivent subir les gays en Inde. met en scène des prostitués masculins et des policiers homophobes. Dans une scène, deux acteurs s'embrassent dans un lieu public et sont surpris par un agent de police qui menace de les réprimer au titre de l'article 377, toujours en vigueur en Inde et qui interdit les relations homosexuelles. L'article 377 a frécemment été mis en question par la Haute Cour de Dehli.
Voici ce qu'en dit le réalisateur, Onir:
Rahul Bose et Arjun Mathur [les deux acteurs, ndrl] ont été très porfessionnels et n'ont montré aucune inhibition; ils ont tourné une scène qui va nettement plus loin que tout ce qu'on a jamais pu voir dans le cinéma indien. Arjun interprète un professionnel du sexe (...)
Le film est basé sur des récits de vie et met en question la loi et la société indiennes, une société de plus en plus violente qui s'oppose à l'expression de ce type d'amour entre adultes consentants.
Le fim sera présenté au festival du film de Rotterdam à la fin du mois de janvier 2010. Le réalisateur espère que la censure indienne permettra que la scène du baiser soit diffusée sur les écrans indiens, scène sans laquelle certains passages du film seraient incompréhensibles.
Il y a quelque temps, Bollywood avait abordé le thème des relations lesbiennes dans le film When Kiran met Karen.
La bande annonce
Source by Gay Kosmopol
Wednesday, 2 December 2009
Após petição virtual, Grã-Bretanha pede desculpas póstumas ao gênio gay punido com castração
O primeiro-ministro britânico, Gordon Brown, pediu nesta sexta-feira, 11/09, perdão pelo tratamento dado ao matemático Alan Turing – que decifrou a criptografia do código Enigma, que a Alemanha nazista usava para mandar mensagens militares durante a Segunda Guerra Mundial.
A petição virtual enviada ao premiê Gordon Brown recebeu mais de 31 mil assinaturas, ela exige que o governo britânico reabilite a memória de um dos mais importantes cientistas britânicos e se desculpe por te-lo submetido a um tratamento hormonal que acabou por leva-lo ao suicídio, aos 41 anos. “O governo britânico deveria se desculpar a Alan Turing e reconhecer que seu trabalho viabilizou em larga medida o mundo em que vivemos e nos salvou da Alemanha nazista”, diz a petição, aberta pelo programador John Graham-Cumming.
A campanha foi abraçada por nomes como o escritor Ian McEwan e o biólogo Richard Dawkins, para que Turing deveria ter sido “condecorado”. “Em vez disso, esse gênio excêntrico e delicado foi destruído por um “crime” (sic) que não prejudicou ninguém”, disse ao jornal “The Independent”.
Cumming, que é heterossexual, também sofreu discriminação. Ele recebeu comentários contrários à petição e foi até acusado de fazer parte da “ Agenda Gay” (farsa homofóbica na qual gays teriam um planejamento para dominar o mundo (rs), muito utilizado por religiosos para amendrotar seus seguidores).
O próprio Cumming não acreditava no seu sucesso da petição virtual. “Eles (o governo) estariam ferrados, pois precisariam se desculpar com todos os homens que foram processados por indecência e lidar com um a lista de coisas desagradáveis que as pessoas poderiam exigir”, escreveu Cumming no seu blog.
No seu blog, ele também escreveu sobre a surpresa ao retornar uma ligação telefônica perdida, já que ele se encontrava enfermo por consequência de uma gripe, para o gabinete do primeiro-ministro. “Olá John. Aqui é o Gordon Brown. Acho que você sabe o motivo da minha ligação para ti.” falou o premiê ao atende-lo. Brown agradeceu ao Cumming pela iniciativa da campanha, falou do fato do governo ter deixado tanto tempo a injustiça contra Turing e das terríveis consequências das leis homofóbicas contra para suas vítimas (veja no final do texto a declaração do primeiro-ministro).
Uma nota curiosa é o Cumming comentando no seu blog que boa parte do trabalho do seu ativismo gay 2.0 foi realizado no segundo andar de um ônibus londrino. “Incrível o que você pode fazer com 30 minutos de paz e com um iPhone”.
A HISTÓRIA DE ALAN TURING
O matemático Alan Turing é considerado por muitos o pai da ciência da computação e da inteligência artificial. Ele provou nos anos 1930 que não havia instrumento capaz de fazer qualquer tipo de cálculo e lançou o conceito de uma máquina que conseguisse fazer esses cálculos, comandado por instruções humanas.
A história de Alan Turing foi contado na biografia “Alan Turing: o Enigma”, do matemático Andrew Hodges (1983), e no filme “Quebrando o Código” (1996).
Quando estourou a Segunda Guerra Mundial, Turing fora recrutado há um ano pelo departamento de análise criptográfico na central de comunicações do governo britânico (GCHQ, na sigla em inglês) e passou a dedicar-se integralmente a um projeto, conduzido secretamente na mansão de Bletchley Park, em Bucking-hamshire, perto de Londres.
Foi Turing que conseguiu decifrar o código da máquina de criptografia Enigma, que os nazistas usavam para mandar mensagens militares cifradas durante a guerra. Desta forma o Reino Unido passou a interceptar as mensagens e localizar os submarinos alemães, atacando-os e revertendo a virtual derrota.
Como seu trabalho era secreto, Turing não levou seu merecido crédito.
Além de decifrar o código alemão, Turing fez contribuições significativas nos campos da inteligência artificial e da ciência da computação, que ainda engatinhavam. Em 1936, ele escreveu um artigo chamado “ On Computable Numbers” e em 1950 formulou um teste para avaliar a inteligência de uma máquina. O método foi reconhecido como o “ Teste de Turing”. Ele trabalhou depois da Segunda Guerra Mundial em várias instituições de pesquisa, inclusive na Universidade de Manchester. Lá, ele operou o Manchester Mark 1, considerado um dos primeiros computadores modernos.
Em 1952, Turing foi preso por ser gay. Ser homossexual ainda era crime na Inglaterra. Foi dado a ele a opção de ficar preso ou sujeitar-se a uma castração química com estrógeno que na teoria iria neutralizar seu libido sexual por homens. Turing aceitou receber injeções mas as aplicações do hormônio sexual feminino deformou-lhe o corpo e desequilibraram seu organismo.
Humilhado publicamente, Turing perdeu o acesso de segurança aos laboratórios onde trabalhava, já que homossexuais eram alvo fácil de chantagem, de acordo com as cabeças preconceituosas do comando militar. Ele era uma brecha na Segurança Nacional.
Debilitado psicologicamente e fisicamente, Turing morre em 1954 ao comer uma maçã envenenada.
Leia o depoimento do primeiro-ministro Gordon Brown:
Primeiro-ministro Gordon Brown
2009 foi um ano de profunda reflexão – uma possibilidade para a Grã-Bretanha, como uma nação, para comemorar as dívidas profundas que temos para com aqueles que vieram antes. Uma combinação única de aniversários e eventos têm mexido em nós esse sentimento de orgulho e gratidão que caracterizam a experiência britânica. No começo desse ano eu estava com os presidentes Sarkozy e Obama para honrar o serviço e o sacrifício dos heróis que invadiram as praias da Normandia há 65 anos. E só na semana passada, que marcou os 70 anos que se passaram desde que o governo britânico declarou a sua vontade de pegar em armas contra o fascismo e declarou a eclosão da Segunda Guerra Mundial. Portanto, estou contente e orgulhoso de que, graças a uma coalizão de cientistas, historiadores e ativistas LGBTs, este ano temos uma chance para marcar e comemorar mais um contributo para combater Grã-Bretanha contra as trevas da ditadura, a de “code-breaker” (quebrador de código) Alan Turing.
Turing foi um matemático muito brilhante, mais famoso por seu trabalho em quebrar os códigos alemão Enigma. Não é exagero dizer que, sem a sua notável contribuição, a história da Segunda Guerra Mundial poderia ter sido muito diferente. Ele realmente foi um daqueles indivíduos que podem apontar a contribuição cujo original ajudou a virar a maré da guerra. A dívida de gratidão que é devida a torna ainda mais horripilante, portanto, que ele foi tratado de modo cruel. Em 1952, ele foi condenado por “indecência grave” – na verdade, por ser gay. Sua sentença – e ele foi confrontado com a escolha infeliz deste ou da sua prisão – foi a castração química por uma série de injeções de hormônios femininos. Ele tirou a sua própria vida apenas dois anos mais tarde.
Milhares de pessoas se uniram para exigir justiça para Alan Turing e o reconhecimento da forma terrível que ele foi tratado. Embora Turing fosse tratado no âmbito da lei da época e não podemos colocar o relógio para trás, seu tratamento foi totalmente injusto e estou contente por ter a oportunidade de dizer o quão profundamente pesaroso que eu e todos nós para o que aconteceu com a ele. Alan e os muitos milhares de outros homossexuais que foram condenados como ele foi condenado sob as leis homofóbicas foram tratados terrivelmente. Ao longo dos milhões de anos mais viviam com medo de condenação.
Estou orgulhoso de que aqueles dias se foram e que nos últimos 12 anos, este governo tem feito muito para tornar a vida mais justa e igual para nossa comunidade LGBT. Este reconhecimento do estatuto de Alan como uma das vítimas mais famosas da Grã-Bretanha da homofobia é mais um passo rumo à igualdade e há muito esperada.
Mas, mesmo mais do que isso, Alan merece o reconhecimento por sua contribuição para a humanidade. Para aqueles que nasceram depois de 1945, em uma Europa unida, democrática e em paz, é difícil imaginar que o nosso continente foi uma vez o teatro da hora mais escura da humanidade. É difícil acreditar que na memória de vida, as pessoas poderiam se tornar tão consumidas pelo ódio – por anti-semitismo, a homofobia, a xenofobia e outros preconceitos assassinos – que as câmaras de gás e crematórios tornou-se um pedaço da paisagem europeia, tão certo como o galerias e universidades e salas de concerto que tinha marcado a civilização europeia, há centenas de anos. É graças a homens e mulheres que foram totalmente comprometida com a luta contra o fascismo, pessoas como Alan Turing, que os horrores do Holocausto e da guerra total são parte da história da Europa e não está presente na Europa.
Assim, em nome do governo britânico, e todos aqueles que vivem em liberdade graças a um trabalho de Alan Tenho muito orgulho de dizer: Desculpe-nos, você merecia muito melhor.
Gordon Brown
SOURCE by Folha de Sao Paulo, Folha Online and MàssaoUéhara
Tuesday, 10 November 2009
Friday, 9 October 2009
IT'S GAY TO SMOKE, UNE CAMPAGNE ANTI-TABAGIQUE SATIRIQUE
"Etats-Unis.-Le mois dernier, le chef de cabinet du sénateur républicain de l'Oklahoma avait affirmé que la pornographie rend homosexuel, pour prévenir les ados des dangers du contact avec le porno. Une chaîne américaine satirique, The Onion (‘American Finest news Source’) a réagi avec un spot publicitaire qui veut mettre les ados en garde contre les méfaits du tabagisme: ‘It’s gay to smoke’. Le Dr. Michael Gaines du Centre pour le contrôle et la prévention des maladies (Centre for Disease Control and Prevention) est venu expliquer pourquoi le tabagisme rend gay sur Onion News Network : ‘Si tu te mets à fumer, les gens vont se moquer de toi et raconter que tu te conduis comme tapette!"
New Anti-Smoking Ads Warn Teens 'It's Gay To Smoke'
Le spot met en scène deux élèves qui se rencontrent dans un couloir d'école et se retirent pour fumer une cigarette en cachette. Les images sont ambigues. Apparaît alors le texte: "Est-ce que tu fumes ou est-ce que tu es gay? Ne fume pas!"
Michael Gaines explique alors qu'il s'agit de s'adresser aux jeunes dans le langage qu'ils emploient. Le gouvernement a l'intention d'élargir la campagne et de placer des avertissements de ce type sur les paquets de cigarettes ou encore pour la prévention de la consommation des boissons alcoolisées.
Sources: nombreux posts sur le web, dont celui de Towleroad
Mon commentaire
Une satire certes, mais je doute de son efficacité, car j'imagine qu'elle peut engendrer l'effet inverse de l'effet désiré. On sait que les ados américains abusent de l'expression It's so gay pour se moquer d'un comportement, d'une attitude ou d'une mode. Cette satire ne va-t-elle pas renforcer l'homophobie ambiante dans les collèges américains, d'autant plus qu'elle est bien réalisée? Une arme à multiples tranchants."
Source by.: Gay Kosmopol
New Anti-Smoking Ads Warn Teens 'It's Gay To Smoke'
Le spot met en scène deux élèves qui se rencontrent dans un couloir d'école et se retirent pour fumer une cigarette en cachette. Les images sont ambigues. Apparaît alors le texte: "Est-ce que tu fumes ou est-ce que tu es gay? Ne fume pas!"
Michael Gaines explique alors qu'il s'agit de s'adresser aux jeunes dans le langage qu'ils emploient. Le gouvernement a l'intention d'élargir la campagne et de placer des avertissements de ce type sur les paquets de cigarettes ou encore pour la prévention de la consommation des boissons alcoolisées.
Sources: nombreux posts sur le web, dont celui de Towleroad
Mon commentaire
Une satire certes, mais je doute de son efficacité, car j'imagine qu'elle peut engendrer l'effet inverse de l'effet désiré. On sait que les ados américains abusent de l'expression It's so gay pour se moquer d'un comportement, d'une attitude ou d'une mode. Cette satire ne va-t-elle pas renforcer l'homophobie ambiante dans les collèges américains, d'autant plus qu'elle est bien réalisée? Une arme à multiples tranchants."
Source by.: Gay Kosmopol
Monday, 31 August 2009
Crustaces et Coquillages
"Les tribulations estivales d'une famille pas comme les autres
C'est l'ete. Marc emmene sa famille dans la maison ou, adolescent, il passait ses vacances. Beatrix, sa ravissante epouse, partage son temps entre sa famille et son amant venu la rejoindre. Tandis que Laura, leur fille, attend avec impatience l'arrivee de son petit copain motard, leur fils Charly, 17 ans, recoit Martin, son meilleur ami, dont Beatrix et Marc ne tardent pas a comprendre qu'il est homosexuel...
""Un petit vent de folie rondement mene"" Le Point
""Les comediens (...) s'amusent follement et nous avec"" Le Figaroscope
""La grande qualite de cette comedie (...) est la justesse de son regard"" Telerama
""Truffe de repliques tordantes, de situations cocasses (...)"" Zurban
Tuesday, 25 August 2009
Wednesday, 19 August 2009
Friday, 7 August 2009
GAY ADOPTION DISCUSSED IN BIG EASY
"Now who would have expected this little nugget of news.
According to several published reports on Thursday, a gay rights group out of New Orleans met face to face with members of a marriage and family commission appointed by Governor Bobby Jindal. It's called the Louisiana Commission on Marriage and Family. Its goal is simply to promote the two. It was created by former Governor Mike Foster, with current members appointed by Jindal.
At Thursday's meeting, commissioners met with some of their biggest critics.
"The state of Louisiana shouldn't be kicking gay families, instead it should be doing what it can, assisting all families in Louisiana, and helping children," said Randy Evans with the Forum For Equality. It's a gay rights group out of New Orleans, promoting gay adoption and its benefits.
Right now the state allows single parent adoption. Some say it's an alternative way for gay couples to adopt."
Source: WAFB-TV and Focus (blog)
According to several published reports on Thursday, a gay rights group out of New Orleans met face to face with members of a marriage and family commission appointed by Governor Bobby Jindal. It's called the Louisiana Commission on Marriage and Family. Its goal is simply to promote the two. It was created by former Governor Mike Foster, with current members appointed by Jindal.
At Thursday's meeting, commissioners met with some of their biggest critics.
"The state of Louisiana shouldn't be kicking gay families, instead it should be doing what it can, assisting all families in Louisiana, and helping children," said Randy Evans with the Forum For Equality. It's a gay rights group out of New Orleans, promoting gay adoption and its benefits.
Right now the state allows single parent adoption. Some say it's an alternative way for gay couples to adopt."
Source: WAFB-TV and Focus (blog)
Thursday, 6 August 2009
Psychologists Reject Gay ‘Therapy' [AP, via NYT]
Psychologists: "Reparative Therapy" For Gays Is Useless And Harmful
By Anna N., 9:30 AM on Thu Aug 6 2009
Therapists shouldn't try to make gay people straight, said the American Psychological Association yesterday in its clearest denunciation yet of so-called "reparative therapy."
According to an AP story, a six-member APA panel examined 83 studies on the issue, and found that not only is therapy to change sexual orientation (like that received by Ted Haggard, pictured) likely worthless, it can also cause patients to become depressed and consider suicide. Instead, the APA says therapists should recommend a range of solutions, from celibacy to changing church affiliation, to patients who have a conflict between their sexuality and their religion. Psychologist and panel leader Julia Glassgold told the AP,
Both sides have to educate themselves better. The religious psychotherapists have to open up their eyes to the potential positive aspects of being gay or lesbian. Secular therapists have to recognize that some people will choose their faith over their sexuality.
Alan Chambers, president of a group that purports to use religion to change sexual preference, and himself someone who says he "overcame unwanted same-sex attraction," says he is satisfied with the APA's report. Others are less happy. David Pruden, Executive Director of a nonprofit that claims to help gay Mormons become straight, plans to ignore the APA report. He tells Rosemary Winters of the Salt Lake City Tribune, "The doctrines and standards of the church don't change because of statements by quasi-political organizations."
In a way it's surprising that the APA is even still talking about this issue. Homosexuality was removed from the DSM (a comprehensive handbook of mental illnesses and problems) in 1973, and the APA already has a brochure on sexual orientation that reads, in part,
All major national mental health organizations have officially expressed concerns about therapies promoted to modify sexual orientation. To date, there has been no scientifically adequate research to show that therapy aimed at changing sexual orientation (sometimes called reparative or conversion therapy) is safe or effective. Furthermore, it seems likely that the promotion of change therapies reinforces stereotypes and contributes to a negative climate for lesbian, gay, and bisexual persons.
However, in April, Slate's William Saletan wrote that therapists could in good conscience help patients change their sexual orientation in cases of "borderline homosexuality." He said,
Would you tell [...] a patient that her understanding of God is wrong? Are you sure her attraction to women is more fundamental than her religious beliefs? Is peace with the lesbian part of her sexuality worth the destruction of her family or her faith? And most important: Do you think you can answer these questions without knowing more about her?
Michael King, the professor who led the British study, tries to do just that. When gay people seek therapeutic escape, he argues, "Mental health practitioners and society at large must help them to confront prejudice in themselves and in others."
Help them confront prejudice in themselves? Isn't that just the substitution of one inner war, one purification quest, for another?
Except the war to confront prejudice is one the patient might actually win. Saletan mentions friends of his who have dated both men and women as proof that sexuality can change "at the margins." And yes, sexual preferences are not necessarily static, especially over the course of a lifetime. But there's no evidence that these preferences can change as a result of therapy, and a therapist's attempt to force such change likely does more harm than good. More and more, it appears that attraction is something we can't control, is something perhaps mutable but not "reparable." Therapists shouldn't reinforce an untenable status quo that regards people's natural desires as sinful and in need of fixing. The fact that Saletan — conservative, yes, but writing in a publication as mainstream as Slate — thinks they should is evidence that the APA's statement is still necessary.
Source.: By Anna N., 9:30 AM on Thu Aug 6 2009 [ Jezebel ]
Sunday, 2 August 2009
Todd's Story, part 1 of 3
Part 1 of 3: Todd's coming out story on the popular British soap Coronation Street.
Todd's Story, part 2 of 3
Part 2 of 3: Todd's coming out story on the popular British soap Coronation Street.
Todd's Story, part 3 of 3
Part 3 of 3: Todd's coming out story on the popular British soap Coronation Street.
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