Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: MONDAY, April 12, 1993 TAG: 9304120268
SECTION: EDITORIAL PAGE: C2 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE:
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
NO `CURE' FOR HOMOSEXUALITY
IN RESPONSE to a Feb. 3 column by Cal Thomas ("Clinton is wrong if he thinks gays will be celibate") and March 3 letters by John Wise ("Blacks are due an apology") and Do H. Nam ("Abnormal behavior can be corrected"):These are prime examples of ideology trying to manipulate scientific evidence. They make two claims: Homosexuality is a lifestyle or behavioral "choice," and being gay is easily reversed or "cured."
One does not wake up one morning and decide that one is gay, like deciding on a new career. There is ample evidence presented in scientific journals that shows homosexuality is not a choice. There are significant hormonal and neurophysiological differences that suggest genetic involvement in homosexuality. This evidence is based on well-conducted and controlled scientific experiments, not anecdotal testimonials. Scientific evidence must take precedence over ideology.
Both Thomas and Nam refer to a so-called "cure." I searched the psychological abstracts for the past 20 years looking for any mention of the treatment mentioned by Thomas. If it has been reported, it wasn't in a scientific journal. I also looked at other therapies. There were many uncontrolled case studies and very few objective controlled-outcome experiments. Most of the research was more than a decade old. An analysis of this literature produced some telling results. The research reviews and the outcome studies are almost unanimous in their conclusion that attempts to change gender orientation doesn't work most of the time. Some case reports and anecdotal evidence suggest that therapy may work if the individual is bisexual. Studies that used follow-up procedures suggest that where a "cure" is supposedly effected, it was either short-lived or merely conditions the person against any sexual arousal, homosexual or heterosexual. So much for a "cure." There simply isn't one.
Those of the religious right-wing and others who abuse science to advance their repressive ideologies threaten not only the minority they are intimidating, but all of our rights and liberties. LARRY C. LYONS BLACKSBURG