I’m Against Forcing Change

In my previous article on the nature of homosexuality Sexually Oriented Fingers I had a short discussion of Neil Whitehead’s and Briar Whitehead’s book My Genes Made Me Do It – pdf. What I specifically want to discuss is his chapter Can sexual orientation change? I’m going to assume that he is honest and that the statistics he reports are correct. This may not be true but for the purposes of my argument it may not make a lot of difference. You decide. And comment if you are so moved.

So let me start with some of the facts they present. They will not necessarily be in the order the Whiteheads presented them.

Let me start out with what got me thinking about the subject. I was looking for a direct short quote and didn’t find one. So I must have got the idea from a general reading. Let me instead make my point from a different source.

…a government report released in the early 1990s found that homosexual youths are three times more likely to attempt suicide than their heterosexual peers. Gays comprise a third of all youth suicides nationwide.

Federal reports have also shown that homosexual teens are at a higher risk for developing alcohol or drug dependency.

Keep that in mind as we continue the discussion.

As you know from my article DNA, PTSD, And Abused Children, and others, PTSD is a favorite topic of mine. So how about a look at sexual orientation and PTSD.

Researchers at the Harvard School of Public Health have concluded that people who identity as Lesbian, Gay, Bi-sexual, Transgender or Questioning (LGBTQ) are twice as likely to suffer from Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) compared to those who identify as heterosexual. The recent study analyzed data from a survey of more than 34,000 people and the findings suggested that LGBTQ individuals have a higher exposure to traumatic incidents including bullying, domestic violence and other forms of abuse. These incidents contribute to the likelihood of a person developing symptoms associated with PTSD. The study also indicates that LGBTQ individuals are often victimized beginning at an early age, some even before they have identified their sexual preferences.

So on to the main point of this post. An unscientific poll asks. Has PTSD Affected Your Sexual Preferences? Out of 83 responses so far 32 said yes. That is about 39%. People commented on the poll so let me put up a few relevant comments.

When I grew up, both of my parents thought that everyone who was different from them in any way were basically freaks of nature…mom has changed over the years, but I think that if it weren’t for the fact that I was abused by several men, I probably would never have experimented with girls and found out that I really liked it. I am bisexual now, and my mom knows, but my dad doesnt because he would be furious…Being bi may be the only good thing that came out of my abuse.

Another:

I get so mixed up trying to sort out how much of Me is in my abuse and how much isn’t. Okay, I’m scared of men, so I want to seek out relationships with girls, but I don’t like girls, generally because I find even the most masculine of them afford me no comfort or sense of safety from others, even if I am not scared of them, so then… do I like men because I have a complex where I feel only men will keep me safe from other men?

Another:

Sexual child abuse trauma once confused me as to my preference, but PTSD itself has had no effect on my preference.

Another:

I was born 99% lesbian. Maybe my trauma halved my residual attraction to men. It definitely makes me feel asexual on many days.

Another:

It’s interesting a lot of you became more asexual out of it. I guess I went the other way and became overly sexual.

And:

But I definitely do think it’s influenced by sexual orientation. Maybe not 100%. But I am bisexual, and I lean towards women but theres some need to be with men that I can identify as very different than my want and attraction to women. So I feel like the need to be with men would be very reduced if at all noticeable had I never had trauma at a young sexual age.

How about a study:

RESULTS:

Lesbians and gay men, bisexuals, and heterosexuals who reported any same-sex sexual partners over their lifetime had greater risk of childhood maltreatment, interpersonal violence, trauma to a close friend or relative, and unexpected death of someone close than did heterosexuals with no same-sex attractions or partners. Risk of onset of PTSD was higher among lesbians and gays (adjusted odds ratio [AOR] = 2.03; 95% confidence interval [CI] = 1.34, 3.06), bisexuals (AOR = 2.13; 95% CI = 1.38, 3.29), and heterosexuals with any same-sex partners (AOR = 2.06; 95% CI = 1.54, 2.74) than it was among the heterosexual reference group. This higher risk was largely accounted for by sexual orientation minorities’ greater exposure to violence, exposure to more potentially traumatic events, and earlier age of trauma exposure.
CONCLUSIONS:

Profound sexual orientation disparities exist in risk of PTSD and in violence exposure, beginning in childhood. Our findings suggest there is an urgent need for public health interventions aimed at preventing violence against individuals with minority sexual orientations and providing follow-up care to cope with the sequelae of violent victimization.

Another study:

News from Harvard schools, offices, and affiliates

Higher prevalence of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), a debilitating mental illness that can have life-long negative consequences, has been found in young adult gay men, lesbians, bisexuals, and “mostly heterosexuals” compared with completely heterosexuals at considerably younger ages than previously identified, according to a new study by Harvard School of Public Health (HSPH) and Boston Children’s Hospital researchers. The researchers found higher symptoms of PTSD in sexual minorities compared with heterosexuals in individuals in their early 20s.

The new study was published online June 14, 2012 in the American Journal of Public Health.

What is my thinking on all this assuming that My Genes Made Me Do It – pdf is correct and that sexual orientation is to some extent fluid. Trauma can change sexual orientation, but only in those with a predisposition as outlined in my Sexually Oriented Fingers. And that once the effects of the trauma fade sufficiently (it does for some and not others) sexual orientation can change. It is the same thing we see for heroin users. PTSD is genetically mediated but as the effect of the trauma fades desire for opiates (commonly referred to as “addiction”) can disappear spontaneously.

Now this is a complicated subject as those with the “wrong” sexual orientation are often attacked in childhood. So further studies are needed to tease out cause and effect. But so far as I have been able to ascertain other than the one unscientific study I posted no one is looking.

Which leads me to organizations promising to cure teh gay.

The president of the now-defunct “ex-gay” organization, Exodus International, has been married to a woman for nearly 16 years. But he rejects labeling himself straight, bisexual, gay, or even “ex-gay,” noting that “while my life has changed dramatically, my same-sex attraction hasn’t.” In an interview in which he once again apologized for the damage he admits his group did to many people, Alan Chambers, who for 12 years led the 37-year-old group which promised to “cure” homosexuality, stopped short of saying someone shouldn’t try to control or deny sexual desires for the sake of religious convictions, while rejecting the therapeutic aspects of so-called “reparative therapy,” especially for minors.

“There’s no better way to do it than an apology for the people who were hurt,” Chambers said…

The folks at Truth Wins Out who are openly hostile to the idea that sexual orientation is in any way fluid had this to say:

Exodus Randy Thomas Apologizes To The Gay CommunityA huge pillar of the “ex-gay” industry fell last month when Alan Chambers publicly apologized to the gay community for the harm Exodus International did to so many thousands of people over several decades, and closed the organization’s doors. Randy Thomas, also long-affiliated with the organization, has now augmented those actions with his own personal, public apology. I find it very interesting, in part, because he echoes and expands on a theme hit by Alan and also by John Paulk, that of being used by the Religious Right. Both Alan and John have now experienced how quickly the Religious Right will turn on a person who they once claimed to love, for the sin of questioning their orthodoxy and supremacy.

That is so true. The Religious Right seems to forget the injunction “Judge not lest ye be judged.”

From Gleanings – Important Developments In The Church And The World

John Paulk, once a poster boy for the ex-gay movement, disappeared from the public eye after he left his role as chairman of Exodus International in 2003. Now, 10 years later, Paulk is back in the spotlight–but this time he’s apologizing for the reparative therapy he used to promote.

News broke when Paulk, who now works as a caterer in Portland, Oregon, told Proud Queer Monthly (PQ) that he no longer supports the “ex-gay movement or efforts to attempt to change [individuals’ sexual orientation].” Paulk then issued a formal letter of apology (full text below), which revealed that he and his wife Anne Paulk, who describes herself as a former lesbian, are seeking a divorce. (The couple participated together in controversial ad campaigns.)

“Today, I do not consider myself ‘ex-gay’ and I no longer support or promote the movement,” John Paulk wrote. “I know that countless people were harmed by things I said and did in the past, Parents, families, and their loved ones were negatively impacted by the notion of reparative therapy and the message of change. I am truly, truly sorry for the pain I have caused.”

So what is my take on all this? I have never quite been able to get my arms around why some people need to change others without understanding them. And that understanding has to be not just psychosocial but scientific as well. Until we understand much better how the brain and body work (we are at the very beginning of understanding of genes, endocannabinoids, and the interaction of all that with experience – to name just a part of our ignorance) couldn’t we call off the wars on each other? Because I’m sure once all this is much better understood (in another hundred years or three) we will see that all these wars were pointless. And worse.

Update:

Something I came across just after I posted indicates that the scientific community is getting a glimmering. From Psych Central – The Voice of the American Psychiatric Association on February 22, 2012.

“[G]ender nonconformity…may be both an indicator of abuse and a risk factor for abuse, although evidence in favor of either causal direction is limited,” cautioned the researchers.

So I’m not the only one who thinks this needs looking into.