Basic Facts About Homosexuality

BASIC FACTS ABOUT HOMOSEXUALITY

Sexual orientation can not be caught or taught.

"Family fears of catching homosexuality, or of being recruited at school or elsewhere are utterly without scientific foundation."
~ Dr. Jack Weinberg, President American Psychiatric Association, October 6, 1977

Sexual orientation is not a choice.

Sexual orientation is deep-seated and not something one chooses to be or not to be.
~ Dr. Alan P. Bell, senior author of "Sexual Preference", Bell, Weinberg & Hammersmith, Indiana University Press, 1981.

Research suggests that the homosexual orientation is in place very early in the life cycle, possibly even before birth.
~ Taken from the American Psychological Association Statement on Sexual Orientation, July, 1994.

It is believed that there are several factors which determine sexual orientation.

Sexual orientation is likely to be the result of several different factors, including genetic, hormonal, and environmental. None of these factors alone are responsible for determining sexual orientation. Psychological and social influences alone cannot cause homosexuality.
~Tineke Bodde', "Why is My Child Gay? " Federation of Parents and Friends of Lesbians and Gays, Inc., 1988.

"There is evidence that parents have very little influence on the outcome of their children's sexual orientation under normal upbringing conditions."
~June Machover Reinisch, Ph.D. (Response from brochure) "Why is My Child Gay?" Federation of Parents and Friends of Lesbians and Gays, Inc., 1988.

Gays & lesbians discover their sexual orientation. They are not recruited or brainwashed into the "gay lifestyle".

Gay and lesbian children are often aware of being different at a very early age. They generally become aware of their sexual orientation during adolescence or early adulthood.
~ R.R. Troiden, "The Formation of Homosexual Identities", The Journal of Homosexuality, 17, 43-73.

Homosexuality is not a mental or emotional disorder.

The research on homosexuality is very clear. Homosexuality is neither mental illness nor moral depravity. It is simply the way a minority of our population expresses human love and sexuality. Study after study documents the mental health of gay men and lesbians. Studies of judgment, stability, reliability, and social and vocational adaptiveness all show that gay men and lesbians function every bit as well as heterosexuals.
~ The American Psychiatric Association and The American Psychological Association, July 1994

Efforts to change sexual orientation are ineffective and can be harmful.

Research findings suggest that efforts to repair homosexuals are nothing more than social prejudice garbed in psychological accouterments.
~ Taken from the American Psychological Association Statement on Sexual Orientation, July, 1994.

No scientific evidence exists to support the effectiveness of any therapies that attempt to convert homosexuals to heterosexuals.
~ John C. Gonsiorek and James D. Weinrich, eds., Homosexuality: Research Implications for Public Policy, Newbury Park, Calf.: Sage, 1991.

All attempts fail when gay people try to become heterosexual.
~D. C. Haldeman, "The Practice and Ethics of Sexual Orientation Conversion Therapy", Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 62, p.221-227, 1994.

"Groups who try to change the sexual orientation of people through so-called conversion therapy are misguided and run the risk of causing a great deal of psychological harm to those they say they are trying to help.""
~Dr. Raymond Fowler, American Psychological Association Executive Director

Clinical experience suggests that any person who seeks conversion therapy may be doing so because of social bias that has resulted in internalized homophobia, and that gay men and lesbians who have accepted their sexual orientation positively are better adjusted than those who have not done so.
~American Psychiatric Association

The incidence of homosexuality is constant regardless of new laws or social attitudes.

It [homosexuality] is found in about ten percent of the population, a figure which is surprisingly constant across cultures, irrespective of the different moral values and standards of a particular culture. Contrary to what some imply, the incidence of homosexuality in a population does not appear to change with new moral codes or social mores.
~ Taken from the American Psychological Association Statement on Sexual Orientation, July, 1994.

Gay and lesbian youth are at greater risk of committing suicide.

Gay and lesbian youth are two-three times more likely to attempt suicide than their heterosexual peers. Gay and lesbian teens account for thirty percent of all completed suicides among adolescents.
~U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. "Report of the Secretary's Task Force on Youth Suicide", Washington D.C., 1989.

Gay and lesbian people are just as capable of being good parents as are heterosexual parents.

Children who are raised in gay or lesbian homes are no different in any aspects of psychological, social , or sexual development form children in heterosexual families.
~C.J. Patterson, "Children of Lesbian and Gay Parents", Child Development, 63, 1025-1042.

Thirty-five different studies have shown that children of gay and lesbian parents are no more likely to become homosexuals than children of heterosexuals, and are just as well adjusted.
~Jane Gross, "New Challenge of Youth: Growing up in Gay Homes", New York Times, February 11, 1991.

Gay men and lesbian women are rarely involved in child sexual abuse.

In the U.S. ninety percent of all sexual child abuse is committed by heterosexual men. The molesters are almost always family members, close family friends or the mother's boyfriend.
~P.J. Falk "Lesbian Mothers: Psychological Assumptions in Family Law", American Psychologist, 44, 941-949, 1989.
~Mary Koss, et al. "No Safe Haven: Male Violence Against Women At Home, At Work, And in the Community", American Psychological Association, 1994.

Gay people are not obsessed with sex.

Gay men and lesbian women share the same amount of interest in sexual activity as heterosexual persons, neither more nor less.
~Alan P. Bell and Martin S. Weinberg, for the Institute for Sexual Research, "Homosexuality: A Study in Human Diversity", Simon and Schuster, 1978.

There is no single Gay Lifestyle.

The lives of gay men and lesbian women are just as varied as the lives of heterosexuals.
~Linda D. Garnets and Douglas C. Kimmel, "Psychological Perspectives on Lesbian and Gay Male Experiences", Columbia University Press, 1995.