Question for those who believe homosexuality is immoral.

[Charity]

I would still love my child but I would disapprove of the lifestyle. It would be the same if my son decided to be a bank robber. I certainly wouldn't approve but I wouldn't disown him either. If a person thinks homosexuality is immoral, then so what? There are lots of things that are immoral and I guarantee every one of us has done at lest one immoral thing in our lives.

:slap: I resent that I have never done anything immoral in my life....er, well....there was that time.....uh, :foot:.... just joking with you....
I may not be over joyed at finding out my child was a homosexual, but I would love them and accept them anyway...They would have to make their own decision and I would abide with that decision......

 

[Father Heathen]

Anyone else?

 

[Starfish]

I am sure I can find many licensed psychiatrists who treat homosexuality where I live. No worries.
I forgot to add that stories of those who overcame homosexuality would be inspirations for my child during his struggle and a hope for change.

There are some who do overcome it. This is very underreported. Possibly these are the ones who were environmentally influenced somehow, rather than seemingly born with it.
I would offer professional help to my child if they were open to it. That in addition to my earlier post #20.

 

[Father Heathen]

There are some who do overcome it. This is very underreported. Possibly these are the ones who were environmentally influenced somehow, rather than seemingly born with it.
I would offer professional help to my child if they were open to it. That in addition to my earlier post #20.

How can you be sure they simply aren't being pressured into repressing their sexuality and living in denial?

 

[Dunemeister]

How can you be sure they simply aren't being pressured into repressing their sexuality and living in denial?

Presumably, the "professional help" would be open to that possibility and explore it.

 

[Dunemeister]

What would you do if one of your children (if you don't have any pretend you do for the sake of the question) came out and confessed to being homosexual? How would you react? Kick them out of the house? Disown them? Beat them with a belt?

It's extremely difficult to answer this question in advance of the event. I believe that predominantly homosexual attraction is a sexual disorder, and my child would have been taught this. A lot would depend on two things. First, in the process of coming out, the child had come to reject that interpretation, seeing homosexual attraction as healthy but not mainstream. Second, how old is the child?

Obviously, if the child is grown up, things are much different than if the child is still, say, teenaged. The younger the child, the more right the parent has to demand certain behaviors from their children. I can insist, for example, on my 14-year-old child remaining chaste, regardless of sexual orientation. I can also take more authority over the child's education and counseling or whatever. If the child is in their 20s and lives independently, the parent only has moral persuasion available to influence behavior.

As to the first issue, again the response depends somewhat on age. If the child is older, grown up say, then I can only remind him or her what they've been taught. If they insist on rejecting that, I guess I'd have to insist on chaste behavior while under my roof. What he or she does in their own bedroom is no concern of mine.

It's more difficult to imagine whether I'd go to a gay wedding or how I'd respond to gay PDAs. (It would certainly be wrong for the gay child to flaunt his or her sexuality in my presence, knowing I object.) I hope that my love for my child would create a certain allowance for such things, but I just don't know. How could anyone know, in advance of the event?

 

[Magic Man]

Presumably, the "professional help" would be open to that possibility and explore it.

I'm not sure any professional help that was treating homosexuality as a disorder to be fixed would be very open-minded.

 

[Scott C.]

What would you do if one of your children (if you don't have any pretend you do for the sake of the question) came out and confessed to being homosexual? How would you react? Kick them out of the house? Disown them? Beat them with a belt?

FH, think of something you believe to be immoral. How would you react if one of your children was doing it regularly? Kick them out of the house? Disown them? Beat them with a belt?

 

[Magic Man]

FH, think of something you believe to be immoral. How would you react if one of your children was doing it regularly? Kick them out of the house? Disown them? Beat them with a belt?

I know this was directed at FH, but I thought I'd take a crack at it. Most of the things I find immoral would put my kid in jail. I can't think of anything that I consider immoral that isn't illegal. I think the point is that most things I find immoral are obviously harmful to at least one person. Killing someone is obvious, stealing is obvious, lying, cheating, etc. These are things that can be helped. There doesn't seem to be any reason for finding homosexuality immoral other than because God says so. That's a little harder to reason with a kid than "Don't kill".

 

[3.14]

wel id get them laid with girls/prostitutes he might still be gay then but altleast he will be by when i get though with him

 

[Scott C.]

I know this was directed at FH, but I thought I'd take a crack at it. Most of the things I find immoral would put my kid in jail. I can't think of anything that I consider immoral that isn't illegal. I think the point is that most things I find immoral are obviously harmful to at least one person. Killing someone is obvious, stealing is obvious, lying, cheating, etc. These are things that can be helped. There doesn't seem to be any reason for finding homosexuality immoral other than because God says so. That's a little harder to reason with a kid than "Don't kill".

Would you disown or beat or stop loving your child if s/he did something that you consider immoral and s/he refused to listen to your reasoning on why it is immoral? If you can only think of something illegal, that's fine. How would you react?

 

[Scott C.]

What would you do if one of your children (if you don't have any pretend you do for the sake of the question) came out and confessed to being homosexual? How would you react? Kick them out of the house? Disown them? Beat them with a belt?

A parent should never stop loving a child, should never beat a child, and should never disown a child regardless of what they feel or do. A parent's love should be unconditional.

 

[Dunemeister]

I'm not sure any professional help that was treating homosexuality as a disorder to be fixed would be very open-minded.

Well, the question was how to know whether the homosexual person wasn't simply being pressured into repressing their sexuality and living in denial. I don't see how the belief that homosexual attraction might be the result of a sexual disorder would cloud a person's judgment on that question.

 

[Magic Man]

Would you disown or beat or stop loving your child if s/he did something that you consider immoral and s/he refused to listen to your reasoning on why it is immoral? If you can only think of something illegal, that's fine. How would you react?

No, I wouldn't, but it's also a very different situation. I would continue to love them and support them. That's not the topic of the thread, though. The point is that if it's something illegal, they don't just have to listen to my reasoning, they have to listen to the law. I know you're trying to compare them, but these two situations are completely different.

Well, the question was how to know whether the homosexual person wasn't simply being pressured into repressing their sexuality and living in denial. I don't see how the belief that homosexual attraction might be the result of a sexual disorder would cloud a person's judgment on that question.

I would question anyone's credentials in psychology or psychiatry if they were of the opinion that homosexuality was immoral and a disorder to be fixed. The person might have some problems like anyone else, and their apparent homosexuality could be a result of something in their past, but no more than someone's apparent heterosexuality could be a result of the same thing. But thinking that homosexuality itself is the problem would be enough reason for me to go elsewhere.

 

[Scott C.]

No, I wouldn't, but it's also a very different situation.

I think you're missing my point. The OP insinuates that parents who believe homosexuality is immoral, would therefore be unkind to their child who admitted to being gay. Such should not be and often is not the case. Just as you would continue to love a child who does something you believe to be wrong, so I would continue to love my child who does something which I believe to be wrong. I was simply trying to refute this insinuation of the OP.

 

[Magic Man]

I think you're missing my point. The OP insinuates that parents who believe homosexuality is immoral, would therefore be unkind to their child who admitted to being gay. Such should not be and often is not the case. Just as you would continue to love a child who does something you believe to be wrong, so I would continue to love my child who does something which I believe to be wrong. I was simply trying to refute this insinuation of the OP.

I didn't see that insinuation. I saw the insinuation that some people treat their children badly because they admit their homosexuality. I'm glad that you would act this way towards your child, and I know that there are plenty of others who would do the same. The problem is not even the people who actively disown or treat their children badly. The biggest problem is the people who think they're doing what's best for their children by trying to get them "help" to stop sinning, and are oblivious to the fact that they are damaging the kid psychologically to the point of giving the child all sorts of mental problems they wouldn't have had otherwise, especially when it gets to the point of the kid committing suicide because of it. I thought the OP was trying to see how many people would really love and support their child for who they are, and how many would love and support their child while trying to "help fix" them.

 

[Scott C.]

I didn't see that insinuation. I saw the insinuation that some people treat their children badly because they admit their homosexuality. I'm glad that you would act this way towards your child, and I know that there are plenty of others who would do the same. The problem is not even the people who actively disown or treat their children badly. The biggest problem is the people who think they're doing what's best for their children by trying to get them "help" to stop sinning, and are oblivious to the fact that they are damaging the kid psychologically to the point of giving the child all sorts of mental problems they wouldn't have had otherwise, especially when it gets to the point of the kid committing suicide because of it. I thought the OP was trying to see how many people would really love and support their child for who they are, and how many would love and support their child while trying to "help fix" them.

If I had a child who was living with someone out of wedlock, in a heterosexual relationship, I would encourage him/her to stop. I wouldn't beat this drum constantly, as my kids know where I stand on chastity without my needing to constantly harp. My child in this relationshop would know I love him/her and would know that I don't agree with the living arrangement.

I would try to treat a homosexual child, who was sexually active, in the same manner, always with love, but I would not compromise my belief that sex is morally right only when it is between a man and a woman who are married.

 

[Dunemeister]

I would question anyone's credentials in psychology or psychiatry if they were of the opinion that homosexuality was immoral and a disorder to be fixed. The person might have some problems like anyone else, and their apparent homosexuality could be a result of something in their past, but no more than someone's apparent heterosexuality could be a result of the same thing. But thinking that homosexuality itself is the problem would be enough reason for me to go elsewhere.

That's the traditional view in the psychiatric field -- it's a disorder. The condition was removed from the list of disorders in the 70s not because of any medical evidence but because of the political pressure being exerted on the College. I wonder how many psychiatrists believe that homosexual attraction is a sexual dysfunction but simply remain silent to avoid political fallout.....

 

[McBell]

That's the traditional view in the psychiatric field -- it's a disorder. The condition was removed from the list of disorders in the 70s not because of any medical evidence but because of the political pressure being exerted on the College. I wonder how many psychiatrists believe that homosexual attraction is a sexual dysfunction but simply remain silent to avoid political fallout.....

Do you have any articles that support this?

Joseph Merlino, M.D., co-editor of the book American Psychiatry & Homosexuality, and psychiatry adviser to the New York Daily News, said in an interview of the APA's declassification:

“ It was activism. But there was not hard science to say that homosexuality was a disorder or an illness, and that was the reason why activists took aim at psychiatry and psychoanalysis and challenged them to come up with the data to support that position. And they couldn't! The only data they could come up with were psychoanalytic theories that were not data. The data that they called data was presented from small groups of clinical populations of people who are gay who didn't like or didn't want or couldn't accept being gay. That was the population from which this so-called data was extracted. What the gay activists did in the 1970's was pull out the true data, the scientific data that they could find, and presented it to the diagnosis committee of the American Psychiatric Association and persuaded them that the science that did exist was on the side of homosexuality not being a disease or a disorder. That is why the diagnosis committee--the Nomenclature Committee, which is what it was called--suggested to the Board of the American Psychiatric Association that it be removed, and it was. ”

—Joseph Merlino, [3]

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SOURCE
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Seems that technically you are right.
Homosexuality was removed from the 'disorder' list due to the fact that there was NO MEDICAL EVIDENCE to support it being there.

​

 

[Magic Man]

That's the traditional view in the psychiatric field -- it's a disorder. The condition was removed from the list of disorders in the 70s not because of any medical evidence but because of the political pressure being exerted on the College. I wonder how many psychiatrists believe that homosexual attraction is a sexual dysfunction but simply remain silent to avoid political fallout.....

It is abnormal, obviously. A much larger portion of the population is heterosexual, so homosexuality is then not normal, but it's not a disorder. A lot of things in science have changed over the decades and centuries, and this is one of them. It was considered a disorder because of the primitive mindset in those days towards it. It might have been removed from the list at the time mainly because of political pressure, but if there really was good reason and evidence to consider it a disorder, then that would not have happened.

A good example might be evolution. There are plenty of fundamentalists who oppose evolution, and would lke for it to be stricken from science books. No amount of pressure they provide, though, is going to accomplish that goal, because there is a very scientific evidential basis for the theory.

The point is that homosexuals are obviously different from heterosexuals, and it has something to do with a difference in their minds. Certain synapses fire differently or something, I'm no scientist. But it's not something that should be fixed. Depression, for instance is a difference in brain chemicals, and it's a disorder because it obviously causes the person to have a harder life. It's not a question of just being different, it's a question of being different and the quality of life being lowered. Homosexuality is just different, with no effect on the quality of life, at least not inherently, only because of others who view it as wrong.