Massachusetts News

November 1--There are so many reasons why teenagers should not declare their sexual orientation at an early age that it is difficult to know where to begin.

•Over 25% of twelve-year-olds report that they are unsure whether they are homosexual or heterosexual.

•Many psychologists and psychiatrists say that if a child starts to experiment with homosexual sex, it becomes compulsive and very difficult to stop. Some even say it becomes addictive.

•Most homosexuals report being very unhappy upon the discovery that they were homosexual. This leads one to believe they are not happy with that lifestyle.

•If a teenager waits one more year before "outing" himself, his chance of committing suicide goes down 80%, according to the statistics.

•Psychiatrists and psychologists report that adult homosexuals often are people who were abused as boys. 

The famed "Sexual Behaviors Consultation Unit" at Johns Hopkins Medical School indicates that it does not believe this is a decision that should be taken lightly. A story in the Winter 1999 edition of Hopkins Medical News told about a 17-year-old boy who was brought to a meeting of a dozen professionals because his parents had found pornographic, homosexual literature in his room, after which he announced he was homosexual. Some of the questions asked by his parents were, according to the article, "Is their son engaging in risky sexual interactions? Is his homosexual orientation set in stone? Or is this just a variation of an ordinary adolescent identity crisis?" Although they did not reveal what happened with the boy, it is clear that no one took his decision lightly as they do in the schools of Massachusetts. Later in the article, they referred to him as a "troubled" teenage boy.

Homosexuals are Not 'Born That Way'

The Boston Globe totally changed its position in its lead article in the "Focus" section under a headline, "The Fading ‘Gay Gene,’" on Sunday, February 7, 1999. It wrote: 

"The gene still has not been found, and interest in – and enthusiasm for – the ‘gay gene’ research has waned among activists and scientists alike. And there is a growing consensus that sexual orientation is much more complicated than a matter of genes." 

In its concluding paragraphs it wrote, "It means there are no easy answers about where sexual orientation comes from, only about how we respond." 

But then the Globe totally distorted the question when it ended the story with the following quote, "We are left with the question of, ‘Do we accept people who are sexually different?’"

The answer to that question is, "Of course, we accept them."

But the proper question should be, "What do we do with teenagers who think they might be homosexual?" When we consider that 25% of 12-year-olds don’t know whether they are homosexual or heterosexual, shouldn’t we start with the truism that young people are uncertain about many things? Is it wise to assume that a decision that a 12-year-old is ‘homosexual’ should be cast in stone and carried for the rest of his life?

This myth of a gay gene was first announced to the world on July 15, 1993. The Wall Street Journal’s headline was, "Research Points Toward a Gay Gene." The New York Times’ headline was, "Report Suggests Homosexuality Is Linked to Genes." Ever since that day in 1993, anyone in Massachusetts who suggests that homosexuality is not genetic is automatically known as a "homophobe."

However, a Massachusetts foundation that is run by the Kennedy family, the Eunice Kennedy Shriver Center at Route 128 on Trapelo Road in Waltham, reported three years ago that there is no gay gene. It said that a panel at the American Society of Human Genetics came to the following conclusion at its meeting on October 30, 1996: "No conclusions can be drawn from studies relating genetics to sexual orientation."

It said that the chairman of the panel of geneticists said we have only "fragmentary and sometimes contradictory findings," and "several panelists underscored how little we know." It continued:

"[C]urrent themes are politically charged. Some wish to believe that homosexuals are born, not made. They see genetics as removing social stigma and possibly entitling homosexuals to protection under genetic privacy or disability laws...."

Instead of continuing to believe the outdated, old-fashioned theory that all homosexuals are born that way, perhaps we should be giving them mentoring and guidance from heterosexual males that they may not have received from their fathers and others. 

Do they deserve any less?
 

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