American Psychological Association revises statement on homosexuality

A publication from the American Psychological Association includes an admission that there is no "gay" gene, according to a doctor who has written about the issue on the website of National Association for Research & Therapy of Homosexuality.

A. Dean Byrd, the past president of NARTH, confirmed that the statement from the American Psychological Association came in a brochure
that updates what the APA has advocated for years.

Specifically, in a brochure that first came out about 1998, the APA stated: "There is considerable recent evidence to suggest that biology, including genetic or inborn hormonal factors, play a significant role in a person’s sexuality."

However, in the update: a brochure now called, "Answers to Your Questions for a Better Understanding of Sexual Orientation & Homosexuality," the APA’s position changed.

The new statement says:

"There is no consensus among scientists about the exact reasons that an individual develops a heterosexual, bisexual, gay or lesbian orientation. Although much research has examined the possible genetic, hormonal, developmental, social, and cultural influences on sexual orientation, no findings have emerged that permit scientists to conclude that sexual orientation is determined by any particular factor or factors. Many think that nature and nurture both play complex roles. …"

"Although there is no mention of the research that influenced this new position statement, it is clear that efforts to ‘prove’ that homosexuality is simply a biological fait accompli have failed," Byrd wrote. "The activist researchers themselves have reluctantly reached that conclusion. There is no gay gene. There is no simple biological pathway to homosexuality."

Byrd said the APA’s documents both new and old "have strong activist overtones," but the newer document "is more reflective of science and more consistent with the ethicality of psychological care."

"On the question of whether or not therapy can change sexual orientation, the former document offered a resounding ‘no,’" Byrd wrote. "However, the current document is much more nuanced and contains the following statement: ‘To date, there has been no scientifically adequate research to show that therapy (sometimes called reparative or conversion therapy) is safe or effective.’"

A spokesman for NARTH said the change in statements, although not new, is considered significant for the organization. The APA declined to return a WND call requesting comment.

Byrd questioned whether the APA now plans to study the effectiveness of a variety of therapies for homosexuality.

"Many are entirely without validation, yet practitioners regularly receive Continuing Education credits for teaching these same therapies through APA-approved courses. Perhaps it is time for APA to hold all therapies and all therapists to the standard which they advocate for reorientation therapy," he said.

But he wrote that the changes are substantial, with even a change in the APA’s recommendations for additional information.

"Most intriguing are the recommended resources for further reading. The former brochure referred readers to the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force; to Parents, Families and Friends of Lesbians and Gays, and to Sexuality Information and Education Council of the United States (SIECUS), all activist groups," Byrd wrote. "The current brochure refers readers to the American Psychological Association, Mental Health America, and the American Academy of Pediatrics."

NARTH documents other evidence of a lack of a "gay" gene, too.

For example, Douglas Abbott, a University of Nebraska professor, concluded, "If homosexuality was caused by genetic mechanisms, their children would be more likely to choose same-sex interaction. But they aren’t more likely, so therefore it can’t be genetic."

NARTH also rebuts some of the advocacy positions taken by homosexual proponents.

"The term ‘homophobia’ is often used inaccurately to describe any person who objects to homosexual behavior on either moral, psychological or medical grounds," NARTH explains. "Technically, however, the terms actually denotes a person who has a phobia – or irrational fear – of homosexuality. Principled disagreement, therefore, cannot be labeled ‘homophobia.’"

WND has reported on those who have left the homosexual lifestyle, and the opposition they face, including when a homosexual advocate attributed the crime of rape to the "sickness" of the ex-"gay" movement.

Among other recent developments in the ongoing argument over the ‘innateness" on homosexuality:

* A New England organization reports members of a transgender lobby promised to shadow grandmothers and others who will be collecting petition signatures on a traditional marriage amendment.

* Actions by members of the homosexual community prompted the American Psychiatric Association to cancel what was to be a discussion of the lifestyle.

* And prominent leaders of the homosexual community have stated that only they benefit from hate crimes laws, laws that enhance a penalty for crimes already covered by other statutes based on the thoughts that accompany the criminal act.

Regina Griggs, the executive director of Parents and Friends of Ex-Gays, said her organization and staff members repeatedly have been attacked simply because of their message: that there are such individuals as former homosexuals.

Some attacks have been physical, such as a 2007 incident at the Arlington County Fair. Police told WND, there was a confrontation between an individual who got upset over the PFOX message about leaving homosexuality and a volunteer at the fair booth.

"One officer told me today he was on patrol at the fair when a woman approached him and told him a man had knocked over pamphlets at the PFOX booth and assaulted another man there. The officer then spoke to the alleged victim. He did not want to press charges and therefore no written report was filed," said a statement issued by John Lisle, media relations officer for the Arlington County police department.

"Based on the description the officer was given, he located the suspect at the fair. Another officer escorted that gentleman off the fair grounds," his statement continued.

The result? Pro-homosexual activists vigorously condemned Griggs for "making up" the story when she alerted supporters about the situation.

"Regina Griggs has lost all credibility and must resign in shame for her dishonest behavior," wrote Wayne Besen, executive director of the homosexual advocacy group Truth Wins
Out. "What PFOX did was warped, twisted and an insult (sic) real hate crime victims."

Those who condemn homosexual behavior also face electronic badgering. When Sally Kern, an Oklahoma lawmaker, vocally rejected the homosexual lifestyle, she was inundated with tens of thousands of e-mails in a coordinated attack on her beliefs. Some of the e-mails threatened her.

A scripture verse that gets quoted more often these days than almost all others is from the Gospel of Matthew. “For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom: and there shall be famines, and pestilences, and earthquakes, in divers places. All these are the beginning of sorrows.” Matthew 24:7-8 . Most Bible teachers point to these verses as prophetic in that they as well as the rest of Matthew 24 will take place during the tribulation period. I tend to agree with them on that interpretation but we can certainly see all these things currently approaching, similarly to a woman in travail. Birth pangs are growing very intense.

Swine flu hysteria is running amuck. We read about it everywhere on the internet, in the newspaper, and I imagine it’s all over the TV news networks. This swine flu is mutating into a major problem, but just a few days ago it was nothing. How bad is it? There are different scenarios being floated by various worldwide organizations. Mr. Obama says “There’s no cause for alarm”. The World Health Organization has elevated the alert to a phase 4 pandemic. The UN is warning of a global pandemic. The blame game has begun. Terrorists are being blamed for a biological planned attack on the U.S. There was a Republican running the department of Health and Human Services up until 28^th of April when Congress affirmed the new secretary and as such Republicans are being blamed.

There is a lot of excitement about a few outbreaks of this swine flu in the U.S. In Mexico 150 people have died from the outbreak. As I write this commentary swine flu has now spread to at least five other nations besides Mexico and the US. So is it a pandemic? If so how do we cope with such an outbreak? Personally I’ll need to see a whole lot more evidence come to the surface before I start to get overly concerned. But whether or not there is a pandemic at hand isn’t really what I am writing about today. The real scare, as I’ve outlined below, is currently being quietly removed from the public eye. Out of sight out of mind.

Old news, but still the major outbreak of the worst kind of pestilence is at hand. Unfortunately there doesn’t seem to be much outrage associated with it. No one seems to even think about this disease any more, yet it has taken millions of lives over the past twenty-five years or so. HIV/AIDS is a much more serious disease and yet we hardly hear about it these days. Why is that? It’s transferred sexually and yet promiscuous sexual intercourse is not only promoted in every aspect of our lives but actually encouraged among our young children. Abstinence is being disparaged.

“AIDS was first identified in the USA in 1981. The epidemic has now spread to every part of the USA and to all sectors of society. It is thought that more than one million people are living with HIV in the USA and that more than half a million have died after developing AIDS.

People living with HIV/AIDS in 2007           33.0 million

Adults living with HIV/AIDS in 2007           30.8 million

Women living with HIV/AIDS in 2007         15.5 million

Children living with HIV/AIDS in 2007        2.0 million

People newly infected with HIV in 2007       2.7 million

Children newly infected with HIV in 2007   0.37 million

AIDS deaths in 2007                                      2.0 million

Child AIDS deaths in 2007                            0.27 million

The latest statistics on the world epidemic of AIDS & HIV were published by UNAIDS/WHO in July 2008, and refer to the end of 2007.

More than 25 million people have died of AIDS since 1981.

Africa has 11.6 million AIDS orphans.

At the end of 2007, women accounted for 50% of all adults living with HIV worldwide, and for 59% in sub-Saharan Africa.

Young people (under 25 years old) account for half of all new HIV infections worldwide.”

This information was obtained through the internet website AVERT.org.

Where’s the panic when it comes to this worldwide epidemic? The above statistics are as of December 2007 but the report also stated that the amount of deaths for 2008 ran about the same as 2007, that’s 2 million people dying every year from Aids? Where’s the outrage when we know for a fact how it’s spread?

Yes, let’s get into a whole new pandemic so we can all take our minds off the real culprits involved in spreading death. Let’s legalize same sex marriage so we can all feel better about these sick, debased individuals who are seemingly incapable of recognizing  what they are doing to spread disease like there’s no tomorrow. Who cares about the consequences associated with this completely debouched lifestyle? Let them be married, let them be legitimized. Let’s pass hate crimes bills so no one can ever say one word against such a lifestyle without feeling the wrath of the law. Let that obscene lifestyle be promoted throughout our public school system as a loving and caring lifestyle of people who were supposedly born different. This is a huge lie being perpetrated on a Christ rejecting, willingly ignorant and foolish society.

Pestilence, yes there will be pestilence in the last days in divers places. All around the world there will be pestilences but let’s at least place the blame in the laps of the biggest pestilence producing group of individuals of human history. The homosexual community is responsible for this judgment. Why? Because they refuse to believe the word of God when it plainly states the following.

“For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who hold the truth in unrighteousness; … Wherefore God also gave them up to uncleanness through the lusts of their own hearts, to dishonour their own bodies between themselves: … For this cause God gave them up unto vile affections: for even their women did change the natural use into that which is against nature: And likewise also the men, leaving the natural use of the woman, burned in their lust one toward another; men with men working that which is unseemly, and receiving in themselves that recompence of their error which was meet. And even as they did not like to retain God in [their] knowledge, God gave them over to a reprobate mind, to do those things which are not convenient; Being filled with all unrighteousness, fornication, wickedness, covetousness, maliciousness; full of envy, murder, debate, deceit, malignity; whisperers, Backbiters, haters of God, despiteful, proud, boasters, inventors of evil things, disobedient to parents, Without understanding, covenantbreakers, without natural affection, implacable, unmerciful: Who knowing the judgment of God, that they which commit such things are worthy of death, not only do the same, but have pleasure in them that do them.” Romans 1:18, 24, 26-32.

But as Mr. Obama declared in one of his campaign speeches “Nobody should be concerned with a few obscure Bible verses”. Obama’s very poignant statement will go down in infamy as our government implodes from within.

This newly professed pandemic may be a new judgment from God, but certainly we’ve been under judgment for some years now and it hasn’t even made a dent in our attitudes towards God. If anything we as a society have actually moved further away from God. So perhaps we are in for a new round of judgments; once again God’s focus may well be on getting our attention before it’s too late. Perhaps this time Lord.

Ron Graham

twotug@embarqmail.com

All scripture is from the KJV

Chad Groening - OneNewsNow - 5/1/2009 6:00:00 AM

A pro-family activist says it is "ridiculous" that California Senator Dianne Feinstein has introduced legislation designed to help an illegal alien who is a lesbian remain in the U.S.

The case involves 43-year-old Philippines national Shirley Tan, who came to the United States on a visitor’s visa in 1989. She overstayed that visa and has been living in a lesbian relationship with a naturalized citizen in Pacifica, California.

Immigration authorities have ordered her to leave the country, but at the urging of homosexual rights groups Senator Diane Feinstein (D-California) intervened, arguing that if Tan’s homosexual partner was a man, they could marry, and she could be eligible for residency.

Feinstein has now introduced an emergency immigration bill on behalf of Tan. That means Tan cannot be deported unless Congress votes down the legislation or it is allowed to expire without being reintroduced.

Peter LaBarbera, founder and president of Americans for Truth about Homosexuality, sees this as another attempt at gaining special rights for homosexuals.

"We don’t need to start providing government benefits and special treatment to relationships based on homosexuality, which many people regard as a sin," says LaBarbera. "I think this is an egregious example of special rights for homosexuals."

The pro-family activist contends that homosexuals and their supporters are using this case to push for the passage of the Uniting American Families Act (H.R. 1024), which would give homosexual Americans the right to sponsor foreign-born partners for residency.

"This is a ridiculous piece of legislation," exclaims LaBarbera. "Americans are already concerned over illegal immigration. I don’t think most Americans want to give incentives to bring more homosexual activists into the country, which is what this case embodies."

In the meantime, if Congress approves Feinstein’s bill Tan would have two years to apply for a new visa or permanent residency.

The Obama administration and other proponents of a United Nations statement that calls for the decriminalization of homosexuality claim it merely targets the seven countries that put homosexuals to death. But one pro-family activist warns the document elevates homosexual behavior to skin color and religious belief.

The Obama State Department has endorsed the U.N. statement out of concern over what one official describes as "violence and human rights abuses against gay, lesbian, transsexual and bisexual individuals" as well as "the criminalization of sexual orientation in many countries." In addition, according to U.S. officials, signing of the nonbinding declaration demonstrates that the U.S. supports human rights for all. (See related article)

Austin Ruse, president of the Catholic Family and Human Rights Institute , says the Obama administration has essentially signed its name to a "press release" initiated by the French government in the U.N. General Assembly last fall. Ruse says he fully expected the Obama administration to sign on to the document immediately because it supports the homosexual agenda.

Austin Ruse (C-FAM)"What the press release really does is encourage the acceptance of gender identity and sexual orientation as a category of non-discrimination in human rights treaties," explains Ruse, "so that these categories would stand alongside race, religion, and other widely accepted categories of non-discrimination."

Ruse says the Bush administration almost signed on to the U.N. homosexual rights document last fall. He notes there is a "very healthy homosexual lobby" in the State Department and in various parts of the U.S. government. In fact, he reports that for a brief moment last week at the United Nations, the Obama administration endorsed a document titled "The International Guidelines on HIV/AIDS," which calls for criminal penalties for those who criticize homosexuality.