Borrowed from another post on another forum, some excerpts:

"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 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.

Gays and Lesbians are not recruted into homosexuality and are not brainwashed into it: "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.

"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.

"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

"1. According to scientists at the University of Texas, the cochlea (a structure in the inner ear) in lesbians is different than in heterosexual women.

2. This difference was discovered by using a test which measurs the sound that the cochlea makes while responding to a soft clicking sound.

The results show that lesbians have weaker click responces than heterosexual women and are more like those of men (the cochlea in heterosexual women is more sensitive than in men).


Dennis McFadden, who was the lead conductor of the study, believes that the cochlea of lesbians might be affected by hormone exposure from before birth and presumes that unknown sites of the brain which influence sexual orientation might also be affected.

3. In 1991, a neuroanatomist at the Salk Institute, Simon LeVay, examined the brain tissue from 41 people.

He found that a structure within the hypothalamus called the INAH3 of heterosexuals was twice the size of the INAH3 of homosexuals, thus pointing to a bilogical origin of homosexuality.

4. J.A.Y. Hall and D. Kumura from the University of Western Ontario at London ON Canada, compared the number of ridges on the index finegr and thumb on the left hand with the number of ridges of the thumb and index finger on the right hand.

The study found that 30% of homosexuals have more ridges on the left hand while 14% of heterosexuals shared the same trait.

This indicates a genetic origin of homosexuality, perhaps even before birth, since finger prints develop during the 17th week of the fetus stage.

5. Dean Hamer from the National Cancer Institute led a study which compared the DNA of 40 pairs of homosexual brothers. They discovered that nearly all shared a genetic marker in the Xq28 region of the X chromosome (which is one of the two sex chromosomes), thus pointing to the conclusion that homosexuality has a genetic component.

6. Scientists have observed homosexuality in the animal kingdom.
Gay chimpanzees, gay sheep, gay fruit (no pun intended) flies, and gay penguins. While some may argue it is simply animal lust, the gay penguins counter this... gay penguins have been seen in lifelong relationships thus indicating loving feelings and not just animal lust (which we all have in us).

The evidence clearly points to the conclusion that sexual orientation is a given and cannot be changed by doctors; and trying to do so is harmful to the patients and often leads to suicide attempts, and sadly some of the attempts are successful.


Sources of the information in this essay:

http://hcqsa.virtualave.net/studies.html

www.qtonline.com/columns/birdsandbees/penguin.asp

www.stanford.edu/dept/news/relaged/961212behavgene.html"

(All cited at http://www.jeramyt.org/gay/gayrelig/743.html

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I include these not to bolster the legal case, which stands alone, but to rebut some of the kneejerk homophobic mealy-mouthed twitterpates.


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