4 J u s t o u t ? decombei 6. 2002
ü| 55 »!fll o u t
Anti-Aging
“ From the Outside In & Inside Out”
Gay sheep, gender,
ex-gays and choice
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ll of the Nov. 15 Just Out pieces about
transgender rights {“Now Is the Time”), ex-
gays (“Lies Won Out”] and the gay sheep being
raised in Corvallis at Oregon State University
I“The Pink Sheep of the Family") discussed the
issue of choice in sexual and gender preferences.
Choice should not he an issue.
Religion is a choice, hut religious discrimina
tion is wrong. Criminal behavior might he
genetic, but it harms society and should he dis
criminated against.
The issue is that coercive discrimination
against harmless sexual and gender behavior
preferences is unjust and morally wrong. This
human right is not debatable.
In 1988 the gay sheep research was federally
funded with a long-term goal of lowering breed
ing costs to benefit society by preventing the
birth of gay sheep. Chillingly, a slim majority of
voters could decide to benefit society by pre
venting queer human “biological errors.”
I often wonder if religiosity and homophobia
are a choice or if they are because of biological
errors. In either case, religious bigots and homo
phobes deserve compassionate help to overcome
their harmful disgust of homosexuals.
Ex-gay religious crusaders also claim to pro
vide “compassionate help” to “prevent homo
sexual development” in children and to "elimi
nate atypical gender behavior” in adults. Forcing
children into traditional male or female roles is
child abuse, according to legal scholars.
Ex-gays describe homosexuality as being a
gender identity disorder, which still is listed as a
psychiatric mental disorder. They falsely claim
that sex is dictated by biology.
Currently, sex is medically determined by the
presence of a penis or vagina, testes or ovaries, and
XY or XX chromosomes. However, intersex babies
are naturally bom with other chromosome varia
tions and with a mixture of male and female parts.
In addition, new medical tests for gender,
such as brain scans, are being discovered daily
that show even more overlap between males
and females. For example, portions of some gay
men’s brains appear to be female.
Despite this mounting evidence, the editor in
chief of the widely read magazine Psychology Today
recently defended publishing an ex-gay therapists
ad for Preventing Homosexuality by citing a June
2002 article from the American Psychological
Associations Professional Psychology: Research and
Practice that claimed gays have a right to ex-gay
therapy. Gays certainly have a right to change their
sexual behavior, as do celibate priests, but this
doesn’t justify promoting harmful ex-gay therapy.
Ex-gay activists, posing as scholars, bullied
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the APA into publishing ex-gay propaganda
under the specious guise of providing alternate
viewpoints. N o professional journal would use
this excuse to publish, without denouncing it,
neo-Nazi viewpoints on ex-Jew therapy for
those who choose to be Christian.
Nearly all ex-gays are motivated by religion,
according to the APA’s professional journal. Ex
gay therapy done under coercion is considered
unethical under a 1997 APA resolution.
Using gay sheep to understand homosexuali
ty in nature is useful, but it will not change hard
ened religious beliefs against homosexuality.
Only a religious war can do that.
T homas K raemer
Corvallis
American bi
To t h e E d it o r :
I
wanted to thank Tamara Swan for her letter
discouraging bisexual bashing J“Separate But
Equal,” Nov. 15].
Remember those studies that showed that
the most homophobic men, when hooked up to
devices that measured arousal, were more turned
on by gay pom than nonhomophobic men? It is
not that much of a leap to imagine a similar out
come for the anti-bi.
Whitman said, “l resist anything better than
my own diversity.” The political purists of het
erosexuality and homosexuality insist they have
something better for me. Thanks, but no thanks.
Monogamy yes, dishonesty, no.
On a related topic, I don’t understand all the
arguing about ex-gays. Anything is possible, I
guess, but again, they just might be “ BBBs”—
Bible-bclieving bisexuals.
Finally, l want to thank Just Out for publish
ing. It probably would be impossible to count all
the people you’ve helped in large ways and small.
I felt bad to hear about your financial diffi
culties and am sending you a check for $ 10. It’s
not much, but I hope others will do the same.
Liz M eyer
Portland
Haynes his way
To t h e E d it o r :
C
Christopher McQuain smacks The Oregrmian
for not mentioning the “gay content" of Tcxld
Haynes’ new film, Far from Heaven {“Cinephile.
Queer. Portlander.” Nov. 15]. Though I presume I
would have taken more notice of the gay issues
were I queer myself, or the racial issues if I were
African American, you’d have to he lying
comatose under the seat to miss them.
But Haynes explores more than just sexuality