Difference between revisions of "Homosexuality"

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== Homosexuality and Creationism and the Theory of Evolution ==
 
== Homosexuality and Creationism and the Theory of Evolution ==
And individuals beliefs regarding  [[Creationism|creationism]] and the [[Theory of evolution|theory of evolution]] appears to influence their views on homosexuality.  Creationist scientists assert that the theory of evolution cannot account for the origin gender and sexual reproduction. [http://www.apologeticspress.org/articles/136][http://www.answersingenesis.org/pbs_nova/0928ep5.asp] Furthermore, creationists assert that sexual behavior was designed to occur between members of the opposite sex and that human homosexuality is not genetic in origin. [http://www.answersingenesis.org/pbs_nova/0928ep5.asp][http://www.answersingenesis.org/tj/v9/i1/homosexual.asp][http://creationwiki.org/Homosexuality]
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And individuals beliefs regarding  [[Creationism|creationism]] and the [[Theory of evolution|theory of evolution]] appears to influence their views on homosexuality.  Creationist scientists assert that the theory of evolution cannot account for the origin gender and sexual reproduction. <ref>http://www.apologeticspress.org/articles/136</ref><ref>http://www.answersingenesis.org/pbs_nova/0928ep5.asp</ref> Furthermore, creationists assert that sexual behavior was designed to occur between members of the opposite sex and that human homosexuality is not genetic in origin. <ref>http://www.answersingenesis.org/pbs_nova/0928ep5.asp<ref><ref>http://www.answersingenesis.org/tj/v9/i1/homosexual.asp</ref><ref>http://creationwiki.org/Homosexuality</ref>
  
 
==References==
 
==References==

Revision as of 21:27, March 16, 2007

Homosexuality is a sexual attraction between members of the same sex. It is condemned by the Bible as explained below.

Biblical Views on Homosexuality

Homosexuality is referred to four times in the Bible; it is not a topic mentioned by Jesus in the four gospels, and the only reference in the New Testament is in the letters of Paul.

All references in Amplified Version

Old Testament

  • Leviticus 18:22 - You shall not lie with a man as with a woman; it is an abomination.
  • Leviticus 20:13 - If a man lies with a man as one lies with a woman, both of them have done what is detestable. They must be put to death; their blood will be on their own heads.

New Testament (Epistles)

  • 1 Corinthians 6:9 - Do you not know that the unrighteous and the wrongdoers will not inherit or have any share in the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived (misled): neither the impure and immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor those who participate in homosexuality
  • Romans 1:26-27 - 26 For this reason God gave them over and abandoned them to vile affections and degrading passions. For their women exchanged their natural function for an unnatural and abnormal one, 27 and the men also turned from natural relations with women and were set ablaze (burning out, consumed) with lust for one another--men committing shameful acts with men and suffering in their own bodies and personalities the inevitable consequences and penalty of their wrong-doing and going astray, which was [their] fitting retribution.

Homosexuality and Genetics

Research has shown that adoptive brothers are more likely to both be homosexuals than the biological brothers, who share half their genes. This data prompted the journal Science to report "this . . . suggests that there is no genetic component, but rather an environmental component shared in families" [1][2][3]. On the other hand, there is a study purporting to support that homosexuality is partly genetic in cause. Dean Hamer, a gay researcher, conducted a study of thirty-two pairs of brothers who were not related and exclusively homosexual. As they were not related, they should not share the same genes. However, two-thirds of the pairs (22 pairs) shared the same type of genetic material, supporting the hypothesis that there is an existing gene that either influences homosexuality, or is caused by homosexuality.[4] However, Hamer's study was attempted to be replicated and it is was reported in the journal Science that researchers were not able to confirm Hamer's findings.[5]

Homosexuality and Human Behavior

Promiscuity

Homosexual author Gabriel Rotello wrote that "Gay liberation was founded . . . on a 'sexual brotherhood of promiscuity,' and any department of that promiscuity would be tantamount to a 'communal betrayal of gargantuan proportions.'" [6] According to John R. Diggs, JR. M.D., "A far-ranging study of homosexual men published in 1978 revealed that 75 percent of self-identified, white, gay men admitted to having sex with more than 100 different males in their lifetime: 15 percent claimed 100-249 sex partners; 17 percent claimed 250- 499; 15 percent claimed 500-999; and 28 percent claimed more than 1,000 lifetime male sex partners. [7]

A 1997 study of the sexual profiles of 2,583 older homosexuals, published in the Journal of Sex Research, found that 2.7 percent claimed to have had sex with one partner only. [8]

Women Who Have Sex with Women Commonly Have Sexual Relations With Men

The Washington Blade, a homosexual newspaper cited a 1998 study in the Journal of Infectious Diseases which stated that "the study's data confirmed previous scientific observations that most women who have sex with women also have had sex with men." [9] The study also stated: "sex with men in the prior year was common, as were sexual practices between female partners that possibly could transmit HPV." [10]

Homosexuality and Disease

Intestinal Parasites

An article in the Candadian Medical Association Journal stated the following in its abstract: "In a controlled study 67.5% of 200 homosexual men but only 16% of 100 heterosexual men were found to be infected with intestinal parasites"...These findings suggest that the male homosexual community may be an important reservoir of potentially pathogenic protozoa." [11]

Syphilis

According to the Centers for Disease Control (CDC):

"While surveillance data are not available by risk behavior, a separate CDC analysis suggests that approximately 64 percent of all adult P&S syphilis cases in 2004 were among men who have sex with men, up from an estimated 5 percent in 1999....Syphilis increases, especially among men who have sex with men, demonstrate the need to continually adapt our strategies to eliminate syphilis in the United States,” said Dr. Ronald O. Valdiserri, acting director of CDC’s HIV, STD and TB prevention programs."[12]

Gonorrhea

The CDC had the following to report concerning gonorea:

"CDC conducted sentinel surveillance in 28 cities and found the proportion of cases resistant to fluoroquinolone antibiotics (a first-line treatment for gonorrhea) increased from 4.1 percent in 2003 to 6.8 percent in 2004. Resistance is especially worrisome in men who have sex with men, where it was eight times higher than among heterosexuals (23.8 percent vs. 2.9 percent). In April 2004, CDC recommended that fluoroquinolones no longer be used as treatment for gonorrhea among men who have sex with men. These antibiotics were also not recommended to treat the disease in anyone in California or Hawaii, where resistance has been widespread for years. Outside of these states, the prevalence of fluoroquinolone resistance among heterosexuals remains low at 1.3 percent." [13]

Mental Health

Recent studies indicate that homosexuals have a substantially greater risk of suffering from a psychiatric problems (suicide, depression, bulimia, antisocial personality disorder, and substance abuse).[14]

Also, a national survey of lesbians was published in the Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology which found that 75 percent of the approximate 2,000 respondents had pursued psychological counseling of some type, many for treatment of long-term depression or sadness. [15]

However, studies have suggested that this heightened incidence of mental issues may be due to discrimination. A University of California-Los Angeles study found that individuals who identified as homosexual or bisexual were more likely to report experiences of discrimination, and that many attributed this discrimination to their sexual orientation. Those who did attribute perceived discrimination to their sexual orientation had higher rates of mental illness. [16]

At the same time, John R. Diggs, M.D. states the following:

"An extensive study in the Netherlands undermines the assumption that homophobia is the cause of increased psychiatric illness among gays and lesbians. The Dutch have been considerably more accepting of same-sex relationships than other Western countries — in fact, same-sex couples now have the legal right to marry in the Netherlands. So a high rate of psychiatric disease associated with homosexual behavior in the Netherlands means that the psychiatric disease cannot so easily be attributed to social rejection and homophobia." [17]

However, unlike the UCLA study, the study in the Netherlands did not have any measure for perceived discrimination on the part of the individuals surveyed, so, lacking any empirical support to suggest that the level of discrimination experienced by homosexuals in the Netherlands is dramatically lower than that experienced in the United States, it is difficult to distinguish this remark from speculation.

Anal Cancer

Dr. Joel Palefsky, a noted expert in the area of anal cancer, reported that while the occurence of anal cancer in the United States is only 0.9/100,000, this number jumps to 35/100,000 for homosexuals. [18] In addition, this rate doubles again for those who are HIV positive, which, Dr. Palefsky states is "roughly ten times higher than the current rate of cervical cancer."[19]

Homosexuality in the Law

Treatment of homosexuals by the law has increasingly suggested that discrimination based on homosexuality employs a "suspect classification" subject to "strict scrutiny" under modern Fourteenth Amendment jurisprudence, with judges and scholars employing language to equate discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation with already forbidden racial discrimination practices.[20] Where federal law forbidding discrimination against homosexuals remains scant, the several states have more than taken up the burden, and many have made sexual-orientation based discrimination actionable at law and equity.[21] Perhaps this can be seen as an example of the robustness of the United States' federal system, as the states are acting just as Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes and Justice Brandeis expressed hope that they would, as "laboratories" of experimentation on the border of developed federal law.[22]

The Supreme Court recently overturned a Texas law banning sodomy. The majority opinion, written by Justice Kennedy, suggests that all forms of discrimination, including that based on sexual orientation, are now subject to rational basis review, and will be frowned upon unless a legitimate state interest in the discrimination is expressed. Justice Kennedy also held that the need to legislate morals by the states' police power is no longer a legitimate state interest, absent specific physical harms being proven. Justice Antonin Scalia wrote a blistering dissent, characterizing the opinion as including phrases which will become the "dicta that ate the rule of law."[23]

Homosexuality and Marriage

For many years, the American Psychiatric Association listed homosexuality as a mental disorder. However, the organization de-listed homosexuality in 1973.[24] Since the late 1960s, many people, both homosexual and heterosexual, have lobbied for more favorable laws for homosexuals.

Legal marriage between same-sex couples is now recognized in Canada, Spain, South Africa, Belgium, Israel and the Netherlands, and in the US state of Massachusetts. Most other western European nations and several US states recognize a more limited "civil union". 26 US states have passed constitutional amendments banning recognition of same-sex marriages, and federal law does not recognize same-sex marriage. Some groups have pushed for a federal Constitutional amendment barring the legal recognition of same-sex marriages, however the amendment did not pass the Senate.[25]

Homosexuality and Animals

In some jurisdictions, some forms of sexual activity are referred to by the legal term "unnatural act," a term which originated in church canon law. Non-zoologists have sometimes made the incorrect inference that homosexual behavior does not occur in the zoological world and have used it as a talking point when attacking homosexuality. This has created an interest in the side issue whether homosexual behavior is or is not zoologically "natural." This is largely a sterile debate because behavior is not necessarily moral even if "natural;" because the nature of human beings is not necessarily the same as the nature of other species, and because it is not at all clear when an observed behavior can be counted as "sexual," or as implying a sexual "orientation."

A 1996 article, published by an organization commited to "treatment" of homosexuality, musters the arguments against interpretation of animal behavior as sanctioning homosexuality.[26] It notes that "homosexual scientist Simon LeVay" stated that the evidence pointed to isolated acts, not to homosexuality:

"Although homosexual behavior is very common in the animal world, it seems to be very uncommon that individual animals have a long-lasting predisposition to engage in such behavior to the exclusion of heterosexual activities. Thus, a homosexual orientation, if one can speak of such thing in animals, seems to be a rarity."

In addition, Dr. Antonio Pardo, Professor of Bioethics at the University of Navarre, Spain, wrote:

Properly speaking, homosexuality does not exist among animals.... For reasons of survival, the reproductive instinct among animals is always directed towards an individual of the opposite sex. Therefore, an animal can never be homosexual as such. Nevertheless, the interaction of other instincts (particularly dominance) can result in behavior that appears to be homosexual. Such behavior cannot be equated with an animal homosexuality. All it means is that animal sexual behavior encompasses aspects beyond that of reproduction.Cite error: Closing </ref> missing for <ref> tag For example, every cattle farmer is familiar with the phenomenon of "bulling," cows mounting other cows; in fact, this is one of the standard signs farmers look for when determining that a cow is coming into estrus. However, it does not follow that the cows involved are showing anything analogous to human lesbian orientation.

Others asserts also that sexual behavior between animals of the same sex is common:

Homosexuality and Creationism and the Theory of Evolution

And individuals beliefs regarding creationism and the theory of evolution appears to influence their views on homosexuality. Creationist scientists assert that the theory of evolution cannot account for the origin gender and sexual reproduction. [29][30] Furthermore, creationists assert that sexual behavior was designed to occur between members of the opposite sex and that human homosexuality is not genetic in origin. Cite error: Closing </ref> missing for <ref> tag[31]

References

  1. (Science, Vol. 262, page 2063, December 24, 1993)
  2. http://www.trueorigin.org/gaygene01.asp
  3. [http://www.freetobeme.com/r_biol.htm
  4. http://serendip.brynmawr.edu/biology/b103/f97/projects97/Newman.html A report done by a student at Bryn Mawr College, but is nonetheless verifyable.
  5. http://www.narth.com/docs/1996papers/silverman.html
  6. http://www.catholiceducation.org/articles/homosexuality/ho0075.html
  7. http://www.catholiceducation.org/articles/homosexuality/ho0075.html
  8. http://www.family.org/socialissues/A000000683.cfm
  9. http://www.frc.org/get.cfm?i=IS01B1
  10. http://www.frc.org/get.cfm?i=IS01B1
  11. http://www.pubmedcentral.nih.gov/articlerender.fcgi?artid=1704818
  12. http://www.cdc.gov/od/oc/media/pressrel/r051108.htm
  13. http://www.cdc.gov/od/oc/media/pressrel/r051108.htm
  14. http://www.healthyplace.com/communities/Gender/Site/depression/mental_problems.htm
  15. http://www.frc.org/get.cfm?i=IS01B1
  16. http://www.ajph.org/cgi/content/abstract/91/11/1869
  17. http://www.catholiceducation.org/articles/homosexuality/ho0075.html
  18. http://www.frc.org/get.cfm?i=IS01B1
  19. http://www.frc.org/get.cfm?i=IS01B1
  20. Pamela S. Karlan, "Loving Lawrence," available online at http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=512662
  21. See, e.g., N.Y.C. Admin. Code, s 8-107
  22. Brest, Levinson, et al, "Processes in Constitutional Decisionmaking: Cases and Materials," Fifth Edition.
  23. See Lawrence v. Texas, 539 U.S. 558
  24. http://www.apa.org/pi/reslgbc.html
  25. http://www.cnn.com/2006/POLITICS/06/07/same.sex.marriage/index.html
  26. The Animal Homosexuality Myth, Luiz Sérgio Solimeo, excerpt from book Defending a Higher Law: Why We Must Resist Same Sex "Marriage" and the Homosexual Movement.
  27. Parker, Sue Taylor,Robert W. Mitchell, H. Lyn Miles (1999), The Mentalities of Gorillas and Orangutans: comparative perspectives. Cambridge University Press. p. 54
  28. Smith, Dinitia (2004), "Central Park Zoo's gay penguins ignite debate," The New York Times, Saturday, February 7, 2004, as published on the San Francisco Chronicle website[1]: "Bonobos are wildly energetic sexually. Studies show that whether observed in the wild or in captivity, nearly all are bisexual and nearly half their sexual interactions are with the same sex... 10 to 15 percent of female western gulls in some populations in the wild are homosexual... male and female bottlenose dolphins frequently engage in homosexual activity, both in captivity and in the wild"
  29. http://www.apologeticspress.org/articles/136
  30. http://www.answersingenesis.org/pbs_nova/0928ep5.asp
  31. http://creationwiki.org/Homosexuality

See Also

Bisexuality