Medical Advice With Mixed Messages: Part II
"The Health Risks of Gay Sex": Physical Injuries and Mental Disorders
 

February 20 2006
Counterbias.com
MEL SEESHOLTZ

“Physical injuries” were the second “extreme” risk listed in “The Health Risks of Gay Sex.” Does the name “Matthew Shepherd” come to mind? Virtually everyday the LGBT media report homophobic, often lethal attacks on gays. Reports such as this one are not uncommon: “A man who admitted beating and strangling to death a gay man and then stuffing his body into a suitcase and dumping it in a lake has been found guilty of manslaughter not murder as the prosecution had sought.” The verdict spoke to many about the value and worth society assigns to a gay person’s life, as did this February 10, 2006 Associated Press report:

(Manchester, Connecticut) A Superior Court judge has cut five years from the prison sentence of Sean Burke, one of two men convicted in a 1988 gay-bashing murder that sparked Connecticut’s hate-crimes law. Burke and co-defendant Marcos Perez were teenagers when they used a fireplace log to beat Richard Reihl to death outside Reihl’s Wethersfield home in 1988.

Other examples of gays being physically injured or murdered because of their sexual orientation abound, even in the mainstream media:

1993: Nicholas West, a medical clerk, was abducted by Henry Earl Dunn and Donald Aldrich and taken to a remote area of Smith County, Texas where he was stripped, ordered to his knees, and shot as many as 15 times. In a videotaped confession to police, Aldrich said he hated “queers.”

1995: The Jenny Jones Show taped a program featuring people who had secret crushes on acquaintances. Jonathan Schmitz was one stage waiting to discover his secret admirer. When it turned out to be Scott Amedure, an openly gay man, Mr. Schmitz was “humiliated.” Not long after the taping, Mr. Schmitz went to Mr. Amedure’s home and murdered him.

1999: Billy Jack Gaither, a thirty-nine year-old gay man who worked at the Russell Athletics apparel company near Sylacauga, Alabama. “Picked up” at a bar by Steven Mullins and Charles Monroe Butler, they all went for a ride in the woods. When Gaither started “talking queer stuff,” they cut his throat, bludgeoned him with an ax handle before his body was set on fire in a pile of kerosene-soaked tires.

This story from Canada also makes the point: “A Canadian man has been sent to prison after he attacked a stranger with a beer because he thought the man was gay, The Calgary Herald reported Saturday [January 29, 2005]. Victim Sebastien Sauvageau lost an eye as a result of the incident. The judge sentenced Taha Ismail Amr to four years in prison [saying] ‘The only motivation for the assault appears to be the accused’s perception that the victim was a homosexual…’”

Among the many other reports of homophobic attacks on gays were “Teen pleads guilty in beating of Arizona gay couple” and the February 2, 2006 vicious attack on patrons of a gay bar. On February 6, 2006 yet another example gays subjected to “physical injuries” just for being gay occurred in Madison, Wisconsin:

Two teenagers were attacked at East Towne Mall Monday [February 6, 2005] night … The 17- and 18-year-old boys were leaving a mall store when two former classmates began making comments about the victims’ sexual orientation.

 

“The victims kept walking throughout the mall and were being badgered by the other individuals,” said Officer Mike Hanson. “The victims were trying to avoid the individuals, who continued badgering about their sexual orientation. Ultimately it led to a fight.” …

 

“It was a large disturbance,” said Hanson. “Multiple people saw what was going on. It was very disturbing because of the amount of punching and pushing that went on.” …

 

“One of the most disturbing things about this situation is that it was right out in a very public place,” said Outreach board president Bill Turner. “Surely the attackers must have known they were going to get caught. That indicates a level of confidence on the part of the attacker that I think is very disturbing…”

A February 8, 2006 Associated Press story reported on a survey in Iowa that documented not only are gay students at risk for “physical injuries,” but so are their friends:

The survey of 175 students in 48 Iowa school districts included a focus on straight students who have gay friends. The students said being friends with someone who is gay increased their chance of being harassed. … “Just being the friend of a gay student increases the likelihood that you'll be threatened,'” said Ryan Roemerman…

 

The survey showed that 43 percent of students with gay friends reported they had property stolen or damaged, compared to 18 percent of the general student population. It also found that 94 percent of gay students reported hearing derogatory remarks frequently, and that in more than 70 percent of those incidents teachers did not intervene. …

 

The survey also found that 60 percent of gay students faced incidents of overt harassment and 10 percent of straight students with gay friends faced such harassment. Another 18 percent reported hearing derogatory remarks from teachers or school staff.

John D. Moore is the author of Confusing Love With Obsession: When You Can’t Stop Controlling Your Partner and the Relationship and professor of health sciences and psychology at American Public University. On March 8, 2004, Advocate.com featured an article by Dr. Moore that addressed the effects of antigay rhetoric and campaigns:

When President George W. Bush decided to publicly embrace a constitutional amendment to ban same-sex marriage, cloaking his remarks in the guise of religion, he psychologically violated millions upon millions of gay and lesbian youth around the nation as well as the many millions more who are their parents and relatives. In short, Mr. Bush has made it fashionable to declare “open season” on a segment of our society. Make no mistake – his intolerant message was quite clear: “You and your family are not part of the American family.” …

 

Consider what one 20-year-old student wrote in an essay about this topic in a class I instruct on gender psychology: “I have beaten up faggots before, and I used to feel guilty – not anymore! Bush says fags don’t count, so I guess it’s cool to do it.”

Bob Hague’s December 6, 2005 article was entitled “Voicemail message suggests ‘open season’ on gays”:

State Senator Dave Hansen says he’s disturbed by a message calling for “an open season” on gays, on the eve of the debate over same sex marriage. The suggestion came at the end of a crude and offensive voicemail left with Hansen’s Madison [Wisconsin] office. “Maybe we should have open season on those people, and just let ‘em know how we really think,” the caller said… AUDIO (Voicemail message from Senator Hansen’s office)

Pastor Grant Storms of the Reformer Ministries in Marrero, Louisiana was one of the speakers at the 2003 “International Conference on Homo-Fascism” held in Milwaukee. The title of the conference says it all, but what conference participants didn’t know was that

Action Wisconsin obtained an audio recording of the conference and publicized remarks that the group said incited violence and hatred. In his speech, Storms said gay rights’ opponents should “start taking it to the streets.” He mimicked gunfire: “Boom, boom, boom, boom. There’s twenty! Ca-ching,” according to a transcript. [link added]

Pastor Storms claimed in a lawsuit that Action Wisconsin defamed him by saying remarks he made at the conference advocated the murder of gays. But Milwaukee County Circuit Judge Patricia McMahon strongly disagreed. She ruled Action Wisconsin’s interpretations of the remarks were, to say the least, “reasonable.”

Despite the overwhelming evidence of violence directed at gays because of their sexual orientation, the Alabama state House voted on February 9, 2006

against changing Alabama’s hate crimes law to include offenses against people because of their sexual orientation. On a procedural vote, the House lined up 40-37 against bringing the hate crimes bill up for consideration. The vote fell mostly along party lines, with Republicans opposing the bill, saying it would make an assault on certain people worse than an attack on others. [italics added]

But that’s the very nature of “hate crime” laws, including the one the Alabama legislature passed “in 1994 that mandates longer minimum sentences for crimes committed because of the victim’s race, color, religion, national origin, ethnicity, or physical or mental disability, but does not include sexual orientation. Rep. Alvin Holmes, D-Montgomery, has been trying since 1999 to expand the law to add sexual orientation because of several well-publicized killings of gay men.” [italics added]

But then again, vehemently anti-gay, discredited former Alabama Chief Justice Roy Moore, who was removed from the bench for failing to obey a court order, is now running for governor of Alabama. Mr. Moore is infamous for his homophobia and anti-gay rulings:

In February 2002 when the state Supreme Court ruled against a lesbian mother who was seeking custody of her three daughters Moore used a litany of homophobic adjectives in his written decision. Moore said that homosexuality is “an inherent evil” that should not be tolerated.

 

His decision went on to say that the mother’s relationship made her an unfit parent and that homosexuality is “abhorrent, immoral, detestable, a crime against nature, and a violation of the laws of nature.”

He is currently using that hate to raise funds for his gubernatorial campaign.

Alabama is also the home of state Rep. Gerald Allen who’s crusaded to censor – as in remove from schools and public libraries – “gay literature” and other literature that includes gay or lesbian characters, or any gay content no matter how small. When asked what he’d do with all the works by gay and lesbian authors, and all the other works that refer to homosexuals and homosexuality, Rep. Allen said, “I guess we dig a big hole and dump them in and bury them.”

“Mental disorders” were the next risk listed in “The Health Risks of Gay Sex.” Do you think that if you were constantly harassed and made fun of, constantly on guard against violent attacks, called “a freak of nature,” “evil,” “an abomination to God” and “a threat to the state and society” by religious and political leaders, denied employment or housing, forced by a discriminatory society to live life “in the closet,” saw signs that read “God Hates Gays” and “Fags Die, God Laughs,” and had people calling for your murder that you too might develop some “mental disorders”?

Dr. Gary Cohan’s March 12, 2004 article on Advocate.com made the clinical point:

After 20 years of practicing medicine in the gay community, I can report that many diseases and most self-destructive behaviors are tied to low self-esteem. Alienation from families, shame, social isolation, hate-fueled violence, and being called “faggot” does so much damage to the young psyche that many of my adult patients now struggle with the tragic aftermath: depression, substance use, and sexual compulsivity to fill the emotional void.

Dr. Diggs did acknowledge that “homophobia must be considered as a potential cause for the increase in mental health problems…” [italics added] Seems to me “potential” should be replaced by “probable” or “inevitable,” if equivocated at all: “Homophobic Bullying Drives Teen To Suicide.”

One report documented that “Gay students face hostile environment” in America’s public schools. Another study documented that “Schools Remain Unsafe For Gay Students.” A January 29, 2006 article noted “Anti-gay bullying under investigation: Harassment may have played role in South Florida school violence case.” 

Still another report cited student comments: “We were picked on. We were called ‘queer’ and ‘faggot’ and a host of other homophobic slurs. We were also used as punching bags by our classmates, just for being different.” The same report documented that “97% of students in public high schools report regularly hearing homophobic remarks from their peers. … The typical high school student hears anti-gay slurs 25.5 times a day. … 80% of gay and lesbian youth report severe social isolation.” If things are this bad in urban schools in more liberal states, imagine how they are in rural red-neck America.

In Virginia, Utah and several other states some faith-based lawmakers want to ban (or dissolve) Gay-Straight Alliance clubs meant to bring together students in order to help them learn about and understand each other and, thereby, hopefully reduce homophobia and the violence it inevitable inspires. Other faith-based groups have their own tactics for encouraging intolerance and hatred of gay students:

In an apparent effort to make their annual “Day of Truth” – a school day in which students are encouraged “to counter the promotion of the homosexual agenda and express an opposing viewpoint from a Christian perspective” – more accessible to the youngsters, the Alliance Defense Fund has released a new video touting the “benefits” of their gay-unfriendly endeavor. … the propaganda piece … airs on the “Day of Truth” website, alongside other resources designed to promote a school environment in which “Smear the Queer” is made into a varsity sport.

Several other statements in the “physical injuries” section of “The Health Risks of Gay Sex” seemed troublesome as well. Although acknowledging “multiple studies have identified high rates of psychiatric illness, including depression, drug abuse and suicide attempts, among self-professed gays and lesbians,” that fact was seemingly brushed off and politicized by the assertion that “proponents of GLB rights have used these findings to conclude that mental illness is induced by other people’s unwillingness to accept same-sex attraction and behavior as normal.” [italics added]

The statement “proponents of GLB rights” is misleading, at best. “Proponents” are not arguing for “GLB rights”; they’re arguing for “equal rights.” The italicized generalization in Dr. Diggs’ statement is prima facie false. Some of the “mental illness” some gays and lesbians suffer – just as some of the mental illness some heterosexuals suffer – has nothing to do with other people’s opinions. Moreover, if one is homosexual, “same-sex attraction and behavior” is “normal.”

But more troubling was the subsequent assertion that those who argue for equal rights for gays and lesbians inappropriately “point to homophobia, effectively defined as any opposition to or critique of gay sex, as the cause for the higher rates of psychiatric illness, especially among gay youth.” [italics added]

The definition of “homophobia” Dr. Diggs chose to use differs substantively from the standard definition and the psychological definition: “an irrational hostility, hatred, or fear of homosexuals.” Moreover, the definition used in “The Health Risks of Gay Sex” seems little more than an echo of the Christian Right’s recurring claim that sex is the only aspect of gay relationships. Would it be fair to say heterosexual relationships are only about sex? No, it wouldn’t. And neither is it true about same-sex relationships. In both cases, there are myriad other factors, not least of which are emotional and psychological connections and commitments, and a “love” that transcends carnality.

“A shortened life span” was the last risk listed. “The Health Risks of Gay Sex” acknowledged that “the only epidemiological study to date on the life span of gay men concluded that gay and bisexual men lose up to 20 years of life expectancy.” Another unqualified “conclusion” – “gay and bisexual men lose up to 20 years of life expectancy” – and as every researchers knows, a single study doesn’t “prove” anything.

Also, one has to wonder if the day-to-day religious, political and social anti-gay stress homosexuals must deal with – and the health effects of that stress – are figured into such statistics. And then there are the faulty and discredited “studies” widely reported and used by the Christian Right and their allies, such as those promulgated by former Secretary of Education Bill Bennett, the “chief propagator of one of the most damaging lies spread about the gay community: the ‘statistic’ invented by a psychologist’s discredited data that a gay man’s average age at death is 43.” [italics added]

The on-line promo for “The Health Risks of Gay Sex” began with, “As a physician, it is my duty to assess behaviors for their impact on health and wellbeing. When something is beneficial, such as exercise, good nutrition, or adequate sleep, it is my duty to recommend it. Likewise, when something is harmful, such as smoking, overeating, alcohol or drug abuse, and homosexual sex, it is my duty to discourage it.”

Unlike smoking, overeating, alcohol and drug abuse – chosen, “add-on” behaviors that can be eliminated – sex is an inherent, natural, and healthy part of being human. To intimate that “sexual preference” is “chosen” and can be changed like other “unhealthy” chosen behaviors invokes “ex-gay therapies” that every medical and health care association in America has called “dangerous” and “harmful.”

As Dr. Diggs noted in his testimony against Massachusetts H 1643 and S 1319, physicians must “always act with the highest levels of ethics and morality in providing medical care. This includes the long-established tenets of  ‘Primum, non nocere’ – first, do no harm; and informed consent.” In other words, physicians are ethically and morally bound not to perform or recommend a treatment or procedure that they know will harm the patient, and must inform the patient of the dangers of treatments they do recommend or perform.

According to the American Medical Association, “there is no published scientific evidence supporting the efficacy of reparative therapy as a treatment to change one’s sexual orientation.” The AMA “does not recommend aversion therapy for gay men and lesbians.”

The American Academy of Pediatrics agreed, stating “therapy directed at specifically changing sexual orientation is contraindicated, since it can provoke guilt and anxiety while having little or no potential for achieving changes in orientation.”

The American Psychological Association has stated that “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.”

The American Psychiatric Association concurs: “gay men and lesbians who have accepted their sexual orientation positively are better adjusted than those who have not done so. … The potential risks of ‘reparative therapy’ are great, including depression, anxiety and self-destructive behavior.” The American Psychiatric Association’s position statement is quite clear. It states, in part, “efforts to repathologize homosexuality by claiming that it can be cured are often guided not by rigorous scientific or psychiatric research, but sometimes by religious and political forces opposed to full civil rights for gay men and lesbians.”

Other professional organizations that agree attempting to change a person’s sexual orientation is dangerous, destructive and counterproductive include the American Counseling Association, the National Association of School Psychologists, and the National Association of Social Workers.

In 1999, both the American Psychological Association and the American Psychiatric Association decried “ex-gay therapies” as “unethical.” Indeed, the American Psychiatric Association has endorsed gay marriage as a way of promoting what the American Psychological Association sees as mental health.

But recognizing gays and lesbians as equal American citizens with equal civil rights – including the civil right to a civil marriage – is anathema to the Christian Right and their allies. Anything goes when it comes to criticizing, demeaning and demonizing homosexuals, especially those who wish to marry. As the founder and chairman of Focus on the Family James Dobson said in October 2004, allowing loving, monogamous same-sex couples to wed would not only “destroy marriage. It will destroy the earth.”

In “The Health Risks of Gay Sex” Dr. Diggs used rather odd diction when he asserted “researcher designed to prove that gays and lesbians are ‘born that way’ has come up empty – there is no scientific evidence that being gay or lesbian is genetically determined.” The source he cited for the blanket statement was “John Horgan, ‘Gay Genes, Revisited,’ Scientific American, p. 26, November 1995.”

A 1995 one-page article in Scientific American supports such an absolute assertion? While it is true no “gay gene” has yet been found, research into the origins of homosexuality has hardly “come up empty.” For example, in 1993 genetic researchers at the National Cancer Institute said they’d identified a gene pattern that was involved in male homosexuality. They suggested that the pattern resided in the X chromosome, which men inherit from their mothers.

Even in 2002 when “The Health Risks of Gay Sex” was copyrighted there was mounting evidence that sexual orientation has genetic and/or neurophysiological origins. Since 2002, that evidence has been steadily increasing. But it’s curious that Dr. Diggs was unaware of research going on when he wrote his article.

For example, there was the study being conducted by Drs. Qazi Rahman and Glenn D. Wilson of the Department of Psychology, Institute of Psychiatry, University of London. Their resulting 2003 article was published in the highly respected peer-reviewed scientific journal Personality and Individual Differences (34:8, June 2003, 1337-1382). The abstract read as follows:

Sexual orientation is fundamental to evolution and shifts from the species-typical pattern of heterosexuality may represent biological variations. The growth of scientific knowledge concerning the biology of sexual orientation during the past decade has been considerable. Sexual orientation is characterised by a bipolar distribution and is related to fraternal birth order in males. In females, its distribution is more variable; females being less prone towards exclusive homosexuality. In both sexes homosexuality is strongly associated with childhood gender nonconformity. Genetic evidence suggests a heritable component and putative gene loci on the X chromosome. Homosexuality may have evolved to promote same sex affiliation through a conserved neurodevelopmental mechanism. Recent findings suggest this mechanism involves atypical neurohormonal differentiation of the brain. Key areas for future research include the neurobiological basis of preferred sexual targets and correlates of female homosexuality.

Dr. Rahman bluntly stated that “there is now very strong evidence from almost two decades of ‘biobehavioral’ research that human sexual orientation is predominantly biologically determined.” A 2003 press release also commented on the research of Drs. Rahman and Wilson. As did presentations in other venues. Drs. Rahman and Wilson’s subsequent 2005 book was reported in the media worldwide. England’s highly respected Guardian newspaper used this headline: “Being gay is in the genes, say researchers.” Drs. Rahman and Wilson are not alone in concluding genetics play a significant role in sexual preference.

A study by Drs. Barry J. Dickson and Ebru Demir of the Institute of Molecular Biotechnology of the Austrian Academy of Sciences published in the June 3, 2005 issue of the scientific journal Cell showed definitively that sexual orientation and behavior in fruit flies is genetically governed. True, human DNA and behavior are a lot more complex than those of fruit flies, but clearly genetics play some role in sexual disposition.

Also in 2005, a genome researcher in Chicago said he had found a group of genes, not a single “gay gene,” that strongly affect whether a man is homosexual. The University of Illinois at Chicago and the National Institute of Health scientists reported having looked at the genes of 456 men, each of whom had at least two gay brothers, from 146 families. The finding that a variety of genes are common to most gay men echoes other recent genetic research.

Clearly, we still know relatively little about the human genome and how it works to create the individuals we are. More research into the “origins” of homosexuality is desperately needed, but in the current theopolitical climate funding for such research may be difficult to come by. The Philadelphia Inquirer’s science writer Faye Flam’s November 30, 2003 article entitled “Spinning Science as a Political Tool” listed several recent books that document “how scientific results are being contorted to fit political agendas”:

In recent months, editors of major science journals have complained that the Bush administration is distorting science to push an agenda influenced by religion and by industry wishes. The journal Science published editorials accusing the [Bush] administration of stacking panels on lead poisoning and pollution with people with ties to the lead and petroleum industries, and loading panels on HIV/AIDS prevention with Christian pro-abstinence groups.

Research scientists reply heavily on grants and external funding, much of which has a governmental or political connection. What are the odds of independent scientists receiving a federally funded research grant to look for the genetic origins of homosexuality or other “proof” of the neurological or physiological basis of sexual orientation?

Whatever the cause(s) of homosexuality, homosexuals have existed throughout history and in all cultures. Given the percentage of the population they represent, they are disproportionately presented among the most creative minds in human history. From ancient Greece and Rome, to the Christian saints of the Middle Ages who left a considerable body of love poetry dedicated to their partners –

He was the refuge of my spirit, the sweet solace of my griefs, whose heart of love received me when fatigued by labors, whose counsel refreshed me when plunged in sadness and grief... What more is there, then, that I can say? Was it not a foretaste of blessedness thus to love and thus to be loved?

-- from Saint Aelred’s eulogy for his lover, Simon

– from prehistoric rock paintings left by the San people in what is today Zimbabwe to Native American berdache who were venerated for their “Two-Spirit” orientation, homosexuals have always been present. And so have their relationships. Those too are the subject of “The Health Risks of Gay Sex,” as well as a target for the vehemently anti-gay Christian Right.

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To Be Continued… Part III coming soon. Part I available here.

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