In the doctrine of the Roman Catholic Church gays and lesbians are "objectively disordered" and homosexual behavior is against divine and natural law. So a group of doctors in Bavaria - the home state of Pope Benedict XVI - have offered a "cure". The Union of Catholic Doctors (Bund Katholischer Ärzte) have provided information to the afflicted on their Web site.
The doctors are offering help for those afflicted with "homosexual tendencies" which they believe are "acquired traits" and are in no way innate ("angeboren"). The three-pronged treatment regimen is described as follows:
The therapy includes psychotherapy and homeopathic treatment, controversial in itself, that consisted of using high concentrations of substances like platinum.
The BKÄ insisted that it was only providing help for people who asked for it. "We know of many people with homosexual tendencies in spiritual and psychological distress," BKÄ boss Gero Winkelmann told news magazine Der Spiegel. "If someone is unhappy, sick, or in distress then he or she should be able to find opportunities to find help on our website."
Winkelmann runs a private homeopathic practice in Unterhaching, Bavaria, and was previously active in a small political party called the Christian League.
Homeopathy is more popular in Germany than in the US, but is very controversial. There have been numerous scientific studies that dispute the efficacy of homeopathic remedies and many medical professionals consider it dangerous.
Needless to say, gay and lesbian groups in Germany are outraged:
The Lesbian and Gay Federation in Germany (LSVD) has called the offer of advice an "insult" and an "imposition," and accused the organization in question, the Catholic Physicians in Germany (BKÄ), of "lacking respect for homosexual and bisexual people."
Basically, what the doctors in the Bavaria are offering is a fake remedy for a non-existent illness.
In my opinion, homosexuality isn't, strictly speaking, innate.
I think human sexuality is probably acquired via a process similar to language acquisition. The ability to acquire language is innate, but the particular language(s), accents, speaking styles, preferences, etc. are greatly influenced by the environment. Sexuality (in its general form, i.e. the desire to engage in sexual behavior of some sort) is presumably innate, but the particular preference, style, etc. is greatly influenced by environmental factors.
So, having bucked the conventional wisdom that homosexuality is innate, I'll go on to state that it is ridiculous to treat homosexuality itself as a disease, or even, as a negative thing. Consenting adults can work out for themselves what is healthy sexual behavior and what is unhealthy.
Of course, sexual preferences start to form before adulthood. Logically, the parents (and by extension, the community chosen by the parents) must struggle to work out for themselves what influences their children should have.
If some organization, like the Catholic Church, wishes to try to persuade people to limit themselves to a certain, narrow type of sexuality, that is their right...and it is the right of other organizations to influence people in different directions.
Finally, I fully agree with the statement, "the doctors in the Bavaria are offering is a fake remedy for a non-existent illness". As an aside, I think GID (Gender Identity Disorder), which is supposedly cured by a sex change, is also a fake disease (in most cases?). If people want to transform their bodies, whether its braces for the teeth, a face lift, tattoos, or much more radical procedures, it should in general be seen as an exercise of free expression, not medicine.
Posted by: John in Michigan, USA | June 05, 2011 at 08:18 PM
My sister is a case in point. She has happily heterosexual for many years. After a bad marriage she found and fell in love with a woman and then spent 5 or 6 years as a lesbian. After a breakup and she found and fell in love with a man again.
Is she gay? Is she heterosexual?
I believe firmly that some gay people are born that way and some become that way. I fully support them either way.
I am not sure that I would call my sister "cured". But I would say that she used to be homosexual and now is not.
Could the study have includes some people like my sister?
Posted by: Jessica | February 22, 2012 at 08:14 AM