Posts made by santiego

Algunos terapeutas que aplican las llamadas terapias de conversión informan que fueron capaces de modificar la orientación sexual de sus pacientes de homosexual a heterosexual. Sin embargo, el examen riguroso de estos informes muestra aspectos que hacen dudosas sus afirmaciones. Por ejemplo, esas afirmaciones provienen de organizaciones con una perspectiva ideológica que condena a la homosexualidad y, además, están insuficientemente documentadas. Tampoco el resultado del tratamiento es seguido e informado durante el transcurso de su aplicación como sería la norma para probar el valor de cualquier intervención en salud mental.

La Asociación Americana de Psicología expresa preocupación acerca de tales terapias y el daño que infligirían a sus pacientes. En 1997, el Concejo Directivo de la Asociación aprobó la resolución que reafirmaba la oposición de la psicología a los planteamientos y las posturas homofóbicas en el tratamiento; y también explicaba, claramente, el derecho del paciente a un tratamiento imparcial y a la autodeterminación. Toda persona que recurra a la terapia psicológica para elaborar los aspectos emergentes de la orientación sexual tiene el derecho de aguardar que tal terapia tendrá lugar en un medio profesional neutro preservado de todo prejuicio social.

Hay numerosas teorías acerca del origen de la orientación sexual de una persona. Al presente, la mayoría de los científicos está de acuerdo en que la orientación sexual resultaría de la compleja interacción de varios tipos de factores: medio-ambientales, psico-cognoscitivos y biológicos. Es importante comprender y admitir que, al menos hasta donde hoy se conoce, hay muchas razones para explicar la orientación sexual de una persona y que estas razones serían diferentes para diferentes personas. La orientación sexual de la mayor parte de las personas queda configurada en su temprana edad.

La orientación sexual es la atracción emocional permanente a otra persona, sea ésta amorosa, sexual o afectiva. Puede ser de carácter homosexual, bisexual o heterosexual.

Se distingue de otros aspectos de la sexualidad:

-al sexo biológico (es decir, el hecho de ser hombre o ser mujer)

-a la identidad de género (es decir, a la conciencia de ser varón o mujer)

-al rol social de género (es decir, a la aceptación y cumplimiento de las normas culturales para la conducta femenina y masculina).

-a la conducta sexual pues las personas podrían, o no, expresar su orientación sexual en sus conductas.

La orientación sexual está integrada a una continuidad que fluctúa desde la homosexualidad exclusiva hasta la heterosexualidad exclusiva, e incluye diferentes formas intermedias. Las personas bisexuales pueden experimentar atracción amorosa, sexual y afectiva tanto hacia personas de su propio sexo como del opuesto. Las personas de orientación homosexual son llamadas “gays”, tanto los varones como las mujeres, o “lesbianas”, cuando se trata de las mujeres solamente.

Yes!  LGBT people can and do have families.  Same-sex couples do form committed and loving relationships. In the United States many same-sex couples choose to celebrate their love with commitment ceremonies or civil unions, although these couples are not offered the rights and benefits of marriage.  More and more LGBT couples are also raising children together, although state laws on adoption and foster parenting vary.  And of course, many LGBT people have the support of the loving families they were born into, or the families that they have created with their other friends and loved ones. As the saying goes, all it takes is love to make a family. - See more at: http://community.pflag.org/page.aspx?pid=290#sthash.LKLUekOW.dpuf

No – and efforts to do so aren’t just unnecessary – they’re damaging.

Religious and secular organizations do sponsor campaigns and studies claiming that LGBT people can change their sexual orientation or gender identity because there is something wrong. PFLAG believes that it is our anti-LGBT attitudes, laws and policies that need to change, not our LGBT loved ones.

These studies and campaigns suggesting that LGBT people can change are based on ideological biases and not peer-reviewed  solid science.  No studies show proven long-term changes in gay or transgender people, and many reported changes are based solely on behavior and not a person's actual self-identity. The American Psychological Association has stated that scientific evidence shows that reparative therapy (therapy which claims to change LGBT people) does not work and that it can do more harm than good. - See more at: http://community.pflag.org/page.aspx?pid=290#sthash.LKLUekOW.dpuf

There have been people in all cultures and times throughout human history who have identified themselves as  lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender (LGBT). Homosexuality is not an illness or a disorder, a fact that is agreed upon by both the American Psychological Association and the American Psychiatric Association. Homosexuality was removed from the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual (DSM) of the American Psychiatric Association in 1974. Being transgender or gender variant is not a disorder either, although Gender Identity Dysphoria (GID) is still listed in the DSM of the American Psychiatric Association. Being LGBT is as much a human variation as being left-handed - a person's sexual orientation and gender identity are just another piece of who they are. There is nothing wrong with being LGBT - in fact, there's a lot to celebrate.

Discriminatory laws, policies and attitudes that persist in our schools, workplaces, places of worship and larger communities, however, are wrong and hurt LGBT people and their loved ones. PFLAG works to make sure that LGBT people have full civil rights and can live openly, free from discrimination and violence. - See more at: http://community.pflag.org/page.aspx?pid=290#sthash.LKLUekOW.dpuf

No one knows exactly how sexual orientation and gender identity determined. However, experts agree that it is a complicated matter of genetics, biology, psychological and social factors.  For most people, sexual orientation and gender identity are shaped at any early age. While research has not determined a cause, homosexuality and gender variance are not the result of any one factor like parenting or past experiences. It is never anyone's "fault" if they or their loved one grows up to be LGBT.

If you are asking yourself why you or your loved one is LGBT, consider asking yourself another question: Why ask why? Does your response to a LGBT person depend on knowing why they are LGBT? Regardless of cause, LGBT people deserve equal rights and to be treated fairly. - See more at: http://community.pflag.org/page.aspx?pid=290#sthash.LKLUekOW.dpuf

PFLAG offers local support and education all across the country. Members in PFLAG chapters know what you’re going through and can help. You may be experiencing an array of emotions such as grief, guilt, and denial, and you could be facing new questions about your relationship with your LGBT loved one. Whatever your reaction, remember that your loved one is sharing one part of his/her identity with you and is ultimately the same person as yesterday. - See more at: http://community.pflag.org/page.aspx?pid=290#sthash.LKLUekOW.dpuf

Although there is much variation in how the word is defined, most people use "transgender" to refer to individuals whose gender identity doesn't fit into the usual rigid male/female categories. Note that the word "transvestite" has a different, much more specific meaning (referring specifically to the practice of cross-dressing—i.e. men or women, whether straight or gay, who wear clothing associated with the opposite gender.

This is a handy acronym that summarizes the main constituent groups within the overall "Gay Community." Specifically, the so-called Gay Community includes Lesbian women, Gay men, Bisexual people of both genders, Transgender people, Questioning people who aren't sure about their sexuality, Intersexual people who have physical features of both sexes, and Allies who are heterosexual and support gay rights.

In the early 1970s, in the wake of the Stonewall Rebellion (in which gays fought back for the first time against police harassment and repression), New York City's Gay Activists Alliance selected the Greek letter lambda as its emblem. Since then the lambda letter has spread throughout the world as a frequent symbol for gay rights organizations, such as the Lambda Legal Defense Fund (a gay rights legal services organization).

The pink triangle, the most widely recognized of all gay symbols, was derived from Nazi Death camps in WWII. Gay men were forced to wear pink triangles to mark them, as Jews wore the yellow Star of David. The gay power movement adopted the triangle to turn a symbol of degradation into one of pride. Lesbians, who were not singled out in the camps, were sometimes arrested as prostitutes and forced to wear the black triangle worn by those branded as criminals.

No. This is a commonly held myth. In reality, the risk of exposure to HIV is related to a person's behavior, not his or her sexual orientation. What's important to remember about HIV/AIDS is that it can be prevented by using safe sexual practices and by not using drugs.

They tell about it because sharing that aspect of themselves with others is important to their mental health. In fact, the process of identity development for lesbians, gay men, and bisexuals, called coming out, has been found to be strongly related to psychological adjustment—the more positive the gay, lesbian, or bisexual identity, the better one's mental health and the higher one's self-esteem.

The Bible doesn’t discuss gay feelings, but it does discuss gay sex. There are only a handful of passages which mention same-gender sexual relationships, and all of them are negative.

There are basically two ways to interpret these passages, and gay Christians are divided on which is the appropriate one.

One view holds that the Bible does condemn gay sex, and that gay Christians should commit themselves to lifelong celibacy. This is the predominant view in the Roman Catholic Church, for example.

The other view holds that the Bible condemns certain sexual practices - including the homosexual sex rites of ancient pagan idol worship - but that God blesses a loving, monogamous, Christ-centered, same-sex marriage. A lot of information on this view can be found in the “Bible & theology” section of our resource page.
 Please stop spamming the forums.    Also, if you want to discuss religious views, keep them to the religion section.

In a word, no. When someone says that the Bible condemns “homosexuality,” what they usually mean to say is that the Bible condemns homosexual behavior. (Not everyone agrees, however; see the next question.) Remember, “being gay” doesn’t mean that someone is sexually active.

The Bible condemns some types of sexual behavior, and it condemns lust of any sort (whether heterosexual or homosexual). But nowhere does the Bible discuss same-sex attractions or how to live as a Christian if you have gay feelings. These are subjects on which we must seek God’s heart through prayer and the guidance that we do have in Scripture.

This is a tough question to answer with certainty, since “proving” whether someone’s attractions have changed is sort of like proving whether they were abducted by aliens. It could have happened, but if it did, the only way to know is by taking their word for it. After all, no one can really know how another person feels inside.

If we do take people at their word, what we find is this: Most gay people have tried to become straight at some point in their lives. Many gay Christians have spent years of their lives praying for God to make them straight, and a lot of us have combined prayer with Christian therapy, support groups, psychological treatments, or other methods of seeking change. Some have even undergone controversial therapies like shock treatment, hoping it would help them become straight.

Today, there are a number of “ex-gay organizations,” which teach that gays can become straight. You may have heard the testimony of ex-gays, people who say they’ve changed from gay to straight, usually with God’s help.

The term “ex-gay” can be a bit misleading, however. Often, people who say they “came out of homosexuality” mean only that they stopped engaging in homosexual sex. They consider themselves “ex-gay” because of a change in their behavior, but they continue to be attracted to the same sex. (This is sort of like a prostitute who becomes fed up with her unfulfilling lifestyle and chooses to give up sex. She is still heterosexual, but she is no longer engaging in heterosexual intercourse. She didn’t “come out of heterosexuality.”)

Some ex-gays marry a member of the opposite sex, and use this as the “proof” that they have changed. But many gay people have also married a member of the opposite sex and even raised a family in an attempt to change their inner feelings. Even so, on the inside, they still remain attracted to their own sex. They’re still gay.

The vast majority of ex-gays admit to continuing same-sex attractions, even though they may not say so in their public testimonies. There are a few, however, who claim to have gone from 100% gay to 100% straight. It is possible, then, that an orientation change may be possible for a small percentage of the population. On the other hand, critics will point out that several ex-gays who claimed to have become straight were later caught in compromising situations, demonstrating that they hadn’t always been honest about their innermost feelings.

Ultimately, of course, none of us can say for sure whether it may be possible for some people to change their feelings, or if so, who can change and how much.

No. Many people believe that being gay must be a choice, but that’s usually because they’re confusing “gay feelings” with “homosexual behavior.” The two are not the same.

Being gay just means that someone is attracted to his or her own sex. Most of us would not have chosen to feel this way, and many of us tried very hard to become “straight” (attracted to the opposite sex). But even straight people can’t choose whom they find attractive. You can’t force yourself to become attracted to someone who isn’t attractive to you, and you can’t force yourself to think someone is unattractive when you are actually attracted to them. (Believe us, we’ve tried!)

However, any of us can choose how we wish to behave. If a gay person chooses to be sexually abstinent, or to go on a date, or to try to change their feelings through prayer, or any other behavior, that is a choice. Being gay is not a choice, but the way we respond to our gay feelings is always up to us.

What’s a gay Christian?
Christians are the followers of Jesus of Nazareth. We believe that Jesus was God’s Son, the savior who was promised to the Israelites. His sacrificial death means that we can be forgiven for the wrongs we’ve done, and have eternal life with God.

A gay person is someone who is physically and emotionally attracted to the same sex, unlike the majority of people, who are attracted to the opposite sex. It is not currently known why some people are gay when the majority are straight, although there are a number of theories.

In recent years, some groups of Christians have become very critical of gay people, due to some negative references to homosexuality in the Bible. Even so, there are many same-sex attracted people who choose to follow Jesus. The Gay Christian Network is a place for those people to find support, fellowship, and spiritual nourishment.

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