What is Courage's philosophy concerning homosexuality and its treatment?
One of the most riveting debates today is the origin of homosexual behavior. On one side, there is the secular media and homosexual organizations which believe that the homosexual person is born homosexual, and therefore, he or she can do nothing to change his or her orientation. To go even farther, there is the contention that there exists medical evidence that genetically the brains of homosexuals are different that heterosexuals. A more recent study suggests that the index finger of homosexual is shorter than heterosexuals. Although intriguing at best, there is no hard core evidence in the medical field that proves that the homosexual person is born into the orientation. Even one large pro-gay organization admits that there is no conclusive evidence that people are born with same-sex attractions in one of its booklets.
On another side, some people contend that the homosexual person chooses to be homosexual. For the most, this is not true. They did not wake up one morning and say to themselves, "Well, so far in my life I've been pretty normal; from now on I think I am going to be attracted to the same sex." The direction of our attractions is not something that we can quickly change, like switching a light on and off.
Still, there are those who say that the homosexual are this way because of what happened to them during their life. They may have been hurt emotionally, and it may affect the way they feel about themselves. They may have been sexually abused or had a broken relationship with one or both of their parents. (From our work with people who want to leave Homosexuality, we know that many have experienced one or both of these. Of course, not everyone who has been sexually abused or who has had a bad relationship with a parent is attracted to the same sex. And no everyone who is attracted to the same sex has not been sexually abused.) Over time --- and depending on the help they were given for working through difficult things that happen to them, what other negative events they experienced, the choices they made in response, and son on --- they became attracted to people of the same sex. This process is sometimes called "environmental", "developmental" or "nurture rather than nature."
Generally, it seems that there are a number of different factors which are of different degrees of importance in different people's lives. These can include:
1. Factors that you're born with (for example, temperament or possible genetic predisposition)
2. Whether there were other significant negative experiences in childhood (for example, sexual abuse, or rejection by peers)
3. Whether a person's family situation was good or bad
4. The amount and kind of support that was available to help the child or young person deal with what was happening
5. The kind of moral training a child received
6. The choices that were made in response to feelings and attractions
7. How clear or confused gender roles are in a particular culture, etc.