by Fr. Johannes Jacobse
In what could be called a stunning reversal, Dr. Lisa Diamond, a top researcher of the American Psychological Association (APA) and avowed lesbian activist, states that viewing sexuality as exclusively two types — heterosexual and homosexual — that are rigid and unchangeable no longer applies. California psychologist Laura A. Haynes writes in the essay below that “the battle to disprove ‘born that way and can’t change’ is now over, and [Diamond] is telling LGBT activists to stop promoting the myth.”
Haynes says:
In the APA Handbook, Dr. Diamond states, “Hence, directly contrary to the conventional wisdom that individuals with exclusive same-sex attractions represent the prototypical ‘type’ of sexual-minority individual, and that those with bisexual patterns of attraction are infrequent exceptions, the opposite is true. Individuals with nonexclusive patterns of attraction are indisputably the ‘norm,’ and those with exclusive same-sex attractions are the exception” (v. 1, p. 633). Most people who experience same-sex attraction also already experience opposite-sex attraction.
What this means in plain English is what many of us have known all along: Sexuality desire is fluid, homosexual desire is not “hard-wired;” that “born that way and can’t change” is a myth; feelings don’t overrule volition (behavior is a choice, one does not need to act on every feeling — especially sexual feelings); the “born that way” argument is political, not scientific; sexual orientation is subject to change among others.
No doubt Diamond’s conclusions causes alarm in the ranks of Gay INC. Haynes writes:
Dr. Diamond tells LGBT activists near the end of her YouTube lecture, “I feel as a community, the queers have to stop saying, ‘Please help us. We’re born this way, and we can’t change’ as an argument for legal standing. I don’t think we need that argument, and that argument is going to bite us in the ass, because now we know that there’s enough data out there, that the other side is aware of as much as we are aware of it.” In other words, Dr. Diamond says, “Stop saying ‘born that way and can’t change’ for political purposes, because the other side knows it’s not true as much as we do.”
Closer to home apologists for retooling the Orthodox moral tradition such as Fr. Robert Arida and Fr. Christopher Calin need to reconsider their positions.
Diamond reveals what the Orthodox moral tradition has always known: sexuality can be a struggle but the idea that what a person feels defines who he is — who God created him to be — is false. If a person feels homosexual desire it does not mean he is created homosexual. If a person decides to engage in homosexual behavior, that decision is freely chosen even if the desire is not. If a person person experiences homosexual desire and wishes to change into more normative heterosexuality, abundant evidence exists that such a change is may indeed be possible.
Haynes’ essay follows.
American Psychological Association Makes New Statement About Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity, Is Silent About Important Research
By Laura A. Haynes, Ph.D., California Psychologist. 9/14/2016. Contact: www.laurahaynesphd.com.
In its “Series Preface,” the APA Handbook on Sexuality and Psychology (American Psychological Association, 2014) states,
With the imprimatur of the largest scientific and professional organization representing psychology in the United States and the largest association of psychologists in the world, and with content edited and authored by some of its most respected members, the APA Handbook in Psychology series will be the indispensable and authoritative reference resource to turn to for researchers, instructors, practitioners, and field leaders alike. (p. xvi).
The American Psychological Association (APA) could not confer any higher authority on the APA Handbook of Sexuality and Psychology than it does, bestowing its “imprimatur” and calling it “authoritative.” Dr. Lisa Diamond, a self-avowed lesbian, is co-editor-in-chief of the Handbook, and she authors and co-authors chapters in it. She qualifies as one of the APA’s “most respected members.” In her APA Handbook chapters, her book, and a YouTube lecture, she says sexual orientation does not come in two types—exclusively homosexual and exclusively heterosexual—that are rigid and unchangeable. The battle to disprove “born that way and can’t change” is now over, and she is telling LGBT activists to stop promoting the myth. The public needs to hear this.
In the APA Handbook, Dr. Diamond states, “Hence, directly contrary to the conventional wisdom that individuals with exclusive same-sex attractions represent the prototypical ‘type’ of sexual-minority individual, and that those with bisexual patterns of attraction are infrequent exceptions, the opposite is true. Individuals with nonexclusive patterns of attraction are indisputably the ‘norm,’ and those with exclusive same-sex attractions are the exception” (v. 1, p. 633). Most people who experience same-sex attraction also already experience opposite-sex attraction.
More conventional wisdom that the APA Handbook says is not true is that same-sex attraction and transgender identity never change. The American Psychological Association (2011) officially recognizes sexual fluidity or sexual orientation change. TheAPA Handbook says, “Although change in adolescence and emerging adulthood is understandable, change in adulthood contradicts the prevailing view of consistency in sexual orientation” (Rosario & Schrimshaw, 2014, APA Handbook, v. 1, p. 562). Also, both the American Psychiatric Association (Diagnostic and Statistical Manual-Fifth Edition, p. 455) and the American Psychological Association (Bockting, 2014, APA Handbook, v. 1, p. 744) recognize transgender identity fluctuates, and the vast majority of gender dysphoric minors will eventually accept their chromosomal sex. Therapy that is open to change in minors or adults is more in harmony with the developmental course of sexual orientation and gender identity for many than is gay-affirmative or transgender-affirmative therapy.
Researchers measure sexual orientation by one or more of three separate factors: sexual attraction, behavior, and self-label identity. These do not necessarily match within the same individual. For example, a person could have bisexual attraction, same-sex behavior, and heterosexual identity if there is a sense that the same-sex sexuality does not represent the authentic self. The APA Handbook states that “[R]esearch on sexual minorities has long documented that many recall having undergone notable shifts in their patterns of sexual attractions, behaviors, or [orientation] identities over time” (v. 1, p. 636).
The APA Handbook reviews a highly regarded study by gay researcher Savin-Williams and colleagues (Savin-Williams, Joyner, & Rieger, 2012; Rosario & Schrimshaw, 2014, APA Handbook, v. 1, p. 562) that followed the sexual identity of young adult participants when most were ages 18 through 24 and again at ages 24 through 34, about 6 years later. Participants indicated whether their sexual identity was heterosexual, mostly heterosexual, bisexual, mostly homosexual, or homosexual. The bisexual group was larger than exclusively gay and lesbian groups combined. But the largest identity group, second only to heterosexual, was “mostly heterosexual” for each sex and across both age groups, and that group was “larger than all the other non-heterosexual identities combined” (Savin-Williams et al., abstract). “The bisexual category was the most unstable” with three quarters changing that status in 6 years (abstract, emphasis added). “[O]ver time, more bisexual and mostly heterosexual identified young adults of both sexes moved toward heterosexuality than toward homosexuality” (p 106, emphasis added).
Kleinplatz and Diamond (2014, APA Handbook, v.1, p. 256) say, “Historically such individuals [mostly heterosexual] have been treated with skepticism and suspicion by laypeople and scientists alike. They have been viewed as either closeted lesbian, gay, or bisexual individuals (who cling to a mostly heterosexual label to avoid the stigma associated with same-sex sexuality) or as confused or questioning “heteroflexibles,” Heteroflexibles refers to individuals who, given our culture, have had infrequent same- sex fantasies or experimented with same-sex behavior but are not really gay or bisexual (v.1, p. 256). Kleinplatz and Diamond urge that “it is critically important for clinicians…to allow individuals to determine for themselves the role of same-sex sexuality in their lives and identity” (p. 257) (emphasis added).
Some mostly heterosexual individuals want therapy to help them be faithful in their marriages and keep their families intact. Some have had therapists wrongly assume they are really homosexual and would be happier leaving their marriage and family for a gay life. They do not identify as LGB, and LGB activists who oppose therapy have neither recognized nor represented this majority of same-sex attracted individuals.
Readers can hear Dr. Diamond review research in her YouTube lecture to an LGBT audience at Cornell University (2013). She said excellent and abundant research has now established that sexual orientation—including attraction, behavior, and identity self label—all three—is fluid for both adolescents and adults and for both genders, and exceptions for LGB individuals are a minority.
Despite the research, political activists continue to promote the “born-that-way-and-can’t-change” myth about sexual orientation. The Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) published a paper in May this year in which it said the “National Gay and Lesbian Task Force reacted with alarm,” and “warned that the ex-gay industry was under-mining the battle for LGBT rights by suggesting that homosexuality is a choice, not an unchangeable condition like skin color” (p. 9). Actually, it is the APA and Dr. Diamond, herself a gay activist, that are undermining the falsehood that sexual orientation is like race. The APA (2008) says same-sex attraction is generally not a choice. Therapists who are open to change agree people generally do not just choose their sexual attractions, otherwise these therapists would not bother to offer therapy. But the reality is, sexual orientation is changing all around us.
Dr. Diamond tells LGBT activists near the end of her YouTube lecture, “I feel as a community, the queers have to stop saying, ‘Please help us. We’re born this way, and we can’t change’ as an argument for legal standing. I don’t think we need that argument, and that argument is going to bite us in the ass, because now we know that there’s enough data out there, that the other side is aware of as much as we are aware of it.” In other words, Dr. Diamond says, “Stop saying ‘born that way and can’t change’ for political purposes, because the other side knows it’s not true as much as we do.”
She also directly discussed the harm of political activists promoting the “can’t change” myth in her own book on sexual fluidity in women (2008, pp. 256-257) that won the Distinguished Book Award from the APA Division 44 (LGBT). She acknowledged that, for political motives, some activists “keep propagating a deterministic model: sexual minorities are born that way and can never be otherwise.” She addresses the question, “[I]s it really so bad that it is inaccurate?” Her answer is, “Over the long term, yes, particularly because women are systematically disenfranchised by this approach.” She said this deceptive practice does harm to women who have experienced sexual attraction fluidity and have “thought there was something wrong with them.” She said this “silencing is ironic,” because it is being inflicted by the modern lesbian/gay/bisexual rights movement.
Dr. Diamond has publicly gone on record that she opposes psychotherapy that is open to sexual attraction change. Nevertheless, she says in her book (2008, p. 252) that some same-sex attracted individuals may have more capacity than others to channel the direction of their sexual fluidity in response to their context, and they may for that reason modify it in psychotherapy.
Officially, the APA Handbook predictably affirms the position of an APA Task Force (2009) that “same-sex attractions, behavior, and partnerships” are “normal variations in human sexuality and explicitly condemns the use of therapeutic techniques aimed at changing an individual’s sexual orientation” (Mustanski, Kuper, and Greene, 2014, APA Handbook, p. 598).
What is surprising is that the APA, in its 2014 Handbook, is now not consistent in the view that sexual orientation is normal. The APA Handbook confirms there is excellent research evidence for “associative or potentially causal links” between childhood sexual abuse and ever having same-sex partners, especially for some men. (Mustanski, Kuper, & Greene, 2014, pp. 609-610). It also confirms that there is possible evidence that psychopathology may be related to the development of transgender identity (Bockting, 2014, APA Handbook, v.1, p). If pathology leads to an individual’s sexual variation, treatment could lead to a significant and meaningful shift in that variation. It is harmful and ineffective to ban such treatment.
Curiously, the APA has been silent on even stronger research finding that growing up without one or both biological parents, especially the parent who is the same sex as the child, is potentially causally related to having same-sex attraction, relationships, or identity (Frisch & Hviid, 2006; Francis, 2008; Udry & Chantala, 2005). If literal unavailability of parents could have such effects for some individuals, do we want to dismiss lightly the possibility that emotional unavailability of parents, and especially the parent of the same sex as the child, could have similar effects for some?
In the most stunning of these studies, research on a population cohort of two million Danes (Frisch & Hviid 2006) found that, not only loss of a parent, but specifically loss of the same-sex parent in childhood (such as through death, divorce, end of parent cohabitation, not living with the same-sex parent, or unknown paternity), and especially parent loss during the first six years of life and, for girls, the mother’s death during adolescence, were associated with greater likelihood of entering same-sex marriage. The most important developmental ages for gender identity and sexual orientation are considered to be primarily the first six years of life and secondarily adolescence. The researchers concluded, “Our study provides population-based, prospective evidence that childhood family experiences are important determinants of heterosexual and homosexual marriage decisions in adulthood” (p. 533).
In the United States, a large, nationally representative, prospective longitudinal study using most of the well respected Ad Health data set (Francis 2008) found that being raised with only one or neither parent was significantly correlated with same-sex sexuality. A female growing up with only a biological father, in other words growing up without her biological mother, increased the likelihood a female identified herself as not exclusively heterosexual by 9.5 percentage points (p. 376).
Another large, nationally representative, prospective, longitudinal Ad Health study ((Udry & Chantala, 2005), unlike the previous study (Francis (2008), measured both level of same-sex attraction and level of opposite-sex attraction separately. The researchers found 90% of boys who had strong same-sex interest had absent fathers—a very strong relationship. Among boys, the greater the degree of same-sex attraction, the greater the likelihood of father absence, delinquency, and suicidal thoughts. As opposite sex interest also rose, that strong relationship completely disappeared (p. 487). In other words, with father’s presence, there likely was opposite-sex attraction, possibly with same-sex attraction also.
There is little research on gender identity. The APA Handbook says, “Gender nonconformity is related to homosexuality” (Rosario & Schrimshaw, 2014, p 572). What relates to one may possibly relate to the other. Both change, may be caused by psychopathology, and, therefore, may change through therapy. Individuals who have sexual variations should have the right to know the above information and to seek therapy to address such issues.
REFERENCES
American Psychiatric Association (2013). Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fifth Edition (DSM-5). Arlington, VA: American Psychiatric Association, pp. 451-459. See especially pp. 455-456.
American Psychological Association (2008). Answers to your questions: For a better understanding of sexual orientation and homosexuality. Washington, CD: American Psychological Association
American Psychological Association (2011). Definition of Terms: Sex, Gender, Gender Identity, Sexual Orientation. In The Guidelines for Psychological Practice with Lesbian, Gay, and Bisexual Clients, adapted by the APA Council of Representatives, February 18-20, 2011. http://www.apa.org/pi/lgbt/resources/guideli
American Psychological Association Task Force. (2009). Report of the Task Force on Appropriate Therapeutic Responses to Sexual Orientation. Washington, DC: American Psychological Association.
Bockting, W.(2014). Chapter 24: Transgender Identity Development. In Tolman, D., & Diamond, L., Co-Editors-in-Chief (2014)APA Handbook of Sexuality and Psychology (2 volumes). Washington D.C.: American Psychological Association.
Diamond, L. (2008). Sexual Fluidity: Understanding Women’s Love and Desire. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard Press.
Diamond, L. (Published Dec. 6, 2013). Lisa Diamond on sexual fluidity of men and women, Cornell University. From Diamond, L. (Oct. 17, 2013). Just how different are female and male sexual orientation? Human Development Outreach and Extension Program. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m2rTHDOuUBw.
Diamond, L. (2014) Chapter 20: Gender and same-sex sexuality. In Tolman, D., & Diamond, L., Co-Editors-in-Chief (2014)APA Handbook of Sexuality and Psychology, Volume 1. Person Based Approaches. Washington D.C.: American Psychological Association. Vol. 1, pp. 629-652.
Francis, A. M. (2008). Family and sexual orientation: The family-demographic correlates of homosexuality in men and women.Journal of Sex Research, 45 (4), 371-377. DOI:10.1080/00224490802398357
Frisch, M. and Hviid, A. (2006). Childhood family correlates of heterosexual and homosexual marriages: A national cohort study of two million Danes. Archives of Sexual Behavior, 35:533-547.
Kleinplatz, P. & Diamond, L. (2014) Chapter 9: Sexual diversity. In Tolman, D., & Diamond, L., Co-Editors-in-Chief (2014) APA Handbook of Sexuality and Psychology, Volume 1. Person Based Approaches. Washington D.C.: American Psychological Association. Vol. 1, pp. 245-267.
Mustaky, B., Kuper, L., and Geene, G. (2014) Chapter 19: Development of sexual orientation and identity. In Tolman, D., & Diamond, L., Co-Editors-in-Chief (2014) APA Handbook of Sexuality and Psychology, Volume 1. Person Based Approaches. Washington D.C.: American Psychological Association.
Rosario, M. & Schrimshaw, E. (2014). Theories and etiologies of sexual orientation. In Tolman, D. & Diamond, L., Co-Editors-in- Chief (2014). APA Handbook of Sexuality and Psychology, Washington D.C.: American Psychological Association. V. 1, pp. 555-596.
Savin-Williams, R., Joyner, K., & Rieger, R. (2012). Prevalence and stability of self-reported sexual orientation identity during young adulthood. Archives of Sexual Behavior 41: 103-110.
Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) (May 2016). Quacks: ‘Conversion Therapists,’ the Anti-LGBT Right, and the Demonization of Homosexuality. https://www.splcenter.org/20160525/quacks-conversion-therapists-anti-lgbt-right-and-demonization-homosexuality
Tolman, D., & Diamond, L., Co-Editors-in-Chief (2014) APA Handbook of Sexuality and Psychology (2 volumes). Washington D.C.: American Psychological Association.
Udry, J.R., & Chantala, K. (2005). Risk factors differ according to same- sex and opposite-sex interest. Journal of Biosocial Science, 37, 481–497. http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/S0021932004006765
