| Theories on Homosexuality |
| There are many different thoughts and theories on why people are homosexual. Some feel that homosexuals are born that way. Others believe that it's a conscious decision. Some see it as a rebellion against parents and/or society. The actual reason or cause for homosexuality is not known, but some thoughts on why so many are homosexual are presented below. |
| The Catholic Medical Association (12) contends that people are not born homosexual. Instead, homosexuality occurs in response to a variety of developmental problems. Some of these developmental problems are: *Alienation from father in early childhood. Reasons for this alienation stem from hostility, alcoholism, or violence *Mother was overprotective to male child or mother was needing and demanding *Mother was emotionally unavailable *Parents failed to encourage same-sex identification *Lack of rough and tumble play in male children *Failure to identifiy with same sex peers *Dislike of team sports in male children *Sexual abuse or rape *Loss of parent either through death or divorce *Separation from parent during critical developmental stages Psychologist and specalist in gender identity reasearch Dr. Elizabeth Moberly, follows a similar train of thinking--that homosexuality stems from a lack of a close relationship to the same-sex parent: "The repsressed love-need of the young child may be reactivated in later years. This is the phenomenon which, when it happens to involve a love-sourece of the same sex, is labelled homosexual. On our data, this condition is essentially the reactivation of a thwarted infantile love-need, that has persisted unmet and hence still requires to be met...What we ares uggesting is that this is the so-called homosexual condition in its essence, viz. an unmet need for love from the parent of the same sex" (13). Dr. Joseph Nicolosi, who treats homosexuals who wish to become heterosexual, again identifies a central developmental problem in young boys--a lack of identification with the father: "The mother's relationship to the infant...is usually symbiotic and unconditionally accepting. It is not until he reaches out to the earliest symbol of the outside world-- his father--that the boy encounters his first real challenge for acceptance. The father symbolizes strength, independence, and mastery of the environment. Mastery of the father-son relationship is crucial. Where there is traumatic failure in relationship with father, the boy will be deeply handicapped. Relationship with father represents the lifelong task of balancing internal needs with external exceptions and requirements" (13). In Jeanette Howard's book, Out of Egypt: Leaving Lesbianism Behind, she explains lesbianism in a similar manner, as an alienation between mother and daughter: ...lesbianism is often an attempt to repair the breakdown in the emotional bonding process between mother and daughter which had resulted in a same-sex deficit in the daughter (13). "Denial or inability to accept her [the daughter] own sexuality results in anxiety for the mother. This anxiety may cause the mother to react negatively to her daughter's own emerging sexuality. The daughter, in turn, draws from the mother's anxiety. At the very least, the child may deduce that is it difficult to be a woman. This problem can deepen, depending on messages the daughter receives from her father, or other significant males. Their inability or unwillingness to affirm her feminity and worth may steer her towards a life-changing conclusion--that is not ok to be a woman" (13). *Howard contends that negative male role models in early life can make it impossible for a woman to relate to men, eventually leading to her becoming a lesbian (13). |
| Developmental issues: Maldevelopment in childhood leads to homosexuality |