Is same-sex attraction a passing phase some young people go through?
General Reference (not clearly pro or con)
The Young People's Sexual Health (YPSH), a UK based sexual health educational organization, wrote on Aug. 8, 2005 in the "sexuality" section of its website:
"Is it [homosexuality] a phase we go through? For some people yes, and for others no.
Some
people do not have their first gay experience until they are well into
adulthood. For others gay experiences may well be part of growing up.
This is hardly surprising given that this a period of change in which
young people find out who they are and what they want for themselves in
adult life. Whatever your feelings, it is ok and perfectly normal, it
is who you are!
Eventually
all people who are gay realize that they are only attracted to members
of the same sex and that this attraction is not going to go away and
others who are straight realize that they are only attracted to members
of the opposite sex, the same applies to those who are attracted to
both sexes, whatever you feel is OK and perfectly normal."
Is same-sex attraction a passing phase some young people go through?
PRO (yes)
CON (no)
David van Gend, MBBS, Queensland Secretary of the World Federation of Doctors who Respect Human Life, said the following during an Aug. 4, 2004 speech addressing the National Marriage Forum, hosted at the Australian Federal Parliament Complex:
"The origins of homosexuality are
likely to be a very complex interaction of nature and nurture, genetic
vulnerabilities and cultural influences... But whatever its origins,
the outcome of homosexuality is best understood as a very complex state
of confusion over sexual identity...
The National Health and
Social Life survey across the USA in 1994, the biggest and best study
available, found that eight percent of 16-year-olds thought they were
gay - but, significantly, that by age 18 only four percent still
thought they were gay, and by age 25, only two percent still thought
they were gay.
What that means is that most sexual confusion in
school children clears away if left to itself. It doesn't need therapy
or counseling. It is a passing phase..."
Dale O'Leary, freelance writer and lecturer, Richard Fitzgibbons, MD, Director of the Institute for Marital Healing, and Peter Kleponis, MA, Assistant Director of Comprehensive Counseling Services, wrote the following information in their Nov. 10, 2008 article titled "Same-sex Attraction in Adolescents," published on Mercatornet.com:
"Encouraging adolescents with
same-sex attractions to identify as gay has no scientific or ethical
justification. On the contrary, it exposes them unnecessarily to a
lifestyle with high and unacceptable health risks and a history they
may regret as they mature and realize that their youthful attraction to
the same sex was a passing phase...
Once
a young man has exposed himself on the internet, whatever he has put up
becomes part of the public record forever. The 15-year-old boy who
realizes at 20 that his SSA [same-sex attraction] was
just a phase of his life related to weaknesses in male confidence will
have those pictures follow him for the rest of his life...
Given
the substantial, well-documented risks involved in engaging in
homosexual activity as an adolescent and since a certain percentage of
males who experience SSA in adolescence find that these feelings
disappear in time, schools should not encourage adolescent males to
'come out,' but, instead, offer positive support for addressing the
serious emotional problems in these teenagers."
Boys Under Attack, an advice website for teenage boys, stated in a 2004 column posted on its website, BoysUnderAttack.com, that:
"Every boy will experience a 'gay'
phase in his life, especially during early puberty. Another name for
this phase is 'hero worship.' It occurs because the boy's developing
mind subconsciously seeks other males to demonstrate the type of man
the boy is going to develop into. The boy will have an intense interest
in other males and will be captivated by aspects of the male he sees as
valuable qualities to have. He will set the course for his life on the
qualities he admires in his 'heroes'.
'Stuff' is going to happen to every boy as you go through puberty which will make you wonder if you are gay.
You
need to know that this is a normal development phase which every boy
passes through. If you don't have a clear understanding of this fact
you could wrongly convince yourself that you are gay.
This
is a time you should choose not to act on these impulses, because
things can change a lot over a few years.... Nearly all boys will be
able to make a list of unwanted private gay stuff that has happened in
their life by the time they are an adult! This doesn't mean you are
gay."
George A. Appleby, DSW, MSW, Professor of Social Work at Southern Connecticut University, and Jeane W. Anastas, PhD, MSW, Professor of Social Work at New York University Silver School of Social Work, wrote the following opinion in their 1998 book Not Just a Passing Phase: Social Work with Gay, Lesbian, and Bisexual People:
"The traditional standard response to
a child or adolescent who expresses same-sex sexual attraction has been
to immediately reassure the youngster that his or her feelings are
'just a phase' and that such feelings do not indicate the existence of
a fixed homosexual orientation. But to always interpret adolescent
same-sex sexual impulses as incidental... is a therapeutic error. Such
a response also sends the message to the young person that to be
lesbian, gay, or bisexual is an undesirable and inferior sexual
orientation."
Same Sex Attracted Youth (SSAY), a website project of Australia's La Trobe University Research Centre in Sex Health and Society, wrote the following statements in "Outsmarting Homophobia" published on its website in Apr. 2007 as part of its Peers Outsmarting Homophobia (POSH) series of informational booklets:
"To say that homosexuality is a
'phase' is insulting because it implies that it is a confused lesser
state and that only heterosexuality is the 'real thing.'
For
many young people, same sex sexual attractions are not a phase and they
continue throughout their lives. Like young heterosexuals, they need
their feelings and choices to be affirmed by those around them."
Lisa M. Diamond, PhD, Associate Professor of Psychology and Gender Studies at the University of Utah, wrote the following conclusions in her study titled "Was It a Phase? Young Women's Relinquishment of Lesbian/Bisexual Identities Over a 5-Year Period," published by Journal of Personality and Social Psychology in Nov. 2003:
"[My] findings... suggest that it is inappropriate to interpret [sexual]
identity relinquishment as an admission that one's previous
sexual-minority identity was 'wrong.' Only one woman in the sample
interpreted her prior sexual-minority identification as a phase, and
even she acknowledged the possibility of same-sex sexuality in the
future. The remaining women spoke in more complex terms about subtle
changes and reassessments in other-sex and same-sex feelings and
behaviors, and many expressed concern that their personal
transformations might be misinterpreted as 'proof' that most
self-identified lesbian/gay/bisexual youth are just confused about
their sexuality... The fact that all of the women in the relinquish
group... continued to experience same-sex attractions... suggests that
same-sex desires are far less amenable to (conscious or unconscious)
change than are behavior and identity. This mitigates against the
success of therapies aimed at altering sexual minorities'
predispositions."
The Ontario Public Health Association wrote in a June 2000 white paper "Improving the Access to and Quality of Public Health Services for Lesbians and Gay Men," posted on its website, opha.on.ca:
"Contributing to the ongoing oppression of lesbians and gays are the
myths and stereotypes that exist. These include the notion that... 'its
just a phase, she'll/he'll grow out of it...'"
