Concerned Families of Maryland understands this is a complex issue. However our position on homosexuality is a simple, and we believe a compassionate one.  Compassionate because we understand that by justifying and embracing homosexual behavior we reap the sexual exploitation of our children, the increased sexual confusion of our youth, the denigration of Biblical authority, the redefining of the family and ultimately baring the fruit of misrepresentation, civil disobedience and death. We cannot deny these facts. Homosexual behavior is a public and social health issue.  Homosexuality is not genetically normal -- it's medically proven to cause and/or transmit numerous debilitating diseases of which HIV that has caused AIDS in the general public is only one example. 

Concerned Families is also alarmed at data confirming that homosexual behavior motivates the criminal behaviors of rape, rioting and capital murder.  As such, we oppose all public policy initiatives supporting homosexual behavior, "gay rights" and/or "gay education" in whatever form they may take.  Concerned Families also has extensive evidence people engaged in this behavior can abandon such activity for a healthier, fulfilling lifestyle if they are shown genuine compassion for (and healing of) their spiritual and physical afflictions.  But first one must know the truth in order for the truth to set you free. Our research on this issue is as follows....

Does The APA Approve of Homosexuality

In 1977 ten thousand members of the APA were polled at random, asking them their opinion on homosexuality. Time magazine summarized the results of the poll: Of those answering, 69% said they believed homosexuality is usually a pathological adaptation, as opposed to a normal variation, 18% disagreed and 13% were uncertain. Similarly, sizable majorities said that homosexuals are generally less happy than heterosexuals (73%) and less capable of mature, loving relationships (60%).  A total of 70% said that homosexual problems have more to do with their own inner conflicts than with stigmatization by society at large. What about today? Dr. Stanton L. Jones, professor of psychology at Wheaton College, states "I would not regard homosexuality to be a psychopathology in the same sense as schizophrenia or phobic disorders. But neither can it be viewed as a normal lifestyle variation on a par with being introverted versus extroverted." One may debate whether or not homosexuality is a pathological disorder, but it is clear that the APA's 1973 decision to pull it from its list of pathological disorders cannot be cited as medical consensus that homosexuality is a normal condition.

Causes of Homosexual Acting Out

Many psychiatrists and psychologists believe that homosexuality arises from various environmental factors. The majority say that homosexuality's root causes are psychological, not biological. But these people are not cited nearly as often by the media as the others due to perhaps a pro-homosexual bias by the media. They are virtually never acknowledged by the homosexual community, because most homosexuals want to believe that they were born that way and had no choice (conscious or subliminal) in the matter. In any case, some of the most noteworthy and respected researchers and therapists in the world deny that homosexuality is determined by biological factors. For example, therapists helping homosexuals who are unhappy with their condition can cite one case history after another showing that negative early childhood experiences are the one common factor found in almost all their patients. The vital factor here is that these people were raised in a very unloving home environment, never knowing love or acceptance from their mother, father, siblings, peers or in some cases all of the above. According to these studies, the child's reaction to this rejection and lack of nurturing is formulated at a very early age, usually before five years old. The following references illustrate these findings. William H. Masters (co-director of the Masters and Johnson Institute), Virginia E. Brown, and Robert C. Kolodny stated categorically in their 1982 work Human Sexuality: "The genetic theory of homosexuality has been generally discarded today." Robert Kronemeyer, in his work Overcoming Homosexuality, writes: "With rare exceptions, homosexuality is neither inherited nor the result of some glandular disturbance or the scrambling of genes or chromosomes. Homosexuals are made, not born that way. I firmly believe that homosexuality is a learned response to early painful experiences and that it can be unlearned. For those homosexuals who are unhappy with their life and find effective therapy, it is curable."  Dr John DeCecco, professor of psychology at San Francisco State University and the editor of the 25-volume Journal of Homosexuality, expressed the same view in a 1989 USA Today article: "The idea that people are born into one type of sexual behavior is entirely foolish." John Dr. DeCecco goes on to state; "Homosexuality, is a behavior, not a condition, and something that some people can and do change, just like they sometimes change other tastes and personality traits." One thing is clear, and that is it’s hardly an established scientific fact accepted by the entire medical field.

Born Homosexual ?

The most recent research suggesting that homosexuality may be caused by biological factors came out in 1993 and 1994 issues of Science magazine, which was subsequently reported in the New York Times and Wall Street Journal.  The genetic research perfomed by Hamer et. al, suggested the Xq28 gene may be linked to homosexuality, and the NY Times ran this story as "fact".  However, equally competent researchers at Stanford Medical, Yale and Columbia Universities attempted duplicating Hamer's experiments with larger sample spaces.  None of them could duplicate Hamer's experiment -- meaning what Hamer had put forth was scientifically dishonest, based on socio-political bias and not empirical fact.  Hamer is not alone in this disgrace.  The 1991  findings of Dr. Simon LeVay, a neuroscientist at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies in San Diego. Dr. LeVay studied the brains of 41 cadavers, including 19 homosexual males. He found that "a tiny area believed to control sexual activity [the hypothalamus] was less than half the size in the gay men than in the heterosexuals." The study was seized upon by many as "irrefutable evidence" Some scientists profess not to be surprised at all by LeVay's finding of brain differences., says John Money, a leading psychologist at Johns Hopkins University states "The real question is, when did it get there? Was it prenatal, neonatal, during childhood, puberty? That we do not know." Problems with his findings include: (1) all 19 of the homosexual men had died of AIDS, something that many researchers believe could very well account for or contribute to the differences; (2) there was no way to know the sexual history of the "heterosexual" men; (3) there is no way to determine if the smaller hypothalamuses were the cause or the result of homosexuality; (4) Three of the "heterosexual men" also appeared to have small hypothalamuses; and (5) Dr. LeVay, a homosexual himself, admitted that his study was not entirely a dispassionate scientific endeavor. In addition there is much controversy over how to brains were weighed and the fact remains that Dr. LeVey experiment has never been repeated.

Is Change Possible ?

This brings us to the question just raised above: Can those who are homosexual change? Those in the gay rights movement decry any attempt to change the homosexual's orientation or preference -- that all such attempts should be outlawed -- and that a person's sexual orientation or preference cannot be changed with any great success.  One Biblical historical account claims otherwise -- in I Corinthians 6:9-11, the Apostle Paul concludes his condemnation of several sins (including homosexuality) with "Such WERE some of you," with cleansing coming from accepting Jesus Christ.  This proves that even millenia ago, without modern medicine, homosexuals could change IF they really wanted to.  Even today, the majority of physicians and psychologists agree that change is possible. William H. Masters and Virginia E. Johnson in their work Homosexuality in Perspective state: "Providing therapeutic support for a homosexual oriented man or woman who wishes to convert or revert to heterosexuality has been an integral part of the practice of psychotherapy for decades." In the Kinsey Institute New Report on Sex (1990) we find the statement that "sexual orientation, whether heterosexual or homosexual, is not readily changed by any type of intervention. Thus, while it is not easy, changing one's sexual orientation is nonetheless possible". Dr. Nicolosi, a psychologist and psychotherapist who has been helping homosexual men convert back to heterosexuality for a number of years now. If the interested reader pursues this work, he or she will find several case histories and true accounts of people who sought relief from their lives of "homosexual bondage" (their own description of their lifestyles) and were restored to heterosexuality.

Numerous Christian ministries are reaching out to homosexuals who desire help. Do they work? Sometimes individuals stumble and never get back up again. Sometimes they stumble, get back up, and continue on in the process of recovery. Occasionally, individuals are healed instantly and never turn back again. Whatever the case, the fact remains that there are thousands of former homosexuals, ex-gays and ex-lesbians, who lives have been transformed for the better.

As Colin Powell has observed, skin color and sexual behavior are entirely different. The first is a benign, inborn characteristic that has no bearing on conduct or character; the second is behaviorally based and has everything to do with character, morality and society's basic rules of conduct. If the civil rights laws begin deviating into behavior and away from race, ethnic origin, place of birth or other immutable characteristics, there is no stopping point. New laws would have to be coined almost daily to accommodate the flood of claims based on behavior (smokers, compulsive gamblers, pornography fanatics, sex addicts and pedophiles could all claim new "rights" to protection against discrimination). One non-immutable characteristic that does get protection is religion, because that is enshrined in the Constitution. But there is no constitutional right to engage in sodomy (Bowers v. Hardwick). Nobody is "blaming" anyone for having homosexual desires. The "genetic" studies that have been publicized have been conducted by self-styled homosexual activists or have been misrepresented in the media. The studies themselves typically have tiny sample sizes, biased selection, and other major methodological flaws, and have never been replicated by reputable scientists.

Do homosexuals choose to be gay? For the most part they are either indoctrinated or coerced, but they can choose their behavior, and they can choose to change their orientation, as researchers Masters and Johnson, Dr John DeCecco, Dr. Nicolosi and others have shown in landmark studies.  And numerous examples of successful transformation have testified that, "Yes! Change is possible."

Sodomy Laws:

Sodomy laws set needed standards sodomy laws set standards of public conduct, and keep a lid on conduct that is a public health issue. Furthermore, they help to safeguard the legal and moral status of the family in our society.

The U.S. Supreme Court in the landmark 1986 Bowers v. Hardwick decision stated that there is no constitutional right to engage in sodomy. However the result of abandoning legal and social restraints against sodomy has been an epidemic of sexually transmitted diseases causing 40,000 to 50,000 tragic early deaths annually, not to mention federal AIDS spending in the $9 billion range per year — and climbing.

Sodomy laws on the books have never created "sex police" in private bedrooms. Typically they have been used to keep homosexual curricula out of schools; to prevent sodomites from acquiring children; to curb public sex; and to limit the practice of "semi-public" sex, such as occurs in bars, booths in bookstores and bathhouses.

Legalizing sodomy would normalize it and encourage it. It would endanger not only the physical health but also the moral health of our nation. It would erode the legal basis to withhold full marital status to homosexual couples, to prevent harmful sex practices being taught in schools, and to give homosexuals the "right" to raise children.

Abandoning laws and taboos against fornication, adultery, and divorce has already greatly weakened the social and legal foundation of the family as an institution. Legalizing sodomy would only further undermine the special status of the family, and, consequently, would further erode the bedrock institution of society.