Homosexuality / Transgender and the APA

[_Droopy]

http://narth.com/2010/09/the-new-finger ... -lesbians/

[_Dr. Shades]

Why was this moved? IMHO, it eventually comes down to a very core issue leveled at the LDS Church.

Then you should've said so in your opening post. Merely mentioning "LDS" somewhere doesn't mean that the topic matter has anything to do with Mormonism. This thread's subject matter was clearly the push to de-classify such-and-such as mental disorders.

I think the moderation crew pulled the trigger IMHO. I hope it wasn't to bury the topic.

Burying the topic would've involved moving it to, say, the Outer Darkness forum where nobody can respond. Also, if the intent was to bury it, I wouldn't've added a "shadow topic" so that people in the original forum could find where it went.

[_Jersey Girl]

Let me throw out just a couple of questions here in the hopes of forwarding this discussion.

An infant is born with both male and female sexual organs. (Intersex)

1. What gender is the baby?
2. How do you decide the baby's gender?

[_Mephitus]

Let me throw out just a couple of questions here in the hopes of forwarding this discussion.

An infant is born with both male and female sexual organs. (Intersex)

1. What gender is the baby?
2. How do you decide the baby's gender?

Personally, i would err on the side of 2 things. A: What is the genetic gender of the child and B: If there is genital deformity, is it beyond the scope of medicine to fix according to the genetic starter. While genetics is not 100%, its enough of a starting place i wouldn't feel out of place should it be the long term wrong decision. It was a piece of data completely separate from my personal feelings or bias.

[_Buffalo]

there are a lot of physical differences (not just brain differences) between homosexuals and heterosexuals. I seem to remember a Mormon Stories podcast from a BYU professor on the subject, but I don't remember the details.

What Buffalo is referring to is most likely two things, the first being the thoroughly discredited 1991 study by Simon LeVey which purported to show alterations in the brains of homosexuals relative to heterosexuals. There are some differences, to be sure, but the upshot of it all is that those differences only appear in some homosexuals, the brains of many others being in no sense different than the brains of heterosexuals.

Two years later, another scientist, Dean Hamer, published a study in Science in which he claimed that there may be a gene for homosexual orientation. This created a flurry of mainstream media activity over the discovery of a "gay gene." that explained homosexuality as primarily genetic in origin, but the entire thing foundered on the rocks of evidential vacancy.

No such gene is known to exist, and there is no discernible, discreet, biological "cause" of homosexuality known to science.

Its far more complex - and subtle - than that.

No, that's not what I was referring to. There was a BYU scientist who recently explained the biological basis of homosexuality. I think there was even a big flame war on MAD over it.

[_RAJ]

Buffalo,

You're probably referring to Bill Bradshaw:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8xx-l2tYYVg

This is Part 1 of (I believe) a 5 Part video series.

Part 1 -- My Early Years, Harvard and the Hong Kong Mission

In this episode, John Dehlin interviews one of his former professors and mentors, Dr. William Bradshaw, on a wide variety of topics. Dr. Bradshaw has just recently retired from a rich and fulfilling career as a microbiology professor at BYU in which he influenced thousands of students to continually be open to the best thinking of the sciences while still nurturing a robust, mature faith and spiritual life. Many report Dr. Bradshaw's classes and their various interactions with him as pivotal to their finding a way to value the wisdom generated in both their heads and their hearts.

And this part is most relevant to the discussion:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6YRF0Ep9lWE

Mormon Stories #212: Dr. William Bradshaw Part 4 of 5 - Homosexuality and the LDS Church

Many Mormon Stories podcast listeners will already be familiar with one aspect of Dr. Bradshaw's life from Episode 191, which featured a recording of the most recent lecture he gave at BYU on the biological origins of homosexuality--a lecture he has arranged and given every year for the past several years. Dr. Bradshaw first became prompted to study the research on this subject when his son Brett came out about his homosexuality. Since that time, the Bradshaws have been active members in various LDS groups for families working to support their GLBT children. They are currently serving as the presidents of LDS Family Fellowship. Brett and his partner are married and living in California, where they are raising an adopted daughter.