If It Walks Like a Duck...

Not less than two weeks ago, two "scientists" with a preconceived objective tried to prove through a less than 15% success rate that "change is possible for gays." And earlier this week, Ahmadinejad claimed that there were no gays in Iran...

And while they both float naively down the river known as De Nile, the rest of us realize two very important things: Given a few more years of social evolution, the extremist Muslims will be saying the same thing the extremist Christians are saying today; and the extremist Christians wil leither have regressed to today's extremist Muslim actions, or will have died off altogether...

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Of course, it all stems from the basic religious premise that being gay is somehow wrong, or sinful, and at the same time a strange type of character flaw that can be wiped away by not more than a few "Our father's" and enough straight sex. (You wouldn't believe how often I've been told "You just need to sleep with the right woman..."--one wonders why it doesn't work the other way around--they just haven't slept with the right man...?)

Either way, both are exercising a blatant ignorance of a basic primal part of all humanity--we are, at our very core, sexual beings. Every single persons life on earth is driven primarily by their sexual orientation--who to live with, who to date, who to spend your life with, who to raise kids with, where to live, how to look, where to be seen and with whom... Some straight people--and a majority of fundamentalists--like to think they are above all this "sex stuff," even though most of their decisions, also, are driven solely by sex (or gender or whatever label you'd like to place here...)

Saying that people can change what the whole world revolves around is like saying we can change what we're breathing if we just try hard enough. Can you imagine is Leviticus had said something like, "And you shalt only breathe 70% oxygen, for 60% is an abomination unto me." Or if it said something to the effect of "Though shalt only use thy right eye for beholding thy neighbors ass, while thus simultaneously not coveting it..." Brings whole new images of Patch the Pirate to mind...

Of course, we all know the idiocy of Ahmadinejad's statement, but you might be saying to yourself, "What is this study Jason's babbling about?"

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On September 17, two right-wing psychologists named Mark Yarhouse and Stanton Jones released the results of a "study" funded and backed by Exodus International, the leading brain-washing institution for ruining families and lives on an individual basis. (Not that I have a bias or anything, right?)

Basically, their study consisted of taking 100 people who had entered the Exodus International program to become an Ex-Gay, and to see how many of them were cured of their homosexual demons (and any related accessories...) A clip from an article reporting on the study reported that the study claimed:

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Results showed that 15 percent of the sample claimed to have successfully changed their sexual orientation (through phone interview), reporting substantial reduction in homosexual desire and addition of heterosexual attraction. These subjects were grouped as "Success: Conversion." (despite only a *reduction* in homosexual desire... not an elimination of such...)

There were also a higher percentage of people (23 percent) who experienced satisfactory reductions in homosexual desire as they embraced the Christian discipline of chastity. This group is described as "Success: Chastity." (Did anyone bother to think through the fact that--even if you aren't having sex, you are still gay--just as straight people who aren't having sex are still straight...? I hate it when I have to point out the obvious to the misinformed...)

Together, 38 percent of the sample experienced significant change (but not, apparently, chastity...) while another 29 percent experienced only modest change in the desired direction but expressed commitment to continue.

Additionally, 15 percent experienced no change and were conflicted about the future even though they had not given up (doesn't this sound like the previous 29% who "experienced only modest change"...?); 4 percent reported no change, were confused and had given up but did not label themselves as gay (because it *is* all about the label...); and 8 percent reported no change, no pursuit and had entered as gay – a group described as "Failure: Gay Identity."

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Further, while the study started out with 98 people, at the time of completion, there were only 73 left... Meaning, of the "15% success rate," only 10.95 people (I'm assuming 11 people) had an "addition" of heterosexual attraction on top of their homosexual attractions (were turned bisexual for all intents and purposes...); 23% (or, 17 people) decided to become monks with homosexual desires; 38% (28 people) felt they had changed "significantly" (however you would like to interpret that...) while an additional 29% (21 people) only had "modest" change (again, interpret as you will...); that left 15% (11 people) pretty much as they were, just now frustrated and confused, and another 4% (3 people) were *also* confused and unsure whether they should even bother with this crappy idea, and 8% (6 people) who actually realized they weren't going to change and didn't need to.

Of course, that totals 97 people... Somewhere along the way, one got lost in the system, I suppose...

So, yes, change *is* possible if you consider being a chaste, bisexually confused, self-loathing and frustrated individual "success"...

Luckily, Iran doesn't have such issues... Although, one has to wonder, if Iran has no gays, why is it illegal, and who the heck are they putting to death for sodomy charges?

Of course, if one is truly loathing of who they are, of course they have the right to want to change themselves--but it shouldn't be at the expense of the rest, at the expense of those who have made peace with a conflict created by a society which refuses to accept the fact that it produces us through no fault of it's own...

On the brighter side, perhaps Iran could find an export business in shipping it's non-existent gays to Christian *reparation* therapy...? Something tells me it would be the start of a relationship built on the common goals of establishing a theocracy and denial of reality...