Why We Should Teach Children About Homosexuality?
When people think about children, rarely is their focus on how homophobia can hurt them. Usually it is raised when talking about a gay parent and how they may "impact" their offspring, or how the behavior of gay and lesbian adults will influence them. But even more rarely do people concentrate on how homophobia impacts children, gay and straight alike-which is far worse than anything a child might be exposed to in a gay pride parade or in observing gay relationships.
Studies show, in fact, that developing gay or lesbian adolescents can handle their sexual orientation. What they can't cope with is the homophobic acts and verbal statements they encounter in the media or in their schools, homes or communities. A heterosexual adolescent can no more handle acts of homophobia upon him or her as well.
In this article, I'll first define homophobia and talk about words related to it, then address how we all, straight and gay alike, pay a price for it.
In his 1972 book, Society and the Healthy Homosexual, George Weinberg coined the term homophobia and wrote about how it related to gays and lesbians.. Since then, the word has been examined with a discriminating eye. People claim that it does not apply to them, inasmuch as they aren't afraid, or "phobic," of gays.
Phobia
Phobia is a persistent, abnormal or irrational fear of a specific thing or situation that compels one to avoid the feared stimulus.
Homophobia
Homophobia is the feeling(s) of fear, hatred, disgust about attraction or love for members of one's own sex. It is prejudice, based on the belief that lesbians, and gays are immoral, sick, sinful or somehow inferior to heterosexuals. It results in fear of associating with lesbians and gays in close proximity-physically, mentally and/or emotionally-lest one be perceived as lesbian or gay, and fear of venturing beyond "accepted" gender role behavior. (This can be true of gay men as well, though straight men are typically more homophobic.)
Homonegative
Homonegative is the term for those who hold negative beliefs and feelings, but aren't afraid about being perceived as gay to the point that they'll avoid gays and lesbians. These people say things like, "I have gays and lesbians as friends. I just don't agree with their lifestyle." These people are friendly toward gays and lesbians. They can be co-workers, family members and even be gay or lesbian themselves-but still hold negative views about gays and lesbians!.
A client recently told me that his mother is "against my being gay, but loves me anyway." This is a good example of homonegativity.
Homoprejudice
The word homoprejudice means discrimination against gays and lesbians. At a recent talk I gave, a woman told me that she thought I was "promoting the homosexual lifestyle" and telling her to "accept" gays and lesbians. I smiled back nicely and said, "No ma'am, I am asking you not to accept discrimination toward gays and lesbians."
That people would pass laws to prevent gays and lesbians from marrying, making them lose their jobs and/or their housing, are examples of homoprejudice. Most people don't even know that no federal laws prohibit discrimination against gays and lesbians in the workplace-and that you can be fired for simply being gay!
Another example is when Governor Mitt Romney dusted off an old 1913 law making any marriage in Massachusetts void, if that marriage would not be legal in the couple's home state and encouraged his attorney general to enforce it. This prejudicial statute was the same one used to prevent inter-racial marriages. Think of using this same law against other minorities, and it's hard not to see the homoprejudice on Governor Romney's part.
Homo-ignorant
Most people fall into the homo-ignorant category. If you're never exposed to gays and lesbians and have no interaction in the gay community or with gay and lesbian traditions and customs, then you're just not familiar with the culture.
I recall going to college as a freshman and discovering how many people were not familiar with Jews personally, much less Jewish customs. I had to teach my friends what being Jewish was all about-which seemed odd, since I came from the predominately Jewish city of Oak Park, Michigan.
Most gays and lesbians, of course, are not hetero-ignorant. We are forced to interact with both the gay and the straight world. As children, we are forced into playing the heterosexual role and conforming to what's expected of our gender. Later in life we come out and then, as adults, learn to create a seamless flow back and forth, between gay life and straight life.
Warren J. Blumenfeld edited an excellent book called, Homophobia: How We All Pay The Price, in which he writes about how not only gays and lesbians, but heterosexuals suffer from acts of homophobia. Specifically:
1. First, homophobic conditioning compromises people's integrity by pressuring them to treat others badly-actions contrary to their basic humanity. This is where bullying begins, particularly against young boys who might be gay or effeminate ones who don't conform to male stereotypes. Calling other boys "faggot" and "queer" takes the focus off of the bullies.
2. It inhibits the ability to form close, intimate relationships with members of one's own sex, generally restricts communication with a significant portion of the population and, more specifically, limits family relationships. Limited communication contributes to the alarmingly high 30% suicide rate among adolescents who are either gay or lesbian and/or worry they might be. Some minimize this number by saying it's inflated or applies only to gay and lesbian teens, but they should consider numerous teenagers who are sexually abused or do not conform to socially accepted gender roles. These teens worry that they might be gay and in their confusion, also make suicide attempts-and are often successful.
3. Homophobia is used to stigmatize, silence and, on occasion, target people whom OTHERS perceive or define as gay, lesbian, or bisexual, but who are actually heterosexual. It locks all people into rigid gender-based roles, which inhibit creativity and self expression. Many parents are preoccupied with ensuring that their children play with gender-appropriate toys, denying them the right to develop their own interests.
I think the best example of this is our expectation and desire for men to be good fathers. Yet we don't allow little boys to play with dolls, so they do not get practice in nurturing. Later, when they become fathers, we scorn them for not knowing what to do. Meanwhile, girls get permission for lots of practice in handling their doll "babies"-a mixed message that is very hurtful to men.
4. Homophobia is one cause of premature sexual involvement, increasing the chances of teen pregnancy and the spread of sexually transmitted diseases (or STDs). Young people of ALL sexual identities are often pressured to become HETEROSEXUALLY active to prove-to themselves and others-that they are "normal."
5. Societal homophobia keeps some LGBT people from developing an authentic self-identity, adding to the pressure to marry. This in turn places undue stress and often trauma on them, as well as on their children and heterosexual spouses.
People never stop to think of the children who suffer as a result of mixed marriages between a heterosexual and a gay man or lesbian. Society tells us not to live an out and openly gay and then, when we finally can no longer live in the closet, questions them and asks, "Well, why did you get married in the first place?" This is crazy making!
6. Homophobia, combined with fear and revulsion of sex, eliminates discussions about the lives and sexuality of LGBT people as part of school-based sex education, keeping vital information from all students. Such a lack of information can kill people in the age of AIDS. And homophobia (along with racism, sexism, classism, sexphobia) inhibits a unified and effective governmental and societal response to the AIDS pandemic.
As Blumenfeld goes on to say, "The meaning is quite clear. When any group of people is scapegoated, it is ultimately everyone's concern. For today, lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people are targeted. Tomorrow, they may come for you. Everyone, therefore, has a self interest in actively working to dismantle all the many forms of bigotry, including homophobia."
Blumenfeld believes "that all of us are born into an environment polluted by homophobia (one among many forms of oppression), which falls upon us like acid rain. Some people's spirits are tarnished to the core, others are marred on the surface, but no one is completely protected. Therefore, we all have an opportunity-indeed, the responsibility-to join together to construct protective shelters from bigotry's corrosive effects, while working as allies to clean up the homophobic environment we live in.
Once enough steps are taken to reduce this pollution, we can all breathe a lot easier."
The Importance of Teaching Children About Homosexuality
Mostrar mensagens com a etiqueta Homosexuality. Mostrar todas as mensagens
Mostrar mensagens com a etiqueta Homosexuality. Mostrar todas as mensagens
sexta-feira, 2 de outubro de 2009
segunda-feira, 14 de setembro de 2009
Lesbians united: Facing down homophobic bullies
Stonewall's 'Some People Are Gay. Get Over It!' campaign is tackling bigotry in our schools
By Rachel Shields
Some of the UK's most prominent female writers, comedians and presenters, and one MP, are chatting over coffee and biscuits in a smart London bar. The topic of conversation isn't the latest play at the National, the current publishing sensation, or a piece of controversial legislation. No, these women are talking about sexual abuse; about insults scrawled on toilet walls; hate-filled letters published in newspapers; name-calling in the street: in short, about the harassment they have suffered as a result of their sexuality.
Like an estimated 1.8 million women in Britain, Stella Duffy, Rhona Cameron, Amy Lamé, Angela Eagle and Sarah Waters are lesbian or bisexual, and as some of the country's few prominent lesbians, the are fronting the gay rights group Stonewall's latest campaign, entitled: "Some People Are Gay. Get Over It!".
Timed to coincide with the start of the new academic year, the simple slogan was the idea of school pupils and is intended to highlight the problem of homophobic bullying in schools.
Related articles
Editor-At-Large: After Turing, the shameful abuse of gays goes on
"A taster campaign of the billboards saw some defaced with homophobic graffiti – reminding us that prejudice is still very much alive in Britain today," said Stonewall's Ben Summerskill.
This sentiment is backed by recent research by YouGov, which revealed that one in five gay people in the UK has been a victim of hate crime in the past three years. These statistics indicate that, while gay rights in the UK have improved dramatically in the 20 years since Stonewall was founded – decades in which Section 28, the controversial legislation that banned teachers from talking about homosexuality in schools, has been repealed, civil partnerships have been introduced, and the age of consent has been equalised – the struggle to eradicate homophobia from the streets and schools of Britain may not be over yet.
Leading the fight against homophobia...
Stella Duffy
Writer, 46
"I was brought up in a small town in New Zealand, where there wasn't a lot of gay identity being paraded. I would have felt a lot less lonely if there had been. There are about 12 'out' lesbians in the public eye. I think it is less socially acceptable to be a lesbian. In the world of entertainment we've had pop stars like Elton John, Boy George and Will Young as cultural icons, and that helps. Gay men didn't have the problem of invisibility; they had a law against them that gave them something solid to join and unite against. We are still living in a culture that wants women to get married and have babies. They don't know where to put us, especially lesbians who look like me. I haven't been bullied, but I've suffered everything from sexual harassment to other, minor inappropriateness. I went to another civil partnership last week. If these are so great, then we should scrap marriage and everyone should have them. I've been with my partner for 15 years; we had a civil partnership three days after it was legal, but I want to get married."
Angela Eagle
MP, 48
"We fought to equalise the age of consent, to repeal Section 28, but there is still more to do in terms of legislation. We need a law dealing with incitement to homophobic hatred, like the law against incitement to racial hatred. If something leads to violence against people in a certain group, then that shouldn't be tolerated. There is a group in Parliament who'll be hostile to legislative change around the issue of gay rights; around 70 per cent of the Tory Party. You need a progressive majority of MPs to move on. I'm the only lesbian in Parliament. The only 'role model' in terms of sexuality in politics I had is the MP Maureen Colquhoun, outed in a disgusting way by Nigel Dempster in the mid-1970s. She lost her seat at the next election. I got to the stage where I was willing to risk losing my seat if that's what happened. I didn't know what to expect, but luckily I was supported by my then boss, John Prescott. Tony Blair was also extremely supportive. My constituents were fantastic."
Amy Lamé
TV presenter, 38
"I came out in my final year of university, and the bullying was shocking. It was a systematic hate campaign; from horrible letters printed in the school paper to graffiti on toilet walls. My academic work suffered as a result of it. I grew up in a small town in New Jersey – a cross between Essex and Liverpool – an hour out of New York, but it might as well have been a world away. I had no lesbian role models when I was young, and it wasn't until I started reading feminist books as a teenager that I found a channel for my feelings. I know what it is like to be isolated and feel as if you are the only one. I did a series called My Big Gay Prom with gay teenagers, which is one of the things I'm most proud of doing. Things have changed dramatically because people like Stonewall have worked hard to change laws, perceptions and mindsets. Rights and freedoms in the United States now pale in comparison to the UK. I've been in the UK for 17 years and have been with my partner for 15 years, but we couldn't go to live in the US because our civil partnership isn't recognised there."
Rhona Cameron
Comedian and author, 43
"Let's remind ourselves of a few things that have happened in the past year: in Liverpool a young boy was killed for being gay; elsewhere in the UK a man watched his partner stabbed to death and called faggot; and in South Africa a promising young footballer was gang-raped and killed for being a lesbian. The idea that these things aren't going on is just wrong. Statistically, homophobic bullying is still a big problem in schools, and a big factor in teen suicide. I was bullied for a time at school. I lived in fear of people turning up at my house and shouting stuff. Events that happen at school can scar you. I hadn't heard of any lesbians when I was at school; I used to look up 'lesbian' in the dictionary as I didn't know what it meant. It is disappointing that there are so few athletes out. If you are at a rough comprehensive, you're not going to know about some novelist, but you'll know about sports stars and pop stars. There are at least six gay Premier League footballers who are closeted; some of the female sporting legends of all time were, and are, gay."
Sarah Waters
Writer, 43
"Lesbianism is a part of life, but young people who are gay can feel isolated and like freaks. I think it is both easier and harder for young people now. Because of the greater visibility of gay people, they are also more of a target: there is a climate of homophobia that wasn't the case in my day. I don't like the way that the word 'gay' is used as an insult. I use the word 'dyke', though. I feel we have reclaimed it. Offence comes from the way words are used, not the words themselves. We're more protected than ever in law, but now more cultural and social changes are needed. We see far more gay men in the public eye than women. This is partly because gay culture on the whole is more flamboyant and glamorous. For me, as a writer, there are quite a lot of lesbians around. Literature feels like a lesbian-friendly place. I doubt young lesbians look up to people like me, more to people like Beth Ditto; it is healthy and exciting that there are role models like her."
Lesbians united: Facing down homophobic bullies
By Rachel Shields
Some of the UK's most prominent female writers, comedians and presenters, and one MP, are chatting over coffee and biscuits in a smart London bar. The topic of conversation isn't the latest play at the National, the current publishing sensation, or a piece of controversial legislation. No, these women are talking about sexual abuse; about insults scrawled on toilet walls; hate-filled letters published in newspapers; name-calling in the street: in short, about the harassment they have suffered as a result of their sexuality.
Like an estimated 1.8 million women in Britain, Stella Duffy, Rhona Cameron, Amy Lamé, Angela Eagle and Sarah Waters are lesbian or bisexual, and as some of the country's few prominent lesbians, the are fronting the gay rights group Stonewall's latest campaign, entitled: "Some People Are Gay. Get Over It!".
Timed to coincide with the start of the new academic year, the simple slogan was the idea of school pupils and is intended to highlight the problem of homophobic bullying in schools.
Related articles
Editor-At-Large: After Turing, the shameful abuse of gays goes on
"A taster campaign of the billboards saw some defaced with homophobic graffiti – reminding us that prejudice is still very much alive in Britain today," said Stonewall's Ben Summerskill.
This sentiment is backed by recent research by YouGov, which revealed that one in five gay people in the UK has been a victim of hate crime in the past three years. These statistics indicate that, while gay rights in the UK have improved dramatically in the 20 years since Stonewall was founded – decades in which Section 28, the controversial legislation that banned teachers from talking about homosexuality in schools, has been repealed, civil partnerships have been introduced, and the age of consent has been equalised – the struggle to eradicate homophobia from the streets and schools of Britain may not be over yet.
Leading the fight against homophobia...
Stella Duffy
Writer, 46
"I was brought up in a small town in New Zealand, where there wasn't a lot of gay identity being paraded. I would have felt a lot less lonely if there had been. There are about 12 'out' lesbians in the public eye. I think it is less socially acceptable to be a lesbian. In the world of entertainment we've had pop stars like Elton John, Boy George and Will Young as cultural icons, and that helps. Gay men didn't have the problem of invisibility; they had a law against them that gave them something solid to join and unite against. We are still living in a culture that wants women to get married and have babies. They don't know where to put us, especially lesbians who look like me. I haven't been bullied, but I've suffered everything from sexual harassment to other, minor inappropriateness. I went to another civil partnership last week. If these are so great, then we should scrap marriage and everyone should have them. I've been with my partner for 15 years; we had a civil partnership three days after it was legal, but I want to get married."
Angela Eagle
MP, 48
"We fought to equalise the age of consent, to repeal Section 28, but there is still more to do in terms of legislation. We need a law dealing with incitement to homophobic hatred, like the law against incitement to racial hatred. If something leads to violence against people in a certain group, then that shouldn't be tolerated. There is a group in Parliament who'll be hostile to legislative change around the issue of gay rights; around 70 per cent of the Tory Party. You need a progressive majority of MPs to move on. I'm the only lesbian in Parliament. The only 'role model' in terms of sexuality in politics I had is the MP Maureen Colquhoun, outed in a disgusting way by Nigel Dempster in the mid-1970s. She lost her seat at the next election. I got to the stage where I was willing to risk losing my seat if that's what happened. I didn't know what to expect, but luckily I was supported by my then boss, John Prescott. Tony Blair was also extremely supportive. My constituents were fantastic."
Amy Lamé
TV presenter, 38
"I came out in my final year of university, and the bullying was shocking. It was a systematic hate campaign; from horrible letters printed in the school paper to graffiti on toilet walls. My academic work suffered as a result of it. I grew up in a small town in New Jersey – a cross between Essex and Liverpool – an hour out of New York, but it might as well have been a world away. I had no lesbian role models when I was young, and it wasn't until I started reading feminist books as a teenager that I found a channel for my feelings. I know what it is like to be isolated and feel as if you are the only one. I did a series called My Big Gay Prom with gay teenagers, which is one of the things I'm most proud of doing. Things have changed dramatically because people like Stonewall have worked hard to change laws, perceptions and mindsets. Rights and freedoms in the United States now pale in comparison to the UK. I've been in the UK for 17 years and have been with my partner for 15 years, but we couldn't go to live in the US because our civil partnership isn't recognised there."
Rhona Cameron
Comedian and author, 43
"Let's remind ourselves of a few things that have happened in the past year: in Liverpool a young boy was killed for being gay; elsewhere in the UK a man watched his partner stabbed to death and called faggot; and in South Africa a promising young footballer was gang-raped and killed for being a lesbian. The idea that these things aren't going on is just wrong. Statistically, homophobic bullying is still a big problem in schools, and a big factor in teen suicide. I was bullied for a time at school. I lived in fear of people turning up at my house and shouting stuff. Events that happen at school can scar you. I hadn't heard of any lesbians when I was at school; I used to look up 'lesbian' in the dictionary as I didn't know what it meant. It is disappointing that there are so few athletes out. If you are at a rough comprehensive, you're not going to know about some novelist, but you'll know about sports stars and pop stars. There are at least six gay Premier League footballers who are closeted; some of the female sporting legends of all time were, and are, gay."
Sarah Waters
Writer, 43
"Lesbianism is a part of life, but young people who are gay can feel isolated and like freaks. I think it is both easier and harder for young people now. Because of the greater visibility of gay people, they are also more of a target: there is a climate of homophobia that wasn't the case in my day. I don't like the way that the word 'gay' is used as an insult. I use the word 'dyke', though. I feel we have reclaimed it. Offence comes from the way words are used, not the words themselves. We're more protected than ever in law, but now more cultural and social changes are needed. We see far more gay men in the public eye than women. This is partly because gay culture on the whole is more flamboyant and glamorous. For me, as a writer, there are quite a lot of lesbians around. Literature feels like a lesbian-friendly place. I doubt young lesbians look up to people like me, more to people like Beth Ditto; it is healthy and exciting that there are role models like her."
Lesbians united: Facing down homophobic bullies
U.K. apologizes to gay WWII codebreaker
Mathematician helped crack Nazi Germany’s Enigma code
LONDON - British Prime Minister Gordon Brown offered a posthumous apology Friday for the "inhumane" treatment of Alan Turing, the World War II codebreaker who committed suicide in 1954 after being prosecuted for homosexuality and forcibly treated with female hormones.
The mathematician helped crack Nazi Germany's Enigma encryption machine — a turning point in the war — and is considered a father of modern computing.
In 1952, however, Turing was convicted of gross indecency for having sex with a man and offered a choice between prison and "chemical castration" — the injection of female hormones to suppress his libido. His security clearance was revoked and he was no longer allowed to work for the government.
Two years later, he killed himself at age 41 by eating an apple laced with cyanide.
'You deserved so much better'
As Britain marks the 70th anniversary of the September 1939 start of the war — remembered as its "finest hour" — Brown said Turing "deserved so much better" than the treatment he received from postwar society.
"It is no exaggeration to say that, without his outstanding contribution, the history of World War II could well have been very different," Brown said. "He truly was one of those individuals we can point to whose unique contribution helped to turn the tide of war."
Brown said Turing was "in effect, tried for being gay." Homosexuality was illegal in Britain until 1967.
"The debt of gratitude he is owed makes it all the more horrifying, therefore, that he was treated so inhumanely," Brown said. "We're sorry, you deserved so much better."
Brown's apology follows an online petition that drew more than 30,000 supporters, including novelist Ian McEwan, scientist Richard Dawkins and actor and comedian Stephen Fry.
Computer scientist John Graham-Cumming said he started the petition campaign because Turing "wasn't as well known in Britain as I think he deserved to be, as a hero of the Second World War and a great mathematician."
Technology pioneer uncovers secret
Working at the wartime codebreaking center at Bletchley Park, Turing helped crack Germany's secret codes by creating the "Turing bombe," a forerunner of modern computers, to help reveal the settings for the Enigma machine.
Turing also did pioneering work on artificial intelligence, developing the "Turing Test" to measure whether a machine can think. One of the most prestigious honors in computing, the $250,000 Turing Prize, is named for him.
Graham-Cumming said Turing had a strong claim to the title "father of computing."
"He was thinking about what it meant to have a computer long before they existed," Graham-Cumming said. "He laid out the fundamental science of it."
Turing was among a motley group of mathematicians, cryptographers, crossword puzzle aficionados, chess masters and other experts assembled at a mansion called Bletchley Park, northwest of London, to wage a secret war against Nazi Germany. Their goal: cracking Adolf Hitler's supposedly unbreakable codes.
The team uncovered the secret to the Enigma machine and other ciphers used by the Nazi high command, revealing details of the movements of Germany's U-boat fleets and handing victory on the seas to the Allies.
Their work also provided crucial information in the desert campaign against German Field Marshal Erwin Rommel and the preparations for the Allied invasion of France.
"It is doubtful whether the D-Day landings would have happened, let alone succeeded," without Bletchley Park, said Kelsey Griffin, a director of the Bletchley Park museum.
She said Turing "stands alongside (Winston) Churchill as one of our great Britons."
Leader issues rare apology
Secrecy about the work at Bletchley Park, maintained long after the war was over, meant that for decades the role played by Turing and thousands of other codebreakers was not widely known.
Brown's apology, published on his office Web site, was seen as rare. The British government has resisted previous calls to apologize for historical events. In 2006, then-Prime Minister Tony Blair expressed "deep sorrow" for the slave trade, but stopped short of saying sorry.
Gay rights campaigner Peter Tatchell said Brown's apology to Turing was "most welcome and commendable," but didn't go far enough.
"A similar apology is also due to the estimated 100,000 British men who were convicted of consenting, victimless same-sex relationships during the 20th century," Tatchell said.
U.K. apologizes to gay WWII codebreaker
LONDON - British Prime Minister Gordon Brown offered a posthumous apology Friday for the "inhumane" treatment of Alan Turing, the World War II codebreaker who committed suicide in 1954 after being prosecuted for homosexuality and forcibly treated with female hormones.
The mathematician helped crack Nazi Germany's Enigma encryption machine — a turning point in the war — and is considered a father of modern computing.
In 1952, however, Turing was convicted of gross indecency for having sex with a man and offered a choice between prison and "chemical castration" — the injection of female hormones to suppress his libido. His security clearance was revoked and he was no longer allowed to work for the government.
Two years later, he killed himself at age 41 by eating an apple laced with cyanide.
'You deserved so much better'
As Britain marks the 70th anniversary of the September 1939 start of the war — remembered as its "finest hour" — Brown said Turing "deserved so much better" than the treatment he received from postwar society.
"It is no exaggeration to say that, without his outstanding contribution, the history of World War II could well have been very different," Brown said. "He truly was one of those individuals we can point to whose unique contribution helped to turn the tide of war."
Brown said Turing was "in effect, tried for being gay." Homosexuality was illegal in Britain until 1967.
"The debt of gratitude he is owed makes it all the more horrifying, therefore, that he was treated so inhumanely," Brown said. "We're sorry, you deserved so much better."
Brown's apology follows an online petition that drew more than 30,000 supporters, including novelist Ian McEwan, scientist Richard Dawkins and actor and comedian Stephen Fry.
Computer scientist John Graham-Cumming said he started the petition campaign because Turing "wasn't as well known in Britain as I think he deserved to be, as a hero of the Second World War and a great mathematician."
Technology pioneer uncovers secret
Working at the wartime codebreaking center at Bletchley Park, Turing helped crack Germany's secret codes by creating the "Turing bombe," a forerunner of modern computers, to help reveal the settings for the Enigma machine.
Turing also did pioneering work on artificial intelligence, developing the "Turing Test" to measure whether a machine can think. One of the most prestigious honors in computing, the $250,000 Turing Prize, is named for him.
Graham-Cumming said Turing had a strong claim to the title "father of computing."
"He was thinking about what it meant to have a computer long before they existed," Graham-Cumming said. "He laid out the fundamental science of it."
Turing was among a motley group of mathematicians, cryptographers, crossword puzzle aficionados, chess masters and other experts assembled at a mansion called Bletchley Park, northwest of London, to wage a secret war against Nazi Germany. Their goal: cracking Adolf Hitler's supposedly unbreakable codes.
The team uncovered the secret to the Enigma machine and other ciphers used by the Nazi high command, revealing details of the movements of Germany's U-boat fleets and handing victory on the seas to the Allies.
Their work also provided crucial information in the desert campaign against German Field Marshal Erwin Rommel and the preparations for the Allied invasion of France.
"It is doubtful whether the D-Day landings would have happened, let alone succeeded," without Bletchley Park, said Kelsey Griffin, a director of the Bletchley Park museum.
She said Turing "stands alongside (Winston) Churchill as one of our great Britons."
Leader issues rare apology
Secrecy about the work at Bletchley Park, maintained long after the war was over, meant that for decades the role played by Turing and thousands of other codebreakers was not widely known.
Brown's apology, published on his office Web site, was seen as rare. The British government has resisted previous calls to apologize for historical events. In 2006, then-Prime Minister Tony Blair expressed "deep sorrow" for the slave trade, but stopped short of saying sorry.
Gay rights campaigner Peter Tatchell said Brown's apology to Turing was "most welcome and commendable," but didn't go far enough.
"A similar apology is also due to the estimated 100,000 British men who were convicted of consenting, victimless same-sex relationships during the 20th century," Tatchell said.
U.K. apologizes to gay WWII codebreaker
segunda-feira, 25 de maio de 2009
U.K. Shrinks Reject ’Reparative Therapy’
Most American mental health professionals view the idea that gays and lesbians can be "cured" with skepticism; now, their counterparts in the UK have expressed similar reservations.
An April 27 press release from a Gay and Lesbian Mental Health focus group at the Royal College of Psychiatrists; declares, "The Royal College shares the concern of both the American Psychiatric Association and the American Psychological Association that positions espoused by bodies like the National Association for Research and Therapy of Homosexuality (NARTH) in the United States are not supported by science.
"There is no sound scientific evidence that sexual orientation can be changed," adds the release.
"Furthermore so-called treatments of homosexuality as recommended by NARTH create a setting in which prejudice and discrimination can flourish."
In the United States, so-called "reparative therapy," also known as "conversion therapy," has been decried by professional organizations dedicated to mental health concerns, including the American Psychiatric Association (APA), which struck homosexuality from its listing of mental disorders in 1973.
The release noted that in 1992 The International Classification of Diseases of the World Health Organization also struck homosexuality from its list of pathologies, marking an international consensus that gays and lesbians constitute a natural human sexual variation, rather than being victims of disease or deviance.
However, some religiously based organizations still promote the view that gays and lesbians are "disordered." The Catholic church has barred gays from entering seminaries, declaring that they do not enjoy a healthy ability to relate to persons of both genders.
Some groups, most of them religiously based, also promote the notion that through prayer and psychotherapy, gays and lesbians can "convert" themselves into heterosexuals.
While human sexuality may feature some degree of plasticity, especially in adolescents (who frequently go through a phase of sexual experimentation with, and attraction to, others of the same gender), most mental health professionals view homo- and heterosexuality as innate qualities of individuals.
One way of looking at human sexuality, espoused by the American sex researcher Alfred C. Kinsey, proposes that each individual falls somewhere on a "scale" of sexual orientation, the extremes of which exclude attraction to either the opposite gender or the same gender; in the middle, there is room for some degree of bisexuality.
Indeed, there is some evidence to show that at least some individuals identifying as gay or lesbian might refocus their sexual energies on the opposite sex; what is unclear is whether those individuals were innately, and essentially, gay or lesbian to begin with.
But what alarms GLBT equality advocates are attempts from religious and social conservatives to paint gays and lesbians as having "chosen" their sexuality--an argument that makes even many heterosexuals uncomfortable, because it suggests that straights could also have "chosen" to be gay.
Even so, the argument that sexuality is a choice is used repeatedly in efforts to deny gay and lesbian families and individuals equal access to rights and protections enjoyed by virtually every other demographic, including access to marriage rights.
The release stated, "The Royal College of Psychiatrists holds the view that lesbian, gay and bisexual people should be regarded as valued members of society who have exactly similar rights and responsibilities as all other citizens.
"This includes equal access to health care, the rights and responsibilities involved in a civil partnership, the rights and responsibilities involved in procreating and bringing up children, freedom to practice a religion as a lay person or religious leader, freedom from harassment or discrimination in any sphere and a right to protection from therapies that are potentially damaging, particularly those that purport to change sexual orientation."
Without the backing of scientific evidence to support the view that homosexuality is either a choice or a pathology, some religiously-based groups have launched public relations campaigns designed to suggest, or even claim outright, that gays are deviants who have made deviant choices.
In the United States, The National Organization for Marriage attacked family equality efforts with a widely derided ad in which actors portrayed heterosexual individuals expressing fear over a "storm" in which GLBT individuals would demand equal treatment before the law and--the group claimed--automatically trample the religious freedoms of heterosexuals in the process.
The ad relied on cases in which religious groups and individuals had come into conflict with state anti-discrimination laws and policies.
A six-minute anti-gay ad raised hackles, and drew jeers, in West Virginia and beyond last February for making similar claims, and for depicting a heterosexual couple and their children as being sited with a sniper-scope.
Around the same time, a paid hour-long advertisement called "Silencing the Christians" claimed that gay rights groups were allowed to demand their rights with rallies while similar demonstrations by Christians were targeted by authorities determined to "persecute" people of faith.
Earlier this year, a Michigan TV station declined to air that hour-long anti-gay ad, leading to condemnation from religious conservatives.
In Canada, a similar paid program was yanked from the airwaves after gay and lesbian groups complained to Canadian Television (CTV). The ad was produced by Life Productions , and made the claim that gays and lesbians can "choose" to become heterosexual.
The ad also made the claim that "many homosexuals don’t want to be homosexual."
The commercial featured an "ex-gay" minister, John Westcott, whose Exchange Ministries promises gays that they can be "cured" of their "affliction."
In the commercial, which is half a minute long, Westcott delivers the following speech:
"You hear a lot about gay rights, gay marriage and the gay lifestyle being taught in our public schools for children, but what many people don’t realize, and seldom hear, is that many homosexuals don’t want to be homosexual.
"What many who are struggling with homosexuality don’t realize, and seldom hear, is that they can change.
"I should know--for 13 years, I used to be one."
The ad was scheduled to run for a year, according to a March 10 article at anti-gay religious site LifeSiteNews, but was pulled after three days.
CTV apologized for airing the ad (which was rated as "mature" and slotted to run after 9:00 p.m. by an outside agency), and claimed that its contents were not known to the company’s officials.
Said Sarah Crawford, the Vice President of Public Affairs for CTV, "I assure you that had CTV known the content of the ad, it would not have gone to air."
Following complaints about the ad, Crawford said, "Station personnel then reviewed the ad, deemed it inappropriate for telecast and immediately pulled it off the air," the article reported.
LifeSiteNews.com noted that rival Facebook pages were set up, one decrying the ad’s claims and the other demanding the return of the ad.
The article carried a quote from the head of Life Productions, Jason Johns, who said, "The commercial doesn’t promote hate. It doesn’t promote discrimination. It promotes knowledge, and information."
Johns also denied that gays and lesbians were harmed by the ad, saying, "What we were doing was reaching out to, and educating people that there is a community of people who practice homosexuality that are not interested in practicing homosexuality, in that they want help."
The LifeSiteNews article cited science only to claim that "no scientific evidence" supports the hypothesis that homosexuality is an innate characteristic from birth for some people.
However, homosexuality has been noted well over 1,000 animal species other than human beings, including birds, insects, and other mammals.
And brain scientists have found tantalizing clues that indicate that gay and lesbian brains are physiologically different from those of heterosexuals: in one recent study in Sweden neurologists discovered that the brains of gay men are more like the brains of straight women than of straight men.
Similar results were discovered when the researchers used medical scanning to observe the workings of lesbians’ brains, which operate similarly to those of heterosexual men.
Indeed, the debate over whether physiological differences between gays and straights are authentic--and meaningful--has raged since Dr. Simon LeVay’s 1991 paper "A Difference in Hypothalamic Structure Between Heterosexual and Homosexual Men" was first published in the journal "Science."
The paper documented LeVay’s discovery that, on average, gay men had a smaller cluster of specialized neurons in their hypothalamuses than did heterosexual men.
Subsequent research has offered other indications that brain physiology may indeed account for the deep-seated and spontaneous feelings of same-sex attraction that gays and lesbians experience.
The fact that gays and lesbians exist in similar numbers across all nationalities, ethnicities, and other demographic divides, further indicates that homosexuality is a naturally-occurring and species-wide phenomenon.
However, the question of human sexuality is a large one, and specifics are still hard to pin down. Johns postulated that a population does exist that wish to--and can--alter their deep-seated feelings of sexual attraction for members of their own gender.
Johns condemned the ad’s removal from the airwaves on their behalf, saying, "What about these people who want help, who the commercial was actually for?"
Added Johns, "I’m concerned about our freedom of speech as well."
Johns went on, "If our freedom of speech is jeopardized, if it’s taken away, then who can advocate for these people?
"According to the pro-gay activists, no one is allowed to advocate for them. And I think that that’s where the real dictatorship and discrimination comes in."
Johns fell back on the long-used claim that GLBT equality proponents are largely "intolerant" of dissenting views, saying, "They accuse us of hating, they accuse us of being haters, and discrimination. That’s just not true.
The article claimed that Johns had received threatening email messages.
"We retain the e-mails that they do send us, because that’s evidence of where the real hatred and where the real discrimination exists," said Johns.
While some in the GLBT equality camp would argue that gays and lesbians who are miserable about their sexuality are only unhappy because of the legal and social attacks to which the GLBT community is subjected, Johns sought to reverse that viewpoint, claiming instead that those whose homosexuality makes them unhappy are intimidated by other gays into hesitating to accept a "cure" and to "convert" to heterosexuality.
Claimed Johns, "There’s a lot of fear and a lot of intimidation imposed by the pro-gay community, that I would think that anyone who claims to be homosexual and wants to get help, I think that in that sort of environment they would not feel comfortable voicing their opinion or their concern because of the response that they would get."
The article noted that Life Productions offers no counseling services itself to those wishing to "convert" to heterosexuality, offering referrals instead.
But the effectiveness of such therapies, and even their ethics, are still in question. A Wikipedia entry on the subject listed an array of techniques that have been employed in attempts to "convert" gays, including "behavior modification, aversion therapy, psychoanalysis, primal therapy, Bioenergetics, reparative therapy, hysterectomy, ovariectomy, clitoridectomy, castration, pudic nerve section, lobotomy, hormone treatment, pharmacologic shock treatment, treatment with sexual stimultants and depressants, the reduction of aversion to heterosexuality, electroshock treatment, group therapy, rational emotive therapy, and hypnosis."
The article went on to note that, "Mainstream American medical and scientific organizations have expressed concern over the practice of conversion therapy and consider it potentially harmful."
Not even all "ex-gays" claim to be heterosexual: while some report a satisfying life of heterosexuality after having "left behind" their gay impulses, others report that they continue to "struggle" with their own spontaneous and naturally-occurring emotions regarding members of their own gender, with a form of sexual suppression, or asexuality, being the end result.
What is murky about such reports is whether those who say they have "converted" were ever gay to begin with, or whether they are bisexual, and thus genuinely able to direct their interest toward one gender or the other.
What’s more, the "ex-gay" movement has proven so controversial that there is even a counter-movement of former "ex-gays," or "ex-ex-gays," as it were.
One of the leading opponents of the "ex-gay" movement is Wayne Besen , author and head of the group Truth Wins Out, which counters groups dedicated to the "ex-gay" movement such as Love Won Out , which is affiliated with the anti-gay group Focus on the Family.
U.K. Shrinks Reject ’Reparative Therapy’
An April 27 press release from a Gay and Lesbian Mental Health focus group at the Royal College of Psychiatrists; declares, "The Royal College shares the concern of both the American Psychiatric Association and the American Psychological Association that positions espoused by bodies like the National Association for Research and Therapy of Homosexuality (NARTH) in the United States are not supported by science.
"There is no sound scientific evidence that sexual orientation can be changed," adds the release.
"Furthermore so-called treatments of homosexuality as recommended by NARTH create a setting in which prejudice and discrimination can flourish."
In the United States, so-called "reparative therapy," also known as "conversion therapy," has been decried by professional organizations dedicated to mental health concerns, including the American Psychiatric Association (APA), which struck homosexuality from its listing of mental disorders in 1973.
The release noted that in 1992 The International Classification of Diseases of the World Health Organization also struck homosexuality from its list of pathologies, marking an international consensus that gays and lesbians constitute a natural human sexual variation, rather than being victims of disease or deviance.
However, some religiously based organizations still promote the view that gays and lesbians are "disordered." The Catholic church has barred gays from entering seminaries, declaring that they do not enjoy a healthy ability to relate to persons of both genders.
Some groups, most of them religiously based, also promote the notion that through prayer and psychotherapy, gays and lesbians can "convert" themselves into heterosexuals.
While human sexuality may feature some degree of plasticity, especially in adolescents (who frequently go through a phase of sexual experimentation with, and attraction to, others of the same gender), most mental health professionals view homo- and heterosexuality as innate qualities of individuals.
One way of looking at human sexuality, espoused by the American sex researcher Alfred C. Kinsey, proposes that each individual falls somewhere on a "scale" of sexual orientation, the extremes of which exclude attraction to either the opposite gender or the same gender; in the middle, there is room for some degree of bisexuality.
Indeed, there is some evidence to show that at least some individuals identifying as gay or lesbian might refocus their sexual energies on the opposite sex; what is unclear is whether those individuals were innately, and essentially, gay or lesbian to begin with.
But what alarms GLBT equality advocates are attempts from religious and social conservatives to paint gays and lesbians as having "chosen" their sexuality--an argument that makes even many heterosexuals uncomfortable, because it suggests that straights could also have "chosen" to be gay.
Even so, the argument that sexuality is a choice is used repeatedly in efforts to deny gay and lesbian families and individuals equal access to rights and protections enjoyed by virtually every other demographic, including access to marriage rights.
The release stated, "The Royal College of Psychiatrists holds the view that lesbian, gay and bisexual people should be regarded as valued members of society who have exactly similar rights and responsibilities as all other citizens.
"This includes equal access to health care, the rights and responsibilities involved in a civil partnership, the rights and responsibilities involved in procreating and bringing up children, freedom to practice a religion as a lay person or religious leader, freedom from harassment or discrimination in any sphere and a right to protection from therapies that are potentially damaging, particularly those that purport to change sexual orientation."
Without the backing of scientific evidence to support the view that homosexuality is either a choice or a pathology, some religiously-based groups have launched public relations campaigns designed to suggest, or even claim outright, that gays are deviants who have made deviant choices.
In the United States, The National Organization for Marriage attacked family equality efforts with a widely derided ad in which actors portrayed heterosexual individuals expressing fear over a "storm" in which GLBT individuals would demand equal treatment before the law and--the group claimed--automatically trample the religious freedoms of heterosexuals in the process.
The ad relied on cases in which religious groups and individuals had come into conflict with state anti-discrimination laws and policies.
A six-minute anti-gay ad raised hackles, and drew jeers, in West Virginia and beyond last February for making similar claims, and for depicting a heterosexual couple and their children as being sited with a sniper-scope.
Around the same time, a paid hour-long advertisement called "Silencing the Christians" claimed that gay rights groups were allowed to demand their rights with rallies while similar demonstrations by Christians were targeted by authorities determined to "persecute" people of faith.
Earlier this year, a Michigan TV station declined to air that hour-long anti-gay ad, leading to condemnation from religious conservatives.
In Canada, a similar paid program was yanked from the airwaves after gay and lesbian groups complained to Canadian Television (CTV). The ad was produced by Life Productions , and made the claim that gays and lesbians can "choose" to become heterosexual.
The ad also made the claim that "many homosexuals don’t want to be homosexual."
The commercial featured an "ex-gay" minister, John Westcott, whose Exchange Ministries promises gays that they can be "cured" of their "affliction."
In the commercial, which is half a minute long, Westcott delivers the following speech:
"You hear a lot about gay rights, gay marriage and the gay lifestyle being taught in our public schools for children, but what many people don’t realize, and seldom hear, is that many homosexuals don’t want to be homosexual.
"What many who are struggling with homosexuality don’t realize, and seldom hear, is that they can change.
"I should know--for 13 years, I used to be one."
The ad was scheduled to run for a year, according to a March 10 article at anti-gay religious site LifeSiteNews, but was pulled after three days.
CTV apologized for airing the ad (which was rated as "mature" and slotted to run after 9:00 p.m. by an outside agency), and claimed that its contents were not known to the company’s officials.
Said Sarah Crawford, the Vice President of Public Affairs for CTV, "I assure you that had CTV known the content of the ad, it would not have gone to air."
Following complaints about the ad, Crawford said, "Station personnel then reviewed the ad, deemed it inappropriate for telecast and immediately pulled it off the air," the article reported.
LifeSiteNews.com noted that rival Facebook pages were set up, one decrying the ad’s claims and the other demanding the return of the ad.
The article carried a quote from the head of Life Productions, Jason Johns, who said, "The commercial doesn’t promote hate. It doesn’t promote discrimination. It promotes knowledge, and information."
Johns also denied that gays and lesbians were harmed by the ad, saying, "What we were doing was reaching out to, and educating people that there is a community of people who practice homosexuality that are not interested in practicing homosexuality, in that they want help."
The LifeSiteNews article cited science only to claim that "no scientific evidence" supports the hypothesis that homosexuality is an innate characteristic from birth for some people.
However, homosexuality has been noted well over 1,000 animal species other than human beings, including birds, insects, and other mammals.
And brain scientists have found tantalizing clues that indicate that gay and lesbian brains are physiologically different from those of heterosexuals: in one recent study in Sweden neurologists discovered that the brains of gay men are more like the brains of straight women than of straight men.
Similar results were discovered when the researchers used medical scanning to observe the workings of lesbians’ brains, which operate similarly to those of heterosexual men.
Indeed, the debate over whether physiological differences between gays and straights are authentic--and meaningful--has raged since Dr. Simon LeVay’s 1991 paper "A Difference in Hypothalamic Structure Between Heterosexual and Homosexual Men" was first published in the journal "Science."
The paper documented LeVay’s discovery that, on average, gay men had a smaller cluster of specialized neurons in their hypothalamuses than did heterosexual men.
Subsequent research has offered other indications that brain physiology may indeed account for the deep-seated and spontaneous feelings of same-sex attraction that gays and lesbians experience.
The fact that gays and lesbians exist in similar numbers across all nationalities, ethnicities, and other demographic divides, further indicates that homosexuality is a naturally-occurring and species-wide phenomenon.
However, the question of human sexuality is a large one, and specifics are still hard to pin down. Johns postulated that a population does exist that wish to--and can--alter their deep-seated feelings of sexual attraction for members of their own gender.
Johns condemned the ad’s removal from the airwaves on their behalf, saying, "What about these people who want help, who the commercial was actually for?"
Added Johns, "I’m concerned about our freedom of speech as well."
Johns went on, "If our freedom of speech is jeopardized, if it’s taken away, then who can advocate for these people?
"According to the pro-gay activists, no one is allowed to advocate for them. And I think that that’s where the real dictatorship and discrimination comes in."
Johns fell back on the long-used claim that GLBT equality proponents are largely "intolerant" of dissenting views, saying, "They accuse us of hating, they accuse us of being haters, and discrimination. That’s just not true.
The article claimed that Johns had received threatening email messages.
"We retain the e-mails that they do send us, because that’s evidence of where the real hatred and where the real discrimination exists," said Johns.
While some in the GLBT equality camp would argue that gays and lesbians who are miserable about their sexuality are only unhappy because of the legal and social attacks to which the GLBT community is subjected, Johns sought to reverse that viewpoint, claiming instead that those whose homosexuality makes them unhappy are intimidated by other gays into hesitating to accept a "cure" and to "convert" to heterosexuality.
Claimed Johns, "There’s a lot of fear and a lot of intimidation imposed by the pro-gay community, that I would think that anyone who claims to be homosexual and wants to get help, I think that in that sort of environment they would not feel comfortable voicing their opinion or their concern because of the response that they would get."
The article noted that Life Productions offers no counseling services itself to those wishing to "convert" to heterosexuality, offering referrals instead.
But the effectiveness of such therapies, and even their ethics, are still in question. A Wikipedia entry on the subject listed an array of techniques that have been employed in attempts to "convert" gays, including "behavior modification, aversion therapy, psychoanalysis, primal therapy, Bioenergetics, reparative therapy, hysterectomy, ovariectomy, clitoridectomy, castration, pudic nerve section, lobotomy, hormone treatment, pharmacologic shock treatment, treatment with sexual stimultants and depressants, the reduction of aversion to heterosexuality, electroshock treatment, group therapy, rational emotive therapy, and hypnosis."
The article went on to note that, "Mainstream American medical and scientific organizations have expressed concern over the practice of conversion therapy and consider it potentially harmful."
Not even all "ex-gays" claim to be heterosexual: while some report a satisfying life of heterosexuality after having "left behind" their gay impulses, others report that they continue to "struggle" with their own spontaneous and naturally-occurring emotions regarding members of their own gender, with a form of sexual suppression, or asexuality, being the end result.
What is murky about such reports is whether those who say they have "converted" were ever gay to begin with, or whether they are bisexual, and thus genuinely able to direct their interest toward one gender or the other.
What’s more, the "ex-gay" movement has proven so controversial that there is even a counter-movement of former "ex-gays," or "ex-ex-gays," as it were.
One of the leading opponents of the "ex-gay" movement is Wayne Besen , author and head of the group Truth Wins Out, which counters groups dedicated to the "ex-gay" movement such as Love Won Out , which is affiliated with the anti-gay group Focus on the Family.
U.K. Shrinks Reject ’Reparative Therapy’
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