Rosendall counters 'ex-gay' advocate
| From: | Rick Rosendall |
| Sent: | Sunday, December 02, 2007 2:22 PM |
| To: | Sharon Kass |
| Subject: | Response to Sharon Kass on Same-Sex Marriage |
[Note: this is a response to an unsolicited email from Sharon Kass of Silver Spring, Maryland, who identified various D.C. officials and activists as recipients. Her message is provided at the bottom.]
Ms. Kass,
I am sorry to see your continued obsession against gay people and transgenders, who mean you no harm and simply want equality under the law. Notwithstanding your expression of concern on our behalf, your many slanders, unfounded claims, and preposterous statements make it clear that if anyone is suffering from an emotional disorder it is yourself. Your residence in Maryland shows you to be just another meddling outsider. I am responding to you because I believe it is important not to let anti-gay lies go unanswered.
First of all, homosexuality and transgenderism are two different things, but what they have in common is the harm caused by ignorant and intolerant people like you.
Your claim that homosexuality is an emotional disorder is rejected by the American Academy of Pediatrics, the American Counseling Association, the American Psychiatric Association, the American Psychological Association, the National Association of School Psychologists, and the National Association of Social Workers. You state, “The conditions of homosexuality and transgenderism indicate gender self-alienation stemming from unfavorable early life experiences.” This reference to “unfavorable early life experiences” is an old slander that does not become true by endless repetition. The sources you cite, including NARTH and P-FOX, are notorious for their junk science. Their so-called “cures” are no more legitimate as therapy than the old “water cure” torture, now known as waterboarding.
The fraud of ex-gay therapy is illustrated by so-called ex-gays like John Paulk whose homosexuality has reasserted itself despite being denied and repressed. You state that supporters of gay equality “have undermined the American political process with false authority and coercion,” yet it is you and your allies who routinely cite discredited authorities and who seek to coerce gay people into pretending to be something we are not.
Sexual orientation and race are indeed different, as you say, but both have been used to justify discrimination against minorities. The District of Columbia has a longstanding policy of non-discrimination with regard to both sexual orientation and gender identity, with the latter recently added explicitly to the D.C. Human Rights Act.
Your statement, “Marriage is an institution specifically dedicated to the relationship of man and woman,” implicitly and ahistorically asserts that the institution is unchanging. The past fifty years show how false that claim is. Marriage is no more unchanging than language, and is no more threatened by the inclusion of same-sex couples than it was by the emancipation of women. To be sure, it has been challenged by social equality movements, but unlike you we believe it is up to those challenges.
Your reference to “the complementariness of the sexes” brings to mind Plato’s Symposium, in which Aristophanes describes humans as searching for their “lost halves,” some same-sex and others opposite-sex. It is unclear why you find it necessary to ignore natural variations in human populations in favor of forcibly imposing a single standard on everyone; but it is clear that you see “human nature” not as something about which to learn by observation but as something to impose by fiat. This is fundamentally unscientific, authoritarian, and inhumane.
As for transgenders, there are many resources which you could easily find if you were interested in learning rather than lecturing. There is still much professional misunderstanding about transgenders, but my colleagues and I believe that understanding begins by letting transgenders speak for themselves. In this regard, I recommend that you visit http://www.genderpsychology.org/ to read “the personal experiences of a transsexual psychologist and a scientific critique of the psychopathology of gender identity disorder.” In one article, a male-to-female transsexual named Madeline writes to her parents, “Perhaps the answer is that transitioning does not make me happy. Transitioning is what makes it possible for me to find happiness.”
The following links provide additional resources for non-prejudicial information about gay and transgender people: APA Resolution on Appropriate Therapeutic Responses to Sexual Orientation, www.apa.org/pi/sexual.html; The Williams Institute, www.law.ucla.edu/williamsinstitute//home.html; Gay and Lesbian Medical Association, www.glma.org; National Coalition for LGBT Health, www.lgbthealth.net; National Center for Transgender Equality, www.nctequality.org/Resources/resources.html; Wayne Besen, Anything but Straight, www.anythingbutstraight.com/.
You claim that “the ex-gay movement is rising and will prevail. The 2008 presidential race may well occasion its decisive victory.” To the contrary, your movement is increasingly discredited. As to the presidential race, it is unclear how an election could validate scientific and medical claims that professional experts have overwhelmingly rejected. If anything, the pathetic parade of exposed anti-gay closet cases like Sen. Larry Craig presents a cautionary tale of the misery caused by denying one’s true nature.
Sincerely,
Rick Rosendall
Vice President for Political Affairs
Gay and Lesbian Activists Alliance of Washington, DC
| From: | Sharon Kass |
| Sent: | Sunday, December 02, 2007 12:46 AM |
| To: | rick.rosendall@glaa.org |
| Subject: | Re: Same-Sex Marriage |
November 20, 2007
| Leaders of D.C. for Marriage | Members of the D.C. Council |
| Mr. Donald Hitchcock | Hon. Vincent Gray, Chair |
| Mr. Lane Hudson | Hon. Jack Evans, Chair Pro Tempore |
| Mr. Ryan Velasco | Hon. Carol Schwartz |
| Mr. Michael Crawford | Hon. David A. Catania |
| Mr. Bob Summersgill | Hon. Phil Mendelson |
| Hon. Jim Graham | |
| Mr. Richard J. Rosendall | Hon. Kwame R. Brown |
| Gay & Lesbian Activists Alliance | Hon. Mary M. Cheh |
| Hon. Harry Thomas Jr. | |
| Hon. Linda Singer | Hon. Tommy Wells |
| Attorney General | Hon. Yvette Alexander |
| District of Columbia | Hon. Marion Barry |
Dear Addressee:
Concerning the prospect of same-sex marriage in the District of Columbia:
1. Marriage is an institution specifically dedicated to the relationship of man and woman. The complementariness of the sexes, in body, mind, and spirit, is the reality which marriage addresses. Marriage does not mean “the union of two persons.” Secular law must, at many points, deal with the exigencies of nature. It is not the place of lawyers and politicians to alter the legal meaning of marriage, any more than it is their place to disregard the facts of nature, particularly human nature.
2. Neither sexual equality—equality between man and woman—nor “sexual orientation” equality, as ideals, are rationally comparable to the idea of racial equality. Race is a social construct made in response to mostly-trivial physical differences among persons; it is inborn, permanent, and neutral in value. Sex is a biological fact—or, rather, a set of facts—having, necessarily, profound moral and social implications. “Sexual orientation” is a euphemism used by gay-egalitarians; homosexual and transgender feelings are symptoms of emotional disorders, ones, at this point in history, which are preventable and treatable. The conditions of homosexuality and transgenderism indicate gender self-alienation stemming from unfavorable early life experiences. More information on this is available at www.narth.com, www.gaytostraight.org, www.peoplecanchange.com, www.pfox.org, and www.jonahweb.org.
The irrationality and bias of the health care, educational, legal, and media establishments have done much to interfere with citizens’ pursuit of well-being for themselves and their families, and have undermined the American political process with false authority and coercion. The concentrated force of so much narcissism has made GayScam a unique phenomenon.
Nationwide, the ex-gay movement is rising and will prevail. The 2008 presidential race may well occasion its decisive victory. I caution you against allowing “marriages” that will within a few years be rendered null, thus throwing the lives of couples and families into disarray.
Sincerely yours,
Sharon Kass