Book Review: Homosexuality and the Politics of Truth, by Jeffrey Satinover, M.D.

by Francis MacNutt
Fall 2000

Ordinarily I don't write book reviews, even though many excellent books on healing keep coming out. But this is an exception, since this issue of The Healing Line is on the special topic of the healing of homosexuality.

As you know, the homosexual issue has achieved importance beyond the ordinary because of its threat to divide many mainline churches. What is disturbing is not just the divisiveness, but the great lack of knowledge about these issues. People, including church leaders, are coming to conclusions without knowing the facts about the homosexual issue. If they do not know the truth, how can they come to right decisions concerning its morality?

In Homosexuality and the Politics of Truth, Dr. Satin over presents a compelling case for traditional morality. He comes against several basic untruths ·commonly accepted as true by the media — and also by some church leaders. Dr. Satinover's qualifications are based upon his experience as a psychiatrist of long standing who began his spiritual journey as an Orthodox Jew, later became a Christian, and was influenced by Leanne Payne's ministry. He believes, as we do, that the most important message the homosexual needs to hear is that "healing is possible" (p. 227). He strongly objects to the politicizing of the issue, where gay activists employ extreme political and social pressure to stop discussion of the morality of homosexual acts: "If homosexuality was once taboo, what is taboo now is the notion that homosexuals can be healed, if they want to" (p. 168).

Dr. Satinover tackles the main issues head on:

1) Is homosexuality genetic? Is there a "gay gene"?

There have been many research studies, some by gay researchers, and none show that homosexuality is genetic or that there is a gay gene. The most convincing argument is derived from studies researching identical twins — that is, where both twins have the same set of genes. If homosexuality were strictly genetic, both twins would be homosexual 100 percent of the time. Far from being 100 percent, the correspondence was 52 percent, and the high incidence of homosexuality can be accounted for by nurture — the fact that these twins grew up together in the same home.

The root causes of homosexuality are complex. The common hard–nosed Christian response has been to tell the homosexual to repent and change, as if it were a simple matter of choice. This response is simplistic and cruel. The causes may go way back in time, but they are not irreversible. In spite of the tabloids, no "gay gene" has been discovered.

2) Can homosexual orientation be changed?

Dr. Satinover summarizes a number of research studies showing that even secular psychotherapy achieves results in changing a homosexual's same–sex orientation. For instance, the well–known team of Masters and Johnson achieved a success rate of 65 percent (p. 187).

If you add prayer to psychotherapy, the results rise even further. For example, Fr. Mario Bergner (who works with Leanne Payne) reports that over 80 percent of the homosexuals with whom he works have been successful in changing their same–sex orientation (p. 204).

And yet, gay activists trying to influence the American Psychiatric Association want to make it unethical for a psychiatrist to help a homosexual change orientation, even if the patient wants to change. To them, the only acceptable treatment is to persuade the homosexual to accept his/her orientation. In line with this agenda, some extremists want the "homophobic" label to be attached to anyone who believes homosexual acts are sinful. They even wish to label homophobia a psychological disorder.

3) Can homosexual acts be made medically safe?

Gay activists promote an agenda stating that condoms prevent AIDS and can thus render homosexual activity safe. "Safer," perhaps, but safe, no. Since anal intercourse is engaged in by roughly 80 percent of active male homosexuals, and this creates rearing of the rectum each time, all kinds of other diseases are spread — not just AIDS — by the bacteria present in fecal matter. Severe medical problems, such as rectal cancer, are common in the homosexual population, and there is a significant decrease in life expectancy. "They found that the gay male life span, even apart from AIDS and with a long–term partner, is significantly shorter than that of married men in general by more than three decades" (p. 69). "Furthermore, in spite of all the educational programs about the risk of AIDS, approximately 40 percent of male homosexuals still never use condoms during anal intercourse" (p. 56).

Alcoholism, which our society agrees should be treated, has far fewer problems than the medical risks associated with homosexual activity. (Alcoholism results in a five to 10 percent decrease in life expectancy or about 10 years, compared to 25 years for male homosexuals). One example: within one 15– year span, 40 top male figure skaters in the U.S. and Canada died of AIDS.

4) Are monogamous relationships among homosexuals successful?

Here there are statistical differences between lesbians, who tend to be more faithful to their partners, and male homosexuals, who tend to be more promiscuous. Among homosexual males, monogamous relationships are relatively rare — less than two percent (p. 54), and the expectation of fidelity is ordinarily very different from the expectation in a heterosexual marriage. Two authors, themselves a gay couple, researched 156 gay male couples and found that only seven had maintained sexual fidelity and of the 100 who had been together for five years, none had been able to maintain sexual fidelity. The authors noted, "The expectation for outside sexual activity was the rule for male couples and the exception for heterosexuals" (p. 55). Are church leaders pushing for gay "marriages" aware of these very different expectations? Most gay unions are not parallel to heterosexual marriage.

We need to be concerned when church leaders buy into the gay agenda:

• They have accepted the belief that being gay is generic.
• They believe that homosexuality cannot be changed.
• They believe that "safe sex" solves most of the medical problems.
• They believe they should sacramentalize gay unions because they seem to them to be comparable to marriages.

But all these assumptions are simply untrue. If you challenge them (witness Dr. Laura Schlesinger), you are attacked. If you have a hard rime with any of this, I suggest that you read Dr. Satinover's book in full.

In do not mean to imply that we should not sympathize with homosexuals who have not been shown any hope of change by most churches. The same–sex orientation does seem to them to be a given, over which they have no choice. If we believe in the power of Jesus to transform and to heal, we have no business condemning homosexuals. They need to be loved and included in our Christian community. They, like all of us, cry out for love and acceptance. Homosexual activity is their way of filling that emptiness, that pain. Until we find the true love of Jesus and, hopefully, the love of friends and community, we all rend to fill our emptiness, each in our own way. Thanks be to God, we all can be transformed through the loving humanity of Jesus.

Francis MacNutt is a Founding Director and Executive Committee member of CHM.