Sexual Relationships 
Sexual Health 
This is a paper i wrote for my Senior year research paper and got a 95% on it. I hope this helps people to see homosexuality as it really is.
Homosexuality. Known to have existed since the beginning of man. Up until the last century, homosexuality was considered a form of mental disorder, something wrong with the human brain. Most communities punished homosexuality, and while for the most part that has stopped, some areas still punish people for it, sometimes with death(townhall.com) The past couple decades has shown many countries, states, and territories becoming more accepting of homosexuality, some to the point of legalizing gay marriage. America seems to be split on this topic, lots of people with differing opinions have been fighting on this issue for decades, but especially in the last ten or fifteen years. I personally believe that homosexuality is wrong and should not be condoned. While I do not think it should be punishable by extreme means, I do believe we should be searching for a cure or treatment for this problem. In the next couple paragraphs I will prove why homosexuality should be classified as a mental disorder and is not “normal” through definitions and statistics to further drive the point of why we should not accept or promote this activity, and should also be actively looking for a solution.
Lets start with the definition of normal. According to the Oxford Dictionary, normal in its noun form is defined as: “The usual, average, or typical state or condition”. Multiple studies examined by Gary Gates of the Williams Institute found about 3.5% of the population belongs to the LGBT(lesbian, gay, bisexual, transexual) population. So if we use the official definition for normal, homosexuals are far from normal. Going back to the Oxford Dictionary, abnormal as an adjective(no noun form available) is defined as: “Deviating from what is normal or usual, typically in a way that is undesirable or worrying”. Homosexuality doesn’t contribute to evolution since it discourages reproduction, which goes against the scientific definition of fitness, “An organism’s ability to survive and reproduce…”, so with no foreseeable benefits or purpose, only disadvantages, one would think that homosexuality is obviously some type of mental disorder rather then a normal variation in the human gene pool.
"Sexual orientation" is a word used to describe what type of people a person is sexually attracted to. Heterosexuals are attracted to the opposite sex and homosexuals are attracted to the same sex. Bisexuals are attracted to both sexes and asexuals are not attracted to anything. By definition, pedophillia (the attraction to children by adults) should be classified as a sexual orientation. Those people don't choose who they are attracted to (similar to what homosexuals experience), they are born with it. Most people, including myself, would agree that sexual contact between minors and adults should never be allowed under any circumstances, and be punishable by law. That is the case with pedophillia. Is is defined as a “perversion”(perversion is "sexual behavior that people think is not normal or natural”) by Merriam Webster. Homosexuality was once considered a mental disorder and a perversion of the mind, as is pedophillia today, aglp.org tells that:
"The American Psychiatric Association (APA) removed homosexuality from its official Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM) in 1973. This decision occurred in the context of momentous cultural changes brought on by the social protest movements of the 1950s to the 1970s"
From that statement we can infer that the removal of homosexuality from the DSM was brought on in direct correlation to protesting. No new discoveries or breakthroughs were recently made to cause this change, it was solely due to protesting. The same thing is happening today with gay marriage. Homosexuals are protesting and fighting current laws against gay marriage. however, no recent breakthroughs or discoveries have been made in recent years, but still, more and more countries continue to legalize and accept a condition, that 50 years ago with the same knowledge we have now would be in the same category as pedophillia. I think these types of decisions should only be made on scientific facts proven to be right, and not just what (a small percent) of the population thinks is right and pushes upon the rest.
Something comparable to homosexuality is OCD(obsessive compulsive disorder). The National Institute of Mental Health reports that around 2.3% of Americans age 30-44 are affected by OCD. Both homosexuality and OCD are mental conditions and effect people’s behavior in their daily life. They both have similar population makeups as well, only being off by about 1%. The difference is that homosexuality is not considered a mental disorder anymore, so there is no treatment, nor any mainstream attempts at one. The reason for this is that for someone to research a cure or treatment would require there to be something wrong with the person in the first place. Since we do not consider this a problem, to even suggest that there is something to fix would be looked down upon by society and would likely have issues finding funding for fear of bad publicity. OCD on the other hand is seen as a mental disorder and therefore has had many successful treatments created for it(www.iocdf.org). People with this issue can now lead a more normal life. Imagine if people were so narrow minded as to think that even though people with OCD are different, that there’s nothing wrong with them and that we should just leave them alone to live life, and since they were brought up to think that there is nothing wrong with them, they accept their problems and some may even be proud to have them. That is exactly what is happening with homosexuals today, and I think we should be able to increase the quality of life for that population by creating treatments so they can lead a more normal life. Public schools are making this more difficult to accomplish because they beginning to teach our children that homosexuality is normal and okay(www.washingtonpost.com). This is exactly the mindset that is keeping treatments from being produced and causing people to stay in ignorance to the problems they have.
Homosexuality is a very prevalent issue in our society. We are at a crucial point right now, many opinions are divided equally on what we should do. If more people could first understand that this is a real problem, then we can begin searching for answers. Finding a treatment or cure could allow homosexuals to fit into society better, and increase quality of life by reducing the amount of bullying and ridicule they receive for being the way they are. I want to see a world in which we don't have to worry about problems like these anymore, and we have the opportunity to make that happen right now.
Sources:
“Definition of Abnormal in English:." Abnormal: Definition of Abnormal in Oxford Dictionary (American English) (US). Oxford University Press, 2015. Web. 4 Feb. 2015. <https://www.oxforddictionaries.com/us/definition/american_english/abnormal>.
"Definition of Fitness in English:." Fitness: Definition of Fitness in Oxford Dictionary (American English) (US). Oxford University Press,. 2015. Web. 13 Feb. 2015. <https://www.oxforddictionaries.com/us/definition/american_english/fitness>.
“Definition of Normal in English:.” Normal: Definition of Normal in Oxford Dictionary (American English) (US). Oxford University Press, 2015. Web. 14 Feb. 2015.
<https://www.oxforddictionaries.com/us/definition/american_english/normal>.
"Gay and Lesbian Rights." Gallup Poll. Gallup, 2013. Web. 19 Feb. 2015. <http.www.gallup.com/poll/1651/gay-lesbian-rights.aspx>.
Gates, Gary J., and Los Angeles. School of Law California. How Many People Are Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender? Los Angeles, CA: Williams Institute, 2011. Print.
History of Psychiatry & Homosexuality." LGBT Mental Health Syllabus. Group for the Advancement of Psychiatry, 2012. Web. 14 Feb. 2015. <https://www.aglp.org/gap/1_history/>.
“How Is OCD Treated?" International OCD Foundation. 28 Apr. 2014. Web. 11 Feb. 2015. <https://iocdf.org/about-ocd/treatment/>.
"In D.C. Schools, Gay-tolerance Lessons Are Becoming Elementary." Washington Post. The Washington Post, 4 Feb. 2012. Web. 11 Feb. 2015. <https://www.washingtonpost.com/ local/education/in-dc-schools-gay-tolerance-lessons-are-becoming-elementary/ 2012/01/29/gIQA8YLFqQ_story.html>.
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