Reparative therapy suggestions yet again by 'Tell Me Pastor'

Yet again our goodly friend Pastor/Psychologist Aaron Dumas continues to flout the guidance of the Diagnostic Statistical Manual DSM on reparative therapy and on suggesting same to persons who supposedly make homosexual desires known to psychologists. One could conclude he is going against his own profession's guidelines.

Here is another letter to the Pastor, see what you make of it after a woman claimed she is struggling with lesbian desires for another.

Dear Pastor,

I have been fighting with the church and my feelings and it has been going on for a while now.

I am the daughter of a pastor and I have dated a number of guys in the past, but I have fallen in love with a young lady.

All my life I have seen couples being happy and so in love, and I have been searching for that kind of love in my previous relationships, but always ended up feeling empty inside, until this girl came along.

This love happened in the span of less than two days and it has caused me to wonder if this is really love, obsession or infatuation.

She and I have been praying fervently about the situation, but each day we grow to love each other more and more. It has gotten to a stage where she has given up a promising future with an affluent man and is being rejected by her family and friends because of me.

We have been planning our lives and futures together. However, we are very concerned about our Christian lives, and indeed, our afterlives.


DEPRESSING

The situation is quite stressful and depressing, as we are confused as to why God would allow us to have such strong feelings for each other if it is such an abomination unto Him.

Why is it that we can get no concrete answer to our prayers? We really need an answer from you, Pastor.

A.R.

The pastor's response:

Dear A.R.,

Are you blaming God for allowing you and your friend to be doing something which the Bible describes as unnatural?

Before you started to pray and became intimate with this young woman, you were aware that the Bible condemns all form of homosexuality, whether it is between two men or two women.

I know that whenever I quote the Bible in dealing with a matter such as yours, some people curse me and accuse me of condemning gays.

I am not condemning you, but I have to tell you that I cannot encourage you to do what you have written to me about.

Therefore, I must remind you that God is not pleased with such a conduct.

20 For since the creation of the world God's invisible qualities - his eternal power and divine nature - have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that people are without excuse. 21 For although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened. 22 Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools 23 and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images made to look like a mortal human being and birds and animals and reptiles.

24 Therefore, God gave them over in the sinful desires of their hearts to sexual impurity for the degrading of their bodies with one another. 25 They exchanged the truth about God for a lie, and worshipped and served created things rather than the Creator - who is forever praised. Amen.

26 Because of this, God gave them over to shameful lusts. Even their women exchanged natural sexual relations for unnatural ones. 27 In the same way the men also abandoned natural relations with women and were inflamed with lust for one another. Men committed shameful acts with other men, and received in themselves the due penalty for their error." (Romans 1:20-32 NIV)

DELIVERANCE

I want to assure you that nothing is impossible with God and I believe that if you were to cry out to God and ask others to help you pray, God can deliver you. You were not born gay, you loved men, but they have hurt you. Yes, my exhortation to you may sound stupid to some, but I believe in a powerful God. Nothing is impossible with him. If you lay your life on the altar and turn away from your girlfriend, you will be delivered.

You say that you and your girlfriend are praying about the situation in which both of you are involved. Continue to pray, but separate yourself from her.

You may consider making an appointment to see a Christian family counsellor or psychologist who would help you to deal with your depression. I am sure that what you are suffering is a result of the relationship that you are having with this young woman. God knows what you are going through, but remember you cannot do whatever you please and expect God to bless you.

Pastor

ENDS

Yes we believe in God but what if the same God made us as is?

Peace & tolerance

H

HIV Long-Term Survivors Day

Every year people join together to celebrate and honor the Long-Term Survivors of the HIV/AIDS epidemic. Please join with us in raising awareness about the needs, issues and journeys of HIV Long-Term Survivors (HLTS) as we mark two significant milestones – it has been 35 years since HIV was identified on June 5, 1981. It is 20 years since Highly Active Antiretroviral Therapy (HAART) was introduced.

There are a few definitions of Long-Term Survivor (LTS)

• Pre-HAART LTS — Longest-term survivors are individuals who acquired HIV in the 1980s and 1990s, before the advent of highly effective antiretroviral therapy (pre-HAART) when having HIV was considered a death sentence. Those living longest with HIV have physical and psychosocial implications that are vastly different from those who acquired HIV later in the epidemic.

• Post-HAART LTS — those who tested past 1996 and living with HIV for over 10 years.

There are long-term survivors of a different stripe that are often left out of the discourse. They are the survivors who remain HIV-negative. They were lovers, caretakers and frontline healthcare workers. They were lesbians who stepped in to take care of people with HIV and AIDS. They too suffered enormous losses.

It has been over thirty years since the Denver Principles began the self-empowerment movement for people living with HIV but long-term survivors now find our voices muted. Our issues are sidelined by the agencies we helped to form. Conferences devoted to HIV are focused on newer topics while relegating long-term survivors to the sidelines and affinity sessions off the main stage.

The theme for 2016 is “Moving Forward Together”. It celebrates those who have defied the odds by living with HIV for decades. Our focus is on ensuring that HIV Long-Term Survivors and Older Adults Living with HIV are not invisible and forgotten in the current HIV dialogue. We want to change the narrative from surviving to thriving. Achieving that goal requires older adults with HIV to be equipped for healthy aging. Long-term survival, once an almost unimaginable concept is now the norm.

With courage and compassion, we survived the darkest days of the plague. Without access to effective treatments, we were forced to rely on each other and ourselves. As individuals and a community, we exhibited strength we didn’t know we had. Now we’re face the conundrums of aging. Celebrating our lives is what the day is all about.

Today over half of all people living with HIV in the US are over 50. By 2020 that will increase to 70 percent. The mew face of HIV is aging. However, HIV and Aging is not a monolith. A case can be made that Pre-HAART survivors and Post-HAART survivors are separate cohorts with overlapping but different medical and psychosocial needs. Longest term survivors, those who acquired HIV before 1996, face different medical issues and decades of planning to is having an impact on our lives now.

We now find ourselves confronting the realities of aging— something that was unimaginable before 1996. We’re the generation who were told to plan to die young. By the end of that year, in the U.S. we witnessed the deaths of 362,004 of our loved ones and community. 6.4 million people had died form AIDS worldwide.

We chose June 5 to commemorate the day the CDC first announced the mysterious illness that was killing young gay men. It was the beginning of HIV/AIDS awareness before it was known as HIV/AIDS.

There’s a meme that “we lost an entire generation.” While we did a lot of our generation their are by recent estimates, 26% of Longest-Term Survivors alive now. Let’s celebrate, honor and appreciate that they still have years go and it is all our job to help them become the elders of our tribe.

The Challenges

Long-term survivors face a myriad of interconnected psychosocial, practical, and medical challenges rooted in HIV-stigma, aging, ageism, and economic distress that impacts functional health-related quality of life (HRQoL) issues.

Psychosocial

The AIDS epidemic has been a series of complex traumatic events. Long-term stress like that experienced by long-term survivors, is unique and we now know that survival itself can also have trauma-related implications. The legacy of our past is having an effect on our lives now, and too many survivors are unaware of what is happening to them.

The effects of ongoing trauma now present in combinations of depression, anxiety, emotional numbness, anger, survivor guilt, insomnia, nightmares, hypervigilance, hopelessness, sometimes substance abuse and or sexual risk-taking. It also includes emotional numbness, low-self esteem, avoidance, social withdrawal and isolation, a lack of future orientation and loss of self-regulation that occurs when survival dominates how a person thinks, feels, and behaves in every area of his or her life. It is that sense of feeling lost or “not myself”. It often includes an exaggerated and persistent negative outlook about one’s identity that breeds a sense of hopelessness and despair.

It is a natural response to the sort of complex posttraumatic stress that often occurs years after the the immediate danger is over. We do not think a perfectly human response should be stigmatized by calling it a disorder. But in psychological terms ASS id s version of Complex PTSD. Another name sometimes used to is Disorders of Extreme Stress Not Otherwise Specified (DESNOS). 

Here is the thing, surviving AIDS for decades is unique. The DSM-5 paints PTSD with a broad brush and ignores the nuances of something this unique. The bible of therapy is the recently revised DSM-5. It only hints at symptoms of complex PTSD, but in the end has left them out of the manual and lumps posttraumatic stress under PTSD. We deserve something that better describes what many of are living with.

More HERE

Schoolgirl booted for taking same sex kiss with another girl, ignorant school officials ......

A ST JAMES schoolgirl who was photographed kissing another female cannot be sanctioned for her actions, the school's principal has said. Apparently it was a joke but also a dare to show she is secure about where she is going, if not experimentation. Teenagers often experiment with same gender sexualised behaviour of some sort and then move on as they age. 

the related photo

A photo has been circulating on social media which shows the girl, in school uniform, lip-locked with another female, who was in casual clothes.

The principal told THE STAR that any student found guilty of bringing the school's image into disrepute could be suspended. He, however, said that the uniformed female in the photograph was no longer a student at the school which he heads. He said the child left the school more than a year ago, but did not state the circumstances of her leaving. So if it is not disciplinary reasons or poor academic performance that caused her expulsion from the school then we can safely say it was because of misplaced homophobia, indeed lesbophobia then.

Meanwhile, the Ministry of Education told The STAR that its policy has always been that "we do not condone or promote sexual activity among adolescents, whether the behaviour is of a homosexual or heterosexual nature". A kiss is seen as 'sexual activity' by the Ministry! this just shows the phobia inside that organization as the experimentation bit in my opening suggests; a kiss does not neccesarily needs to full on sex gay or not. But I am not surprised as the minister himself has expressed said fears of 'grooming' and other such nonsense.

"Through the Health and Family Life Education Curriculum and guidance programmes, abstinence from all forms of sexual activity is emphasized," the ministry said.

The ministry said that adolescents found engaging in sexual activity should be referred to the relevant guidance counsellor for further guidance and counselling and external referral, where necessary. Problem is these sessions have a reparative ambit as opposed to a delay or abstinence thrust as if to 'change' the students from exploring or growing into their sexuality.

"Where these issues are identified in schools, targeted interventions are also implemented to address the issue of the inappropriate sexual behaviour," the ministry said. Just because of a kiss! the most that should have happened here is warning to her not to go so public as there maybe legal implications; as well as abstinence messages and refer her to the relevant outfits for follow up.

Sad another case of a teen's growth impacted by ignorant adults; living in a world they did not make and left taught stigma & discrimination.

When can we move forwards on this issue of sexual orientation?

More anon

Peace & tolerance

H

also see:

Livin' in a world they did not make: A second student rescued from homophobic attack at school

Parents' Month under the theme 'Parents: Today you guide. Tomorrow they lead' .... as for Gay 2010

3 Schoolboys face the court for beating other male student allegedly for calling them "battybois"

Viewers condemn kissing female students ...... yet again

Early initiation, gay sex, comprehensive sexual education and the real world

Girls Now Charged for Having Sex with Minors as Boys, Do Adults Ever Speak to Them?

The Deliberate Misuse of the “Sexual Grooming” Term by Antigay Fanatics 

Teen boy love, getting caught & exploration

Teen forced to change schools following outing incident

Male student accused of spying in boy’s bathroom attacked

Effects of childhood bullying on mental health of adults

Urgent need for sex & sexuality to be discussed nationally

Sex-ed does not say have sex — NFPB head

Education Minister dismisses counsellors LGBT students issue, says it’s a 'minority' matter.

Ronnie Thwaites’ rubbish on flying rainbow flags grooms children into “particular lifestyle”

There goes 'Tell me pastor' again pushing reparative suggestions to a bisexual woman

There goes Pastor Aaron Dumas again pushing a reparative therapy line despite the practice is not recommended to be used by psychologists but he still persist in recommending same. His column in the Star had a recent letter (seems to well edited) of a woman complaining of struggling with her sexuality. 

Interestingly the title is 'I want to change my bisexual lifestyle' but lifestyle and orientation for all intents and purposes are two different things; it has bee shown to be dangerous to suppress one's feelings as it may have disastrous consequences for those who do.

Here is the letter and response:

Dear Pastor,

I am 21 years old and I am having a serious problem. It seems as if a battle is going on inside me between my good conscience and my bad conscience.

At times I wonder if I will go insane. I am a strong believer, in God and I want to serve and live for Him, but there are certain things in my life that are causing me concern. I met a man online two years ago.

This man is good to me, but there are certain things that I do that he likes and if I stop doing them, I fear I will lose him. He likes the fact that I'm bisexual. He buys me sex toys and I make videos and take certain pictures for him.

He says he wants to spend the rest of his life with me and he also wants to have a child with me. I told him about my decision to no longer have sex with him out of wedlock and he agreed with my decision, but his tone of voice says otherwise. This man is a good father to his son and mine - both are honour role students. He is also a believer in God, but he does not read the Bible or pray as much as I do. He says he supports my decision, yet he does not try to help me stay true to it. I told him about it and we talk about it, yet the next day, we are back to the same thing.

Pastor, I need your help because something inside me is telling me to live my life, while something else is telling me that I am here for a purpose and not just to live. I know that if I stop what I am doing, it will be the right thing.

But I am afraid that these thoughts will drive me crazy. Pastor, I need your advice. The things I get involved in sexually make me weak when I'm trying to be strong, and my boyfriend does not try to help me stay strong. He still asks for what I can give him and there is no one around me to help me on my path. I am on my own.

D.W.

Answer:

Dear D.W.,

If you are serious about bringing a change into your life, you need to seek help from the minister of the church I am assuming that you are attending. If you do not attend church, I suggest that you need to start doing so and make an appointment to see the minister or pastor, who would become your spiritual adviser, so to speak. You need help - spiritual help. You cannot fight this battle alone. And I say battle because it is, that is why you have great turmoil within and you speak of the turmoil as your conscience. You admitted that you are bisexual, but you have not mentioned the other persons in your life with whom you are actively having sex. Although you are having sex with them, you consider this man who has promised to marry you to be your main sexual partner. You want to stop having sex with him because you want to get married, so I suppose that that desire of not having sex outside of wedlock would also go for everybody. This man is also agreeing with you, but his action shows that he is not serious. He is not willing to stay away from you and to stop having sex with you.


PROMISES

He gets tremendous kicks out of the things you do. I am sure that you have heard that promises are a comfort to a fool. When he is around you and he wants to have sexual thrills, he can get it from you anytime - and you are too weak to resist him. That is what he is accustomed to, that is what holds both of you together and nothing else. I wish you could see the tremendous danger in making sexual videos and taking pictures of yourself and others and giving them to this man. You are making a big mistake. Have you considered what impact that would have on your son and your relatives if this man were to release such videos and photographs to the public? Oh my! What would happen if this man were to place some of these things on social media?

I am not condemning you at all. I know you are young and sometimes young people don't think of the negative impact things like these can have on their lives.

However, you are crying out for help. I know some folks would not like what I am about to say, but I will say it nevertheless. I believe that you are a good girl in your own right. You need some guidance, spiritual guidance. You are crying out for help. You have come to realise that having fun, the way you are going about it, is not satisfying. Therefore, I ask you to pray about your situation, go to church, drop all these girlfriends and boyfriends that you have. Tell the man that you consider your main beau to come to church with you, but if he doesn't want to do so, go nevertheless. Talk to the pastor or his wife and ask them for help. They will do their best to help you. You did not mention with whom you are living and whether you are working, or if this man is taking care of you. I wish you had divulged that. I hope you are employed. You have my prayers and if I can be of further help to you, please contact me again.

Pastor

ENDS

The American Psychiatric Association “opposes any psychiatric treatment such as reparative or conversion therapy which is based upon the assumption that homosexuality per se is a mental disorder or based upon the a prior assumption that a patient should change his/her sexual homosexual orientation.” The DSM is also quite clear on the matter.

A word to the wise is sufficient.

Peace & tolerance

H

Aphrodite’s P.R.I.D.E Jamaica, APJ tackles gender identity, transgender misconceptions & an ignorant sociologist

 Caitlyn Jenner (pic from the net)

As the euphoria continues surrounding Bruce Jenner’s transition from male to female and subsequent pre-released photos via the magazine Vanity Fair’s online edition for June 2015, a firestorm of sorts has also erupted here in Jamaica regarding gender identity, misplaced or conflated cross dressing with homosexual intent and supposed imposing foreign values. Sadly when these topics are made to collide or being lumped as one the fear of the unknown comes to dominate rational thinking and all kinds of statements, unqualified diagnoses and pronouncements including psychiatric ones are made that persons who either are transgender or transsexual are mentally ill despite the fact that the guiding instrument for qualified professionals who can make such diagnosis has removed gender dysphorphia (linked to the former Gender Identity Disorder, GID) from the Diagnostic Statistical Manual, DSM now in its fifth dispensation. "Dysphoria" is a feeling of dissatisfaction, anxiety, and restlessness. With gender dysphoria, the discomfort with your male or female body can be so intense that it can interfere with the way you function in normal life, for instance at school or work or during social activities.

Gender dysphoria used to be called “gender identity disorder.” But the mismatch between body and internal sense of gender is not a mental illness. Instead, what need to be addressed are the stress, anxiety, and depression that go along with it.

The condition has also been called “transsexualism.” But this term is outdated. Some consider it offensive. Now “transgender” is often used to describe someone who feels his or her body and gender do not match.

Gender nonconforming (GNC) is a broader term that can include people with gender dysphoria. But it can also describe people who feel that they are neither only male or only female. Informally, people who identify with both genders or with neither gender might call themselves "genderqueer."

Gender dysphoria is not homosexuality. Your internal sense of your gender is not the same as your sexual orientation.

At the time of this post NNN did not post the audio of the discussion and my recorded copy the quality is not so hot as it was captured by a third party device (phone) but here it is for now, please pardon the static:

APJ's Satiba & Dr Karen Carpenter on Gender Sex & Transgenderism (NNN) 01.06.15 

Also see some previous posts:

Gender Dysphoria Diagnosis to be Moved Out of Sexual Disorders Chapter of DSM-5 ....... The "D" Switcharoo? 2012

Sexual & Gender Identity Disorders | APA’s proposed changes for DSM 5 2011

APA offers New Position on Transgender Care ......... 2012

Ten Reasons Why the Transvestic Disorder Diagnosis in the DSM-5 Has Got to Go 2010

Stop Confusing Gender Dysphoria With Body Dysmorphia Already 2014

Gender Variance (Dysphoria) another look 2010

Transgender/transexual discourse ...... Open Mic Open Soul 22.06.11

The difficult task of separating drag culture from transgender identity ....... 2013

pic.twitter.com/X7FvYrEH2D

— Caitlyn Jenner (@Caitlyn_Jenner) June 1, 2015

Jenner after opening her new Twitter account has broken the record for most followers in a short time as her handle gained over one million followers in less than an hour beating the previous record holder President Obama’s personal handle POTUS just some weeks before. Jenner is a former Olympic athlete of Kardasian parents formerly known as Bruce made her debut as a woman yesterday; goodbye Bruce hello Caitlyn was how some media outlets opened their coverage of the story, Jenner had revealed earlier this year his transition status after years of contemplating and the relevant engagements required for such a life altering activity. In April in that now infamous interview with Diane Sawyer revealed the issues he faced then.

I am a bit concerned about the way the story is being carried both locally and abroad as the novelty like creation of this due to the celebrity-dom of Jenner bearing in mind other persons also have come out and tracked publicly their own transitions. The co-modification element of it in terms of her look and comparisons to what he looked like before prior to the change and thus making transitioning seemed limited to someone's vain idea of being different.

I can understand some of the ignorance and the difficulty for locals to digest this new information for some as the lack of understanding of sex and sexuality (remember the HFLE fiasco?) gender identity and sexual orientation and the exposure for some Jamaicans is limited to the eyes of Hollywood, celebrity gossip and the almost glorification of cosmetic surgery which is not the same as a gender re-assignment surgery for proposes of addressing gender dysphorphia. The comments on social media suggest there is a lot of public education work that is required that our school systems have failed to do hence the resistance.

Nationwide New Network, NNN devoted some forty five minutes of prime time yesterday evening to discuss the issue and help listeners to at least begin to process some of the information coming from the most public declaration exercise as done by Jenner. Guests on the show were Dr Karen Carpenter Board Certified Clinical Sexologist and Psychologist, ‘Satiba’ from Aphrodite’s P.R.I.D.E Jamaica of which I am affiliated and Lecturer (Sociologist) and host of Every Woman on the station Georgette Crawford Williams (sister of PNP member of parliament Damian Crawford); one of the first questions thrown at Satiba by host Cliff Hughes was why has Jenna waited so long at 65 years old to make such a life changing decision?

Satiba responded that many transwomen have to hide their true identity in life .... given her life when she was younger she was a star athlete she would have been under tremendous precious to stay in from the expectations by the public and her team etc, also owing to the fact that she had a family as a man with children one may not want to upset the flow at that time until the kids are old enough. There is a lot of burden of guilt that some persons carry in weighing the decisions of coming out or transitioning so suppression of one’s true self is the modus operandi.

Dr Karen Carpenter was on point with explaining the differences in gender identity and sexual orientation while also pointing to the fact that genitalia is not all that determines ones designation of male or female, she highlighted the Hidras in India and due to their high numbers and visibility in that country a third gender designation has been granted by law however things got a little dicey when Ms Crawford’s turn came around has she went on to designate Satiba and others like her as mentally ill, it was hard to decipher whether she was being fastidious or deliberately contrarian so as to stir up controversy. Even after Dr Karen Carpenter explained gender dysphoria Ms Williams still persisted sighting dubious artciels and studies and even after Dr Carpenter subtle prodding warning her not to make psychological pronouncements as a sociologist while highlighting co-morbid conditions affecting such persons.

Dr Carpenter cautioned:

“We really must remember as professionals we must stay in our lane I will never pronounce as a Sociologist cause I am not a Sociologist ............When we have an opportunity to speak publicly we must be careful of what we say unless it is extremely well informed......”

Miss Crawford Williams then went further to suggest such persons were suicidal as they are out of touch with the bodily reality and even comparing anorexia with gender dysmorphia and the idiotic “cut off a part of their body” is not normal and goes against the societal norms. Satiba was asked to intervene she opened with her line she had to hold her tongue after hearing the mentally ill designation albeit by a sociologist. Satiba then outlined she is in transition and her timeline journey summarised from 2003, she also explained her tipping points to include a suicide attempts and failed heterosexual relationships as a man she could not continue to live a lie.

She continued: 

“I wasn’t happy ......... questions about getting married and having kids ........ this idea of having children then one day finding out about the real me ..... I could not live my life as a lie any longer, so I went out and I sought help I found a doctor who was one of the doctors who actually worked with Dr Harry Benjamin, Dr Ruth Dobar who was the one who diagnosed me and that is where my transition begun.”

Satiba also spoke to her support from her father the most unlikely of persons as she thought he would have been less accommodative and her mother more so however things played out the oppositely; she claimed the devil was in her and so on but Stiba managed to win her over somewhat by presenting research data and so on the subject and it was not about homosexuality as most persons misconstrue gender non conformity to be a gay issue .. She outlined how difficult it was losing family friends and the changes wrought due to the decision to come out.

“I was completely alone, I only had the support of my father and that was a big surprise for me cause I thought he was gonna punch me in the face and tell me get the hell outa my face and he didn't he turned around and said to me you know; you only have one life, if this is gonna make you happy do it, just make sure it’s the right thing and from that I have never looked back, he has been in my corner ever since.”

I was expecting more in the discussion though about the procedures required for the surgery and that the emphasis is on the psychological and psychiatric engagement that precedes the actual transition process. 

Mariela Castro

I wanted to hear about Cuba more so than the United States references as the island neighbour offers state sponsored surgeries and pre and post operative treatment so long as the client is diagnosed by the requisite professional; albeit the communist nation even under Fidel Castro where his daughter Mariela Castro runs an organization named CENESEX which is involved in state television awareness programming on transgenderism and sexuality. I think a non US reference might come over easier to some than a US one as the may justification for resistance of any such gender identity and sexual orientation is the first world is imposing values and new norms.

Previous interviews with Satiba and APJ:

Nationwide Radio's (Jamaica) Everywoman On Gender Identity & Transgenderism

Radio program "Love & Sex" on Sexual Identities & Transgenderism (Were you born in the wrong body?) 2010

Intersexuality, Ambiguous Genetalia & Psycho-social issues Discussion on Nationwide Radio Jamaica 11.09.09

and see:

Barack Obama Praises Caitlyn Jenner: ‘It Takes Courage To Share Your Story

Peace & tolerance

H

Tell Me Pastor responds to Disowned because of my bisexual lifestyle letter writer

It is been a while since I paid much attention to pastor Dumas's column in the Star News as I am still convinced that some of those letters are not real or edited in such as way to gain readership, now comes this entry on what is supposed to be a dejected bisexual and if we are to go by the Pastor's day job as a psychologist then he ought to have known that homosexuality has been removed from the Diagnostic Statistical Manual, DSM long ago, 1973 in fact and that his personal religious views must never conflict with his profession.

Check out the letter firstly then his response below:

Dear Pastor,

I am a constant reader of your column and find your work very interesting. I believe the advice you give is accurate and straight to the point, so I am requesting your advice.

I am an 18-year-old male, living with my grandmother. most of my family is aware of the fact that I am bisexual. Ever since they found out, I have been expressing a do-not- care attitude to the world, meaning I don't care what anyone else thinks.

I am living my life the way I want to. I am a pre-university student. Before the Christmas holiday, I started to make some bad decisions. Apart from the life I live, I started to party every weekend and during the week, sometimes.

I have been consuming a lot of alcohol and smoking (not ganja)

Recently, my mother came from Canada and heard that I was with my boyfriend, coming from a club. My mother did not know of my sexuality.

We could not get a cab but, luckily, I saw my aunt and she took us home. She told my mother everything she saw.

My mom claimed she has disowned me. However, she never took care of me in the first place, so I don't let that be a bother to me.

I am indecisive as to what to do next because, in addition to my family knowing my lifestyle, the community I live in knows as well.

Please, express your thoughts on this matter.

Yours truly

Proudly confused
Pastor's response

Dear Proudly confused,

What are you proud about? If it is the lifestyle you love, why are you confused? You said you are bisexual and some of your relatives now know what you are doing. Your mother has decided to disown you. It is unfortunate she has taken that position. I suppose it has come as a shock to her.

Perhaps you do not believe what the Bible says about homosexuality. The Bible does not sanction that type of lifestyle. I can never encourage you to continue to make love with a person of your own sex. You may reject my suggestions but I believe God is able to change you. If you are determined to serve him, nothing is impossible for God to do.

I would, therefore, suggest you seriously consider seeing a Christian family counsellor or psychologist for professional help. I will be praying for you and I ask my readers to do the same.

Pastor

ENDS

So a Christian counsellor even in the face of clear evidence that homosexuality is not a disorder, really Pastor Duman? The repeated use of the word "lifestyle" in both the supposed letter and response is suspicious and disturbing as psychologists who are properly trained and even advocates who are exposed know that we are dealing with sexual orientation here as the "letter writer" did not give an indication of someone going through a phase or operation behaviourally bisexual which suggests they would be in such a practice merely for the fun of it due to previous same sex exposure in a situational setting or worse yet abuse.

We must call out these suspicious letters when we see them folks. A December 6th 2010 piece is available here from GLBTQ Jamaica Wordpress edition entitled "Tell Me Pastor" on bisexuality also treats bi issues as strange. Although we have gotten used to the pattern I think it is important to continue to track and point out these infractions coupled with the glaring inconsistencies at times as there are some folks who read Pastor Dumas's columns, blogs and follow his radio show ardently.

also see:

Tell Me Pastor column - 'Gay' problem 2010

Tell Me Pastor recomends Restorative Psychology to Lesbian 2009

Another "Tell Me Pastor" Letter, (real or not?)

See the "Tell Me Pastor" tab immediately below this post for previous entries here as well.

Peace and tolerance

H

International Intersex Forum demands respect of rights

The second International Intersex Forum took place from 09 – 11 December, bringing together 37 activists representing 33 intersex organisations and supportive institutions from around the world.

The Forum agreed to affirm the principles of the first International Intersex Forum and extended the demands aiming to end discrimination against intersex people and to ensure the right of bodily integrity and self-determination. Demands included, asking for an end to mutilating and ‘normalising’ practices such as genital surgeries, psychological and other medical treatments, including infanticide and selective abortion (on the grounds of intersex), ensuring the provision of all human rights and citizenship rights to intersex people and creating and facilitating supportive, safe and celebratory environments for intersex people, their families and surroundings.

The group are an international cooperation of intersex leaders, advocates, academics and GLBTI allies who have been involved in research, discussion, and publication regarding intersex human rights. In addition, they have been working with various government bodies in South Africa, Australia, Canada, the United States and the European Union.

This years forum took place in Stockholm, Sweden and saw the gathering compose an open letter addressed to Navanethem Pillay, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights. They urge the United Nations to take on board intersex rights in its human rights work and call on human rights organisations and GLBTI specific organisations to give visibility and inclusion to intersex people and their human rights concerns.

In the letter, the group say they are writing to “discuss the grave situation of human rights abuses of intersex people worldwide. We are concerned about the specific uses of prenatal Dexamethasone (DEX), nonconsensual medically unnecessary surgeries on infants and minors, the gross mistreatment of Pinki Pramanik, and the recent addition of intersex people under the language of ‘DSD’ (Disorders of Sex Development) to the DSM-V.”

Open Letter: A Call for the Inclusion of Human Rights for Intersex People

Authored by Hida Viloria, Chairperson, Organisation Intersex International, Director, OII USA, 415-374-1255

Presented at the 2nd International Intersex Forum of the International Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans and Intersex Association (ILGA) and it’s European Region (ILGA-Europe), December 10, 2012

***
H.E. Navanethem Pillay
UN High Commissioner for Human Rights
United Nations
New York, NY 10017

December 10, 2012

Her Excellency Ms. Pillay,

We are writing to discuss the grave situation of human rights abuses of intersex people worldwide. We are concerned about the specific uses of prenatal Dexamethasone (DEX), nonconsensual medically unnecessary surgeries on infants and minors, the gross mistreatment of Pinki Pramanik, and the recent addition of intersex people under the language of “DSD” (Disorders of Sex Development) to the DSM-V.

Ms. Pramanik is the Indian gold medal winning athlete who was arrested on June 14th and forced to undergo invasive gender verification testing after being accused of rape and of “being male” by her live-in partner. Following the accusations, she was suspended from her job, detained in a male ward despite her lifetime status as a woman, and an MMS (picture message) of one of her gender-verification tests, in which she is nude, went viral.

Ranjit Sur, of the Association for Protection of Democratic Rights, shared on a CNN IBN Live broadcast that the “Human Rights Commission of West Bengal have already agreed that Pinki’s rights have been violated.” He went on to elaborate on her abuses: “Internationally, nationally, in school, in college, everywhere, she is treated as a woman, so so long as it is decided defensively that Pinki is male, she should be treated as a woman;” adding that, “(F)or the last twenty-one days, Pinki has been in government custody…. How did this MMS come out? The government has to answer…. These are totally naked pictures.”(http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4OZgdbEXVBU&feature=relmfu)

Ms. Pramanik was released on bail on July 10th, after initial gender tests proved inconclusive, but was officially charged with rape and fraud on November 12th, after additional tests revealed that she has XY chromosomes. Intersex people are born with, or develop in their secondary stage of pubertal development, chromosomes, gonads, and/or genitals that are considered both male and female or atypical for either. We, and many others, are asking: why are the rape allegations against Pramanik only valid upon her being shown to be an intersex woman?

As an editorial in The Hindu observed, “Ms Pramanik has been put on public trial not for her alleged crime, but her intersex condition.” Dr Samir Parikh, Director or the Department of Mental Health and Behavioral Sciences, Fortis Healthcare, also stated, “"Sexual violation is unacceptable and should not be tolerated. But it needs to be regarded separately from questions of gender, rather than making it the determinant factor as in this case." We agree, and make no statement regarding the question of whether violence has occurred, but merely argue that Pinki's "sex" should be irrelevant to the investigation. It is not that we call for the investigation of the complaint to cease, but that we call for the body of the defendant not to be made a public spectacle, or otherwise mistreated because of her supposed embodied state.

Like South African track star Caster Semenya, who was put on suicide watch following her testing in 2009, and Indian track star Santhi Soundarajan, who was stripped of a silver medal won at the 2006 Asian Games after failing a gender verification test, the humiliating treatment has caused extreme psychological duress. In an emotional November 15th interview, Pramanik said, “I have not done anything wrong, I know what I am. Why am I being tortured? I feel like committing suicide.”

Common sense dictates that it is not a crime to be born and live with a body considered different from the norm, yet this is exactly how Pramanik is being treated. Authorities in her case continue to label her “male”, seemingly as a reason to press criminal charges (Indian law allows only men to be charged with rape), despite having been made aware by one of the very members of the medical panel investigating the case, Kaushik Mondol, that she is intersex. As Mondol stated, "Even though the report says Pinki is chromosomally a male, it doesn't conclude that Pinki is a man... it says the athlete suffers from DSD.” DSD, or Disorders of Sex Development, is the medical term for intersex, although we point to the fact that it adds to discriminatory attitudes by portraying intersex traits as illnesses in need of correction.

Pramanik’s treatment is a glaring example of how intersex people are subjected to human rights abuses simply because we are born different. People with intersex variations, like all people, often grow up to be heterosexual. However, like members of the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Trans (LGBT) community, we are targets of discrimination based on our non-adherence to sex and gender norms. However, in addition, we are subjected, in utero and as infants, to nonconsensual medical treatments proven to be harmful, in efforts to avoid LGBT outcomes.

For example, the drug DEX, banned for pre-natal use in Sweden after studies found it dangerous, is still administered to pregnant mothers in the United States who are predisposed to giving birth to girls with the intersex variation Congenital Adrenal Hyperplasia (CAH). A study published this May in the American medical journal Pediatrics concluded that exposure to the drug “in preterm infants is associated with increased aortic arch stiffness and altered glucose metabolism in early adulthood,” i.e., increased risk of heart disease and diabetes. In addition, a more recent article in The American Journal of Obstetrics & Gynecology concluded that, “In human studies, first-trimester dexamethasone is associated with orofacial clefts, decreased birthweight, poorer verbal working memory, and poorer self-perception of scholastic and social competence.”

Despite these adverse effects, DEX is still recommended specifically to avoid LGBTI outcomes. As a recent paper in the Journal of Bioethical Inquiry “The intervention has been aimed at preventing development of ambiguous genitalia, the urogenital sinus, tomboyism, and lesbianism. We map out ethical problems in this history, including… the use of medicine and public monies to attempt prevention of benign behavioral sex variations."

In addition, although intersex traits are naturally occurring variations of human sex, they have recently been included in the American Psychiatric Association’s statistical manual, the DSM-V, as a psychological disorder. The inclusion is of concern because it presumes our differences lead to psychological pathology, which has not been demonstrated, and is in fact contested by existing psychological research.

Given these human rights violations against us, it does not stand to reason that intersex people are not recognized as equally in need of anti-discrimination protection. While we applaud the adoption of the United Nations resolution on sexual orientation and gender identity (A/HRC/RES/17/19), and your office’s report on the resolution last year (A/HRC/19/41), we note that the language of “sexual orientation and gender identity” is not inclusive of intersex people because we are defined by our atypical “sex traits,” rather than atypical “sexual orientation or gender identity.” In addition, the use of the acronym “LGBT,” rather than “LGBTI”, which has already been adopted by numerous organizations such as ILGA, excludes the intersex population, despite the fact that we are more vulnerable to homophobia and discrimination against gender-variance due to the fact that our differences can be detected at, or prior to, birth. This exclusion from human rights rhetoric deems us invisible and thus even more vulnerable. As Dr. Payoshmi Mitra, an independent researcher on sex and gender issues, stated about Pramanik’s case, “There is no understanding of difference.” In order to promote such understanding, “intersex” must be fully included in anti-discrimination rhetoric and policies extended to the LGBT community.

We thank and commend you for acknowledging us in your 2011 statement, "I also urge other states around the world to review their own laws, policies, and practices to ensure that discrimination against transgender and intersex individuals is addressed in a systematic and effective way." We now call on you, as the United Nation’s High Commissioner of Human Rights, to include us in the struggle for equality by adopting inclusive language and policy.

We are an international cooperation of intersex leaders, advocates, academics, and LGBT allies who have been involved in research, discussion, and publication regarding intersex human rights. In addition, some of us have been working with various government bodies in South Africa, Australia, Canada, the United States, the European Union, and others. For example, Tony Briffa, Mayor of Hobson’s Bay, Australia, is the world’s first openly intersex elected official. In June, intersex ally Silvan Agius, ILGA-Europe’s Policy Director, co-authored and published the European Commission report “Trans and Intersex People: Discrimination against trans and intersex people on the grounds of sex, gender identity and gender expression” In addition, in September, Dr. Dan Christian Ghattas, of OII’s German affiliate OII Deutschland, presented to the European Parliament at the seminar “Trans and Intersex people: Challenges for EU law.”

We gladly offer our assistance in drafting language to facilitate the inclusion of intersex people, such as that which follows:

Intersex people, those born with chromosomes, gonads, and/or genitals that are considered both male and female or atypical for either, are routinely subjected to human rights abuses based on their non-adherence to sex and gender norms. This discrimination includes but is not limited to: non-consensual medically unnecessary surgeries and drug treatment which has been demonstrated to be harmful, loss of employment, loss of marriage and/or inheritance rights, exclusion from social institutions, and invasive, psychologically harmful gender-verification testing.

Intersex people are subjected to non-consensual medical treatments in utero and as infants in an effort to eliminate atypical sexual orientation and gender identity, as well as atypical sex anatomy. We recognize that because intersex traits are detectable at or before birth, intersex people are more at-risk for homophobia and discrimination against gender-variance than other members of the population.

c. Due to human rights violations perpetrated against intersex people based on their non-adherence to sex and gender norms, we amend policies to accurately define this discrimination as “discrimination based on sex traits, sexual orientation and gender identity”. In addition, we recognize and include intersex people in the struggle for human rights and equality by adopting the intersex-inclusive “LGBTI” acronym.

Thank you for your time, and for all the work you do to secure human rights protections. We recognize that these issues may be more effectively conveyed if presented in person, and wish to discuss the possibility of doing so. Today, on Human Rights Day, we call on the UN to recognize that Ms. Pramanik’s human rights are being violated, as the Human Rights Commission of West Bengal has done. We also look forward to hearing from you regarding a meeting with your office regarding the inclusion of the intersex population in the United Nation’s efforts to achieve human rights for all.

Respectfully,

Hida Viloria Chairperson, Organisation Intersex International Director, OII USA

Gloria Careaga Co-Secretary General, ILGA (International Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans and Intersex Association)

Gabi Calleja Co-Chair, ILGA-Europe (European Region of the International Lesbian, Gay,Bisexual, Trans and Intersex Association)

Councillor Tony Briffa JP PO Box 51, Altona VIC 3018 Australia Website

Silvan Agius Policy Director, ILGA- Europe (European Region of the International Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans and Intersex Association)

Ruth Baldacchino Executive Board Member, Malta Gay Rights Movement (MGRM)

Mauro Cabral
Outreach and Networking Officer, OII Argentina
Co-Director, GATE - Global Action for Trans* Equality
+ 54 (9) 11 65806999
skype: mauro.cabral

Janik Bastien Charlebois, Ph.D. Professeore, Departement du Sociologie
Universite du Quebec a Montreal Ditte Dyreborg Affiliated with Pangea International
Copenhagen, Denmark

Michaela Katzer Urologist Anton-Russy-Str 20, 06112 Halle, Germany

Hiker Chui Founder and Director, OII Taiwan

Dr. Dan Christian Ghattas Outreach and Networking Officer, OII-Germany

Holly Greenberry Project Coordinator, Intersex UK

Sally Gross Founder and Director, Intersex South Africa P.O. Box 246, Woodstock, Cape Town 7915

Vincent Guillot Spokesperson, OII Francophonie

Mayssa Hamza
OII Spokesperson for the Arabic Speaking Islamic Community

Morgan Holmes, Ph.D. Associate Professor, Wilfrid Laurier University

Adnan Hossain Bangladesh Initiatives on Pleasure, Power and Praxis

Dr. Juan Carlos Jorge Department de Anatomia y Neurobiologia Escuela de Medicina, Universidad de Puert Rico

Julius .K. Kaggwa Executive Director, SIPD Uganda P.O. Box 31762, Namirembe Rd, Kampala. Uganda.

Ins A Kromminga Spokesperson, OII Deutschland (OII Germany)

Prof. Dr. Konstanze Plett, LL.M. Professor of Law, Universitat Bremen FB 6 Rechtswissenschaft D-28353 Bremen, Germany

Natasha Jimenez Mata Coordinator General, Mulabi (Espacio Latinoamericano de Sexualidades y Derechos) 290-2100. Guadalupe, San Jose, Costa Rica

Ev Blaine Matthigack Founder, OII Deutschland (OII Germany)

Support Group Coordinator, TransInterQueer (TrIQ) E.V.

Athabiseng Mokoena Advocacy Coordinator, Transgender and Intersex Africa South Africa

Thoralf Mosel Project Manager, TransInterQueer (TrIQ) E.V.

Pol Naydenov
Board Member, Bilitis Resource Center Bulgaria

Jen (Pidgeon) Pagonis DePaul University, Women’s & Gender Studies Chicago, USA

Peter Trinkle
Executive Director, Bodies Like Ours

Daniela Truffer Co-Founder, Human Rights Group Zwischengeschlecht
Personal capacity; affiliation for identification purposes only.

J. Vreer Verkerke
Vreerwerk Gender Education Trans Rights, TGEU

Del La Grace Volcano Director, OII Scandinavia (Sweden)

Gina Wilson President, OII Australia Ltd
P.O. Box 1553, Auburn NSW 1835

DOWNLOAD PDF HERE

Gender Dysphoria Diagnosis to be Moved Out of Sexual Disorders Chapter of DSM-5 ....... The "D" Switcharoo?

image from GIRESUK

As transgender allies we continue to pay close attention to the new developments on the Diagnostic Statistical Manual, DSM 5 front a leading expert has provided more insight into the development of Gender Dysphoria to get a chapter of its own. 

The Gender Identity Disorder Reform Advocates reported that:

Dr. Jack Drescher, a member of the subworkgroup on Gender Identity Disorders of the DSM-5 Workgroup on Sexual and Gender Identity Disorders, confirmed on December 6 that the Gender Dysphoria Diagnosis will be removed from the sexual disorders chapter and placed in a separate category in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders:

GD is supposed to be placed in a chapter of its own, no longer linked with sexual dysfunctions and paraphilias (which will also have chapters of their own)

This reclassification, along with the change in title from Gender Identity Disorder to Gender Dysphoria, is a significant improvement in the diagnostic coding used for access to medical transition care, for trans and transsexual people who need it. Preceding diagnoses of Transsexualism/Gender Identity Disorders were grouped with “psychosexual” disorders in the DSM-III. They were briefly moved to the class of Disorders Usually First Evident in Infancy, Childhood or Adolescence in the DSM-III-R in 1987 but were returned to the sexual disorders chapter in the DSM-IV, and DSM-IV-TR. Community advocates and supportive medical providers have long raised concern that this placement was clinically misleading and reinforced false stereotypes about gender diversity. Gender identity is not specifically related to sexuality, sexual orientation or sexual dysfunction. Political and religious extremists have exploited the sexual disorder grouping in the DSM to sexualize gender diversity and defame trans people as deviant. Trans and transsexual individuals have consequently lost their jobs, homes, families, children, and civil justice.

The DSM-5 working group responsible for sexual and gender diagnoses hinted at a possible change in diagnostic placement in February, 2010, stating

The subworkgroup questions the rationale for the current DSM-IV chapter Sexual and Gender Identity Disorders, which contains three major classes of diagnoses: sexual dysfunctions, paraphilias, and gender identity disorders… Various alternative options to the current placement are under consideration.

The decision to separate the revised Gender Dysphoria category from sexual disorders is consistent with aprevious determination by the working group to remove sexual orientation specifiers from the diagnostic criteria. While many shortcomings remain in the proposed Gender Dysphoria diagnosis, this change in placement in the DSM represents forward progress for trans and especially transsexual individuals.

Unfortunately, the DSM-5 Task Force and APA Board of Trustees retained the Transvestic Disorder category in the sexual disorders chapter. Previous known as Transvestic Fetishism, it is grouped with paraphilic diagnoses such as pedophilia and exhibitionism and authored by Dr. Raymond Blanchard of the Toronto Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (formerly called the Clarke Institute of Psychiatry). 

This punitive and scientifically capricious category maligns many gender variant people, including transsexual women and men, as mentally ill and sexually deviant, purely on the basis of nonconforming gender expression. It is written to promote Blanchard’s unfounded theories of “autogynephilia” and “autoandrophilia” that conflate social and medical gender transition with fetishism. More than 7000 people have signed an online petition, sponsored by the International Foundation for Gender Education (IFGE), calling for the removal of this harmful diagnosis from the DSM.

Other activists are bemoaning the "D" word switcharoo and are not impressed just yet until Gender Identity Disorder is completely removed from the manual. The DSM 5 is slated for release May 2013. 

Planettransgender administrator Kelli Busey sounded off on the switcharoo:

"There are extremes in all communities and ours is no exception. Being radical it seems right that I occupy the one on the far side advocating for our removal lock, stock and barrel from the DSM-5.

I'm also open to others opinions and since it's such a hot button issue, one I felt needed our attention I created a Facebook event that was joined by five thousand people for conversation. Some against some for our removal and some in the middle, but all respected.

Did those of us who wanted our removal succeed? No, most likely we failed despite my best effortsat getting local people out from behind their keyboards. That was somehow my fault. Not the gay communities. We didn't take to the street at key moments and gain the spotlight as they did twenty years ago.

The facts.

The December first 2012 press release from the APA announcing the next bureaucratic step needed to publish the DSM-5 had been taken by the board voting it's approval.

And the world fell over themselves to announce trans people were no longer listed as "disordered" by in the DSM.

Did I miss something in that press release?

The Message From APA President Dilip Jeste, M.D., on DSM-5 offers no specifics, only justifications and denials regarding the process.

So whats up?

The often quoted Med Page published in May following the last public meeting reports what may not up:

"Gender identity disorder. Individuals who believe their biological gender doesn't match their gender identification will no longer be labeled with a disorder. Instead, if they seek psychiatric treatment, they can be labeled with "gender dysphoria."

The workgroup responsible for dealing with the hot-button issue considered a variety of other approaches, addressed later in this article. Ultimately they settled on a formal diagnosis -- potentially qualifying a patient for insurance-paid treatment if they want it -- but with a less pejorative name than "disorder."

So the name might change but what is the difference between the two words and what does it mean to trans people? The free medical dictionary defines....

Gender Identity Disorder:

"The psychological diagnosis gender identity disorder (GID) is used to describe a male or female that feels a strong identification with the opposite sex and experiences considerable distress because of their actual sex."

Gender Dysphoria:

"unhappiness with one's biological sex or its usual gender role, with the desire for the body and role of the opposite sex.

Not much difference between the two words is there?

Please understand this is just conjuncture since no further official information available until the DSM-5 is published in May 2013.
But given that one D word is being substituted for another what's the end result?

We remain pathologized by the APA

pa·thol·o·gize

/pəˈTHäləˌjīz/Verb

Regard or treat (someone or something) as psychologically abnormal or unhealthy

Which in my opinion denies us our rightful place among the worlds well adapted productive citizens.

So try as hard as I may I failed, kind of. Who knows. I did give space to those who wanted conversation. But most importantly, those who wanted our total removal from the DSM as well.But now its just a waiting game. The APA has what it wants, our undivided attention, our money, the guidelines to normality, acceptability and our chances at success in life.

ENDS

Certainly we are headed into interesting times as transgender activists especially in the US no longer are prepared to be relegated somewhere else anymore and are making their voices heard, LGB activists need to take note and align ourselves in their efforts if it is that we are working from a truly cohesive LGBTQ mantra if not say so, change organizations names if neccessary to reflect their true position and work within their own parameters and not use the call letters randomly to seem to be inclusive then silent on the other issues ...... take note. 

Our Jamaican advocates are guilty of this invisibility and commensurate reference convenience as not a peep has come from them since this important development has taken place, buggery is far more attractive and commands soundbites more than the struggle for our trans brothers and sisters.

also see on GLBTQJA (Blogger): Being Transgender Is No Longer A Mental Disorder ?. and APA Board of Trustees Approves DSM-5

and previous posts: Trans Depathologization: the spark of change and APA offers New Position on Transgender Care

additional reading: Trans Mental Health Study UK 2012

In Canada a Transgender Rights Bill was passed (waiting for royal assent to become law) in Nova Scotia protecting residents their from discrimination in employment and housing for those who have undergone reassignment surgery. See More HERE some say that yet have to see the terms “queen” and “denied GLBT rights” appear alongside each other.

Peace and tolerance

H