•AS they grow into their heterosexual potential, men and women typically experience a deeper and fuller sense of themselves as male or female.

BY CHARLES KACHIKOTI –
SPEAKING of sex-change surgical operations that people undergo to improve their appearance, Dr Breiner has written:
“At this point in the process, I, along with other psychoanalyst colleagues, must tell the surgeons that the disturbed body image was not an organic problem at all, but was strictly a psychological problem.
It could not be solved by organic manipulation (surgery,hormones), no matter how well-intentioned or brilliantly successful it was done.
“In psychologically evaluating any patient, it is always important to understand how the patient sees himself.
There are certainly age variations, gender and cultural elements involved in this
evaluation.
However, when an adult who is normal in appearance and functioning believes there is something ugly or defective in their appearance that needs to be changed, it is clear that there is a psychological problem of some significance.
“The more pervasive and extensive is this misperception of oneself, the more significant is the psychological problem.”
To this day, it is easy for Zambians to answer the question, ‘Who are you?’ Should we legalise sodomy and legalise homos’ rights, we will find ourselves where some Western nations are today.
Those nations are in a place where for an increasing number of their citizens, there is no answer to the question, ‘Who are you?’
It is in search of that identity that men and women are going into surgical sex change to become the opposite gender.
And in some cases they are having to reverse the process to revert to their original state.They made fun of One Carpenter who 2000 years ago told them to be born again; but today they are trying tragically hard to be ‘born again.’

Personal sexuality
Homosexuality damages that balanced sense of personal sexuality.
Every individual should rule over personal sexuality.
But you cannot rule over what you do not understand. The day Zambia legalises homosexuality and gay rights, we will lose our vital self-confidence
in our sexuality.
While there is a global current driving gay rights as though the survival of the human race depends on that, there are scientific bodies that are demonstrating that we can all live without homosexuality.
The National Association for Research and Therapy of Homosexuality (NARTH), based in Encino, California, US, formed in 1992, considers homosexuality a disorder for which it offers therapy and other regimes
that change sexual orientation of individuals who experience unwanted same-sex attraction.
NARTH’s leaders describe their organisation as “dedicated to affirming a complementary, male-female model of gender
and sexuality.”
NARTH disagrees with the global scientific consensus, the position of the world’s major mental health organisations, and scientific research into the topic which show that homosexuality is not a disorder.
NARTH has outlined The Three Myths About Homosexuality:
Myth Number one–Homosexuality is normal and biologically determined.
The truth is:
There is no scientific research indicating a biological or genetic cause for homosexuality.
Biological factors may play a role in the predisposition to homosexuality. However, this is true of many other
psychological conditions.
Research suggests that social and psychological factors are strongly influential.
Examples include problems in early family relationships, sexual seduction, and sense of inadequacy with same-sex peers, with resulting disturbance in gender identity.
Society can also influence a sexually questioning youth when it encourages gay self-labeling.
Myth Number two–Homosexuals cannot change, and if they try, they will suffer great emotional distress and become suicidal.
Therefore, treatment to change homosexuality must be stopped.
The truth is: Psychotherapists around the world who treat homosexuals report that significant numbers of their clients have experienced substantial healing.
Change has come through psychological therapy, spirituality, and ex-gay support groups.
Whether leading married or committed celibate lives, many report that their homosexual feelings have diminished
greatly, and do not trouble them as much as they had in the past.
The keys to change are desire, persistence, and a willingness to investigate the conscious and unconscious conflicts from which the condition originated.
Change comes slowly, usually over several years.
Clients learn how to meet their needs for same-sex nurturance and affirmation without eroticising the relationship.
As they grow into their heterosexual potential, men and women typically experience a
deeper and fuller sense of themselves as male or female.
If some homosexuals do not wish to change, that is their choice, yet it is profoundly sad that gay-rights activists struggle against the right-to-treatment for other homosexuals who yearn for freedom from
their attractions.
Myth Number three–We must teach our children that homosexuality is as normal and healthy as heterosexuality.
Teenagers should be encouraged to celebrate their same-sex attractions.
The truth is: Scientific research supports age-old cultural norms that homosexuality
is not a healthy, natural alternative to heterosexuality.
Research shows that gay teens are especially vulnerable to substance abuse and early, high-risk sexual behavior
It does far more harm than good to tell a teenager that his or her attractions toward members of
the same sex are normal and desirable.
Teens in this position need understanding and counseling, not a push in the direction of a potentially deadly lifestyle.
A 1992 study in Pediatrics found that 25.9 per cent of 12-year-olds are uncertain if they are gay or straight.
The teen years are critical to the question of self-labeling, so the facts must be presented in
our schools in a fair and balanced manner.

Curable homosexuality can be cured
In his article on December 22, 2012 article, is gay to straight possible? What the research shows, psychologist Dr James E. Phelan listed many documented instances of scientific therapies that had
transformed homosexuals and lesbians to heterosexuality.
Many such changes had even led to normal marriages with children.
Some of the homosexuals traced their gay roots to negative mother-child bonds; childhood conflicts and unconscious memories among others.
He said behavioural-based therapies have not only been used to treat ego-dystonic homosexuality, those with unwanted same-sex attraction, but are also used to treat a variety of sexual conditions, such as
impotence, frigidity, voyeurism, exhibitionism, transvestism, fetishism, and others (Rachman, 1961).
He also reported that ex-gays have collectively stood up to be counted
On May 22, 1994, in Philadelphia, for the first time in history, the American Psychiatric Association was protested against, not by pro-gay activists, but by a group of ex-gays claiming that they had been cured
and that cure was possible for others (Davis, 1994).
This was repeated at their 2000 convention in Chicago (Gorner, 2000), and again at the 2006 American Psychological Association Convention in New Orleans (Foust, 2006).
Why should former homosexuals be denied the podium and not be heard?
On March 28, 2012, the Times of India reported that a section of doctors claimed that homosexuality can also be a sexual orientation
problem.
According to psychiatrists, not all homosexuals have a natural inclination towards the same sex individuals.
Many of them suffer from disorientation problems which can be cured through sexual reorientation therapy that includes counselling sessions, medication and behaviour modification through Pavlov
Conditioning–a type of conditioned learning which occurs because of the subject’s instinctive responses.
Dr RN Sahu, Secretary of the State Mental Health Authority says, “Persons with thoughts and behaviours in conflict with the needs and goals of the ego can be treated through re-orientation therapy.
In medical terminology, such persons are ego-dystonic by nature.”
Another psychiatrist Dr Manish Jain says, “Among homosexuals, quite a few have deviated sexual behaviour, which is also known as Paraphilia in medical parlance.
In such conditions, the affected person develops co-morbidity with narcissistic personality disorder or love with same sex rejecting the opposite sex.”
The problem is curable through reorientation therapy, which may take six months to one year, he adds.
As per International Classification of Diseases (ICD-10) and Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-4), Paraphilia is considered as a psychiatric disorder.
According to psychiatrists, in such a condition, a person considers inclination towards the same sex natural.
“I recently treated two patients with such symptoms. One of them is now leading quite a normal life. He is also expecting a baby from his wife in the near future,” said  Dr Jain.
Sexologists too believe that not all are genetically homosexuals, but a large chunk of population, which remains confined to themselves under societal pressure, does develop thoughts that they are inclined to same sex and start feeling uncomfortable with the opposite sex.
Dr Mahesh Nawal, a city-based sexologist says, “It is not necessarily that all homosexuals have genetic problems.
Having sexual urge with the same sex may be a deviated sexual behaviour.”
The emphasis should not be on promoting homosexuality and seeking its normalisation in society; rather emphasis should be on providing ways and means for gays to transform from homosexuality to heterosexuality–even though powerful bodies like the American Psychological Association are opposed to therapies.
There is much evidence that this condition can be cured.