Consider The Messages...

Apparently in Outer Wingnuttia, it's big news that GLBT people are more likely to consult with doctors and mental health practitioners. Of course, what Lifesite and the geniuses over at Daddy Dobson's mouth organ want you to think is how awfully sick these people must be.

But, let us stop and consider the messages that GLBT people are subjected to on a near daily basis at the hands of so-called "Christians" for a moment:

Gay rights are destroying society, Gays are linked to pedophilia, GLBT folk don't deserve legal protection, Gays are "recruiting" in schools, You're so sick we don't even know what you are suffering from.

Or, for that matter, politicians publicly comparing GLBT people to terrorists:

You know, it’s not a lifestyle that is good for this nation. Matter of fact, studies show no society that has totally embraced homosexuality has lasted more than, you know, a few decades. So it’s the death knell for this country. I honestly think it’s the biggest threat even, that our nation has, even more so than terrorism or Islam, which I think is a big threat, okay.

(and then we hear the screams of outrage when upset GLBT people lose it - hmmm big surprise there. Note: I do not condone threats or physical violence)

On a near daily basis these stories come out it seems. Each and every time, the idiot uttering these statements claims to be doing so "as a Good Christian(™)". So, is it any wonder at all that GLBT people might consult with mental health practitioners to help them find coping strategies and to overcome the stress that these messages induce in their lives? No, it isn't.

Perhaps even more laughable is the fact that in the minds of these people, consulting a mental health professional is a bad thing - especially if you are man.

They jump with glee when the APA says that we do not know why people are gay, because it allows them to self-justify the meme that the christianists want to propogate that sexual identity is all about "choice" and "behaviour" (they carefully ignore the APA's wording which makes it clear that multiple interacting factors are likely involved) - which it isn't, and never has been. The christianist wants to self-justify abusive "therapies" and their "right" to dictate to the rest of the world how we should live (and no, heterosexual couples are not exempt from the ire of the moralizing christianist).

Is it any wonder at all that GLBT people face more mental health challenges than the "rest of the population"? I don't think so - a lifetime spent being told that one is "abnormal" (or worse) is bound to exact a price from those who are on the receiving end of that message. (Oddly, the very social pressures to conform are the first thing that GLBT people must shed - with it would come the fear associated with the mental health world - and that probably means that they are far more in touch with their feelings and emotional state than most people would be, a reality that means that they will be more willing to listen to a therapist as part of sorting out their feelings.)

They do not wish to admit that if people are allowed to live their lives openly and honestly, that the incidence of serious secondary mental health concerns drops off dramatically. In short, if we apply the old adage about "live and let live", there's generally going to be a lot less problems.