Duc in Altum

Founder of Courage discusses origins of same-sex attraction

In an interview on Zenit, Fr. John Harvey, who is the founder of Courage, a Catholic apostolate for adults with same-sex attractions, discussed the origins of same-sex attraction:

Most children who experiment with same-sex attractions as young adults are already predisposed to homosexual behavior because of their home environment, says a pastoral specialist.

The difference [between children who experiment with same-sex attractions and the children who are influenced by their family environment] is the youth choosing to experiment is comparatively rare, even though it seems to become "cool" at a high school and college level. Generally speaking, there's a high probability that those who are experimenting already had same-sex attractions and are expressing them in the college period.

It is not common for someone who thinks he or she is heterosexual and who is from a healthy family to move into experimentation. A trauma, such as a teen-age girl or boy being raped, may lead him or her to have same-sex attractions rather than opposite-sex attractions.

The more we study, the more we see the influence at home is early, in grade school, and even earlier.

The evidence leans heavily on the fact that same-sex attractions are due largely to environmental causes. There's no evidence of inborn homosexuality -- it doesn't exist. There is a hundred years of evidence that same-sex attractions are related to environmental factors and psychological influences. All the evidence before 1973 pointed to environmental factors. Then came the idea that it is related to genetics. So far, there is no evidence that it is genetic.

As is being discovered in many other areas through research and, yes, even through one's own experience, one's early home environment has a tremendous impact on a person, even in the area of same-sex attraction. This is a sobering reminder to parents. It also is another explanation for the constant attack upon the family.