Dear Editor,
I write this letter in response to Vidyaratha Kissoon’s ‘Freud did not think homosexuality a mental disorder’ which was published in the Stabroek News May 23, 2008, and in support of the stance Roger Williams has taken so far on the issue.
I see that the subject of homosexuality is now dominating our national conversation and the participants in this conversation are using all kinds of arguments to support their stance be it for or against homosexuality. The latest of these arguments centered on Freud and whether or not he countenanced homosexuality. I think whether or not Sigmund Freud accepted homosexuality as a normal way of life is not at all important to the argument. One must also be aware of the social consequences of Freudianism, especially in relation to homosexuality, because as revealed by his letter to Mrs N, dated April 9, 1935 his psychoanalysis was aimed at exorcising from the individual any qualms or feelings of guilt. In other words, Freud’s psychoanalysis would have removed from the young man, who was obviously perturbed by his own homosexual behaviour, his conscience. Think of the consequences of a conscienceless society.
Others in support of homosexuality rest their arguments on the basis of individual freedom. Those who hold this view must be instructed, to use a quote from Kant, that “freedom is the ratio essendi of the moral law,” therefore freedom must be balanced by the adherence to the moral law. Also we have so many other issues of violations of individual freedom that beset us in this society that I doubt those that use freedom as the basis for their arguments are any more interested in individual freedom than in pursuing their own hedonistic agenda.
There are those who also argue that homosexuality is not a choice but it is genetic. This is a very frightening argument because it removes the basis upon which we can hold people responsible for their actions especially in light of the conclusions below by Dr Simon LeVay in his study of the hypothalamic differences between the brains of homosexual and heterosexual men.
“It’s important to stress what I didn’t find. I did not prove that homosexuality is genetic, or find a genetic cause for being gay. I didn’t show that gay men are born that way, the most common mistake people make in interpreting my work. Nor did I locate a gay centre in the brain.”
As a Rastafarian my view on the Gay issue is akin to that of Roger Williams. I use him as the point of reference because he is the only person apparently (with access to a pen or keyboard) that has a keen understanding of the dire consequences of a society gone gay. He is the only person that is stressing the need to look at the issue from its sociological point of view.
Homosexuality is an aberration, a social pathology, just like suicide, murder, substance abuse and other such social ills. And it would be unscientific to treat it as a normal and natural way of life. And while I will in no way advocate the killing of gays, I would definitely advocate some form of psychotherapy and behaviour control.
In concluding, I would like to draw attention to SASOD’s website (http://www.sasod.-org.gy/?q=node/8) where there are testimonials by teenagers of their experiment with homosexuality; this is a clear indication that ours youths are being targeted.
Yours faithfully,
Ras Ashkar