Gay - Seen a New Way:
Same-Sex Attraction, Its Purpose and Potential
Same sex attraction is a strong and enduring erotic draw many men feel toward others of their own gender. Understood and responded to socially, not sexually, it is a magnetism that can support healthful bonding with other men. It can satisfy deep yearnings for belonging and becoming. This powerful force can encourage rewarding masculine togetherness and bring growth and a more accurate definition of self. It can be used to develop friendship and ennobling brotherly love that may endure and strengthen over years, even a lifetime. Same sex attraction is meant to unify men so their hunger for human nourishment and gender development can be satisfied.
Historically, to force them to change, homosexuals have been abused and the recipients of every type of punishment possible. For years, in hope of realizing change, they have suffered at the hands of well-intentioned mental health practitioners who were unable to deliver on their claims of cure. These clinician’s failures were the result of erroneous theory and improper interventions. They could only interpret the issue through the lenses of their different heterosexual psychosexual development.
The sexual revolution and gay rights movement has brought visibility, security, and support for men who choose to have sex with other men. Despite this acceptance and new-found liberties, many same-sex attracted men remain dissatisfied with their sexual inclinations and feel morally compromised. They feel driven toward behaviors which are at odds with their deeply held moral values. The book which Tom and Ann Pritt have written, Homosexuality Reframed: Growth Beyond Gay, offers an alternative way of understanding and dealing with these attractions. Those who wish to may use them in ways that more effectively fulfill deep yearnings for masculine affection, for the love of those men to whom they are strongly drawn. This book is written from personal, academic, secular, and spiritual perspectives. It is a message of hope and reconciliation.
The authors of this book believe that homosexuality has been greatly misunderstood. Both the homophobia of heterosexuals and the efforts of homosexual activists to overhaul centuries of commonly held sexual standards and values are seen as counterproductive and harmful to legitimately needful men.
The wall of misunderstanding separating those who grew up homosexually oriented and heterosexual men exists because of their different social and psychological development, not from genes and hormones. Same-sex oriented men need to be better loved and supported by their heterosexual brothers. Men can get closer to each other and be more enriched by sharing mind, heart, and sinew than through the mirage of transient genital engagements.