The saddest thing is working with a family or couple in Therapy where part of the conflict is that one of the children is rejected by one or both parents because of his/her sexual orientation that does not suit the parental beliefs or cultural tradition.
A parent has a unique opportunity of being the central and most positive influence in a child's life over formative years and decades of family connectedness. Because parents have been brought up in fear and ignorance themselves about some aspects of reality, they may choose to inflict deep emotional scars by rejection of a child when the child's reality does not conform to theirs.
The fact is that we know in the 21st century, based on verified scientific studies of the neurology of the brain, even of the development of the foetus's brain in the uterus, that in most cases sexual orientation [and also gender orientation - more about that in a later article] is NOT a choice.
Every foetus is a female at the start. The changes brought about by the Y-chromosome will begin changing the female baby into a boy only later. The first changes are to the sex organs. The way the brain forms into a typically female or typically male brain occur weeks later. So at some stage a boy-foetus still has a female brain - with the typical identity and/or sexual orientation of a girl-foetus. The release of the right chemicals [e.g. hormones like oestrogen or progesterone] in the mother's bloodstream at exactly the right [relatively small] window of opportunity will help to form first the male gonads, then the male brain.
Unfortunately the process can be interrupted when, for instance, the chemicals are not released correctly, and the foetus can develop fully with a male body and female brain, or a female body and male brain. The sexual attraction and gender behaviour patterns resulting from this will then usually lead to classification as, for instance, "homosexual" in society. The fact is that, neurologically, a "gay" man with a female brain is actually attracted to the opposite gender of the BRAIN [not the body] and thus actually "heterosexual" at brain level.
It is tragic if a child is rejected by parents because he has a physical mal-formity - like a stumpy limb - from birth. It is likewise tragic when a child is rejected because in the uterus, beyond his/her control, a mis-match of traditional body and brain orientation has occurred.
It's strange that people who would nurse a broken-down favourite car or treasure an ugly stray dog with a torn ear, would sometimes choose to reject a precious child with potentially far more greatness and service to humanity and generous love for something in which the child has no choice.
Consider the wisdom of Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh [A Cup of Tea]: "Don't lose time in conflict; lose no time in doubt - time once lost can never be recovered..." You have only about 200,000 waking hours to share the glory of the life of your child: How many will you choose to destroy by an inflexible attitude and a mind unwilling to learn?
For more information about the chemicals involved in utero in setting the sex of the body and brain of a foetus, see www.selfgrow.co.za - based on resarch findings by Dr Mark Solms.
