No. I have friends like that but no children and, as far as I know, no relatives with those tendencies.
That is not what I was talking about at all. I was talking about things like the way your children have been treated by those who are too blind to see that their well-meaning words and actions were unkind, as well as the experiences of those on this forum of bishops denying much needed food, yet still demanding tithing.My sister once told me I was cruel because I didn’t go along with her denial. I can be blunt - but I try to speak truth as nicely as possible.
. . .
You may not have meant this but claims of others being cruel, heartless, uncaring etc kind of reminds me of gaslighting homosexual supporters use to deflect their own bad choices and harmful consequences.
I read a study back before it was considered antithetical to humans do so. It seems like all of the homosexuals they studied had been sexually abused by men. A very large percentage of the male homosexuals had domineering mothers. A larger percentage had emotionally absent fathers (physically absent, or just not prone to giving them the physical/emotional/verbal signs of affection that little children need. But, concerning sexual abuse, there were important ages for this reaction to happen, at least among the girls (I don't recall about the boys). The age I was when I was kidnapped was too young for this reaction to happen.I have had quite a few friends, and some extended family with homosexual preferences. Each of them were like all my grandma’s therapy homosexual patients - they had sexual abuse - sometimes their parents had no idea.
And it played out like that among the friends I had whose private stories I knew.
But with the politicizing of the behavior, I don't know anymore how many might be doing it for those reasons and how many might be doing it because it is being encouraged. ("exploration" - a viable alternative way to live)
I don't want you to misunderstand me. I don't think it's the right way to live. I think the roots, though, are caused by factors beyond the control of each individual who has fought and lost, being unable to want the opposite sex. I imagine that it is as foreign and incomprehensible to them as it is foreign and incomprehensible to me to be attracted to a woman. If there is a solution to this in this life (and that may be a big if), only the Savior can do the healing.
I don't jump on the bandwagon of alarm about gay people or "the gay agenda" because, put simply, there are far worse sins in my book. In fact, the Book of Mormon doesn't even mention that - but it mentions pride over and over and over again. It mentions grinding on the face of the poor because of fine sanctuaries. It mentions care for the poor several times. It talks about God giving his power to men. It pegs the LDS Church to a T, but does not say anything about same sex attraction. Thus I am led to conclude that there are worse behaviors than that.
It isn't my place to judge my fellow beings who grapple with a tendency I cannot comprehend, or to be alarmed by something that does not harm me (homosexual =/= predator, rapist, child molester, etc. It just doesn't). God is in charge. And, besides that, I cannot look at the intricacies of the human mind in a black and white manner. Humans are far too complex and nuanced for me to judge why they do what they do, and I am too full of sin to pretend I stand on higher ground simply because my issues are different than theirs. Neither am I threatened by their lifestyle because I know them, genuinely know them.