True, clinical reports of homosexuality are skewed by the fact that the subjects sought treatment. It is also true that social approval changes the incidence of behaviors, although that argument cuts both ways. If homosexual activity is wrong, approval of it will increase a wrong behavior.

In other situations we recognize that a person can be mistaken about what is best for them. I will be using pedophilia as an example in these answers because it too is a sexual issue, and because Greenberg's extensive meta-study of homosexuality across cultures makes information about social attitudes toward pedophilia readily available. (Greenberg) I will assume without proof that sex with children is wrong, even with mutual consent. I will not raise the question of whether it is possible for a minor to give legal consent.

Pedophilic relationships need not be promiscuous; pedophilic tendencies cannot be predicted based on other psychodynamic variables or family background; and pedophilic relationships can exhibit mutual commitment, according to the academic journal of pedophilia, Paedika. It seems then that age is the only grounds for approving of gay relationships while disapproving of pedophilic relationships (with either sex).

The theme issue of pedophilia of the Journal of Homosexuality suggests that pedophilia is natural, therapy is unsuccessful in changing it, and boys who experienced it reported positive experiences. (Li; van Zessen; Jones; Bauserman)

30 August 1996. Copyright information is available.