Q Should youth be entitled to unbiased advice on sexuality?
Sean Yu of Shamshuipo has misunderstood my points and he seems to have been misled by Melvin Wong. The paragraph that Dr Wong quoted from the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, fourth edition as evidence to link gender identity disorder (GID) with homosexuality actually says: 'By late adolescence or adulthood, about three-quarters of boys who had a childhood history of gender identity disorder report a homosexual or bisexual orientation, but without concurrent gender identity disorder.'
This means that the condition of GID no longer exists in these individuals after they have identified their sexual orientation.
But Dr Wong left out the last six words in his presentation, making the meaning of the paragraph sound markedly different. The manual continues to say that males with GID include substantial proportions with four specifiers: sexually attracted to males, sexually attracted to females, sexually attracted to both, and sexually attracted to neither. This means that these cases do not show any noticeable link to any particular sexual orientation.
If Dr Wong is persistent enough, he may come back with another paragraph from the manual, which says: 'Virtually all females with gender identity disorder will receive the same specifier - sexually attracted to females - although there are exceptional cases involving females who are sexually attracted to males,' and claim that most lesbians have GID.
But clinically, individuals in these cases are not lesbians but people who do not identify with their assigned gender. Furthermore, the manual explicitly states: 'Gender identity disorder can be distinguished from simple nonconformity to stereotypical sex-role behaviour', and not wearing high heels, not putting on makeup and not wearing dresses are most certainly unrelated to female GID.