Persons with homosexual tendencies need to consider seeking “professional help” to address their sexual inclinations that are “not natural”, the Chairman of the Kenya Catholic Doctors’ Association (KCDA) has said.
Speaking at the 2023 edition of the Youth Chastity Conference (YCC), Dr. Wahome Ngare said homosexual tendencies are often a result of childhood trauma, and that a professional will “walk with someone backward”.
“It is important to seek help. You may need professional help because some of those things that happened to us in childhood have affected us so badly; they are hidden so deep in our sub-conscience that we cannot remember them,” Dr. Ngare said during February 11 event.
He explained, “Somebody may have been molested as a child; somebody may have been abused as a child; somebody may just have been neglected and not loved and they end up meeting somebody who shows them affection.”
“The first thing to understand is that you need to walk with someone backward into your history and start seeing what it is that may have gone wrong,” he said, and continued, “It is important for you to understand it is not natural and anybody who tells you it is normal and encourages you to behave like that doesn't love you.”
The Chairman of KCDA who doubles as the Director of the Kenya Christian Professional Forum (KCPF) gave examples of how traumatic experiences can bring about homosexual tendencies.
“A young boy and a young girl are accosted by men in a park. They take them to a public toilet and they sexually abuse the girl but they do not abuse the boy. From that point onwards that girl wants to be a boy and she starts dressing like a boy and behaving like a boy because in her mind, if she was a boy she would not have been sexually assaulted,” he said.
Dr. Ngare also gave the example of “a four-year-old boy who says he wants to be a girl, he wants girl toys, he wants to behave like a girl and then the question is why would this child behave the way they are behaving?”
“Then you discover that the firstborn in that family is a girl with mental challenges. There is so much attention the parents are giving to this girl that the boy interprets that to mean the parents love the girl and if he was a girl he would be loved by his parents,” he explained, adding that it is not right to encourage homosexual tendencies.
“If you meet a boy who is saying he's a girl, don't encourage him to continue thinking like that. Instead, encourage them to solve the puzzle of what it is that has affected them,” the Kenyan medical practitioner said.
He added, “During the time of puberty those homosexual experiences may be there but they are transient and they disappear with time as you get to know yourself.”
The Obstetrician/Gynaecologist also urged young people at the conference held at the main campus of the Catholic University of Eastern Africa (CUEA) in Nairobi to abstain from sexual intercourse prior to marriage.
He said that coitus can be dangerous if not practiced at the right time, explaining, “Sexual intercourse is like fire. When you are the one who is in charge of fire you light a match and you put on the gas then fire is a very good servant but when fire gets out of control and becomes a master it is very destructive.”
Dr. Ngare also urged the youth who have engaged in sexual sin to seek spiritual and even psychological assistance.
“It is important that you go
for your confession; it is important that you seek spiritual assistance,
and if that doesn't work for you then it is important to have
psychological help with a psychologist,” the Kenyan medical doctor
said.
Held under the theme, “Responsible Human Relationships”, YCC 2023 aimed at teaching young people the value of engaging in healthy relationships.
In an interview with ACI Africa ahead of the conference, Tobias Nauruki, a co-convener of the annual event noted that most young people have a negative view of chastity and sexual abstinence.
“Most young people see living a chaste life, abstaining from sex until they get married, as not that normal. They see having a boyfriend or girlfriend with whom you don't engage actively in sexual intercourse as unusual,” Mr. Nauruki told ACI Africa February 8.
The Empowered Youth Coalition (EYC) Africa regional coordinator added that the youth “see living a chaste life as a thing of the past for traditionalists.”
It is important to change young people’s mindset about sexuality, he said, adding that changing the mindset of the youth is for the good of the nation.
Mr. Nauruki explained, “If we are able to change their way of thinking, we will have dependable young people who we can count on as leaders today and tomorrow, who can be good ambassadors and role models for the younger children we are raising.”