When Dr. James O’Keefe’s teenage son took him and his wife aside to announce that he was gay, the doctor and his wife responded by saying they’d love who ever their son was in love with.
Discovering that his son was gay though inspired O’Keefe to find out more about the genetics and medical conditions that probably lead to someone being same sex attracted.
His conclusion is an aspiring one, it’s not about survival of the fittest, it’s about the survival of the fittest family. Gays are what make families strong.
His thoughts were presented in a recent TEDX talk
Dr O’Keefe notes that when some parents discover their children are gay they send them off to camps to ‘Pray the gay away’. O’Keefe said that’s like asking for your child to have a different eye colour.
Quoting everyone from Boy George to Oscar Wilde the doctor makes his argument based on genetics on why parent’s should embrace their queer children.
Check out the video.
About the speaker
James H O’Keefe MD, is a Board Certified Cardiologist and Director of both the Charles & Barbara Duboc Cardio Health & Wellness Center and the Preventive Cardiology service at Saint Luke’s Mid America Heart Institute.
He is also Professor of Medicine at the University of Missouri-Kansas City. His postgraduate training included a cardiology fellowship at Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota.
Dr O’Keefe is board-certified in Cardiology, Internal Medicine, Nuclear Cardiology, and Cardiac CT Imaging. He is consistently ranked among the ‘Top Doctor’ lists regionally and nationally as one of America’s Top Rated Physicians in Cardiology.
He has been named as one of USA Today’s Most Influential Doctors. Dr O’Keefe has contributed more than 300 articles to the medical literature and has authored best-selling cardiovascular books for health professionals including: The Complete Guide to ECGs (which is used for Cardiology Board Certification), Dyslipidemia Essentials, and Diabetes Essentials.
