Rugby Player Who Claims Stroke Turned Him Gay Speaks Out: VIDEO
Back in November I posted about Chris Birch, a Welsh former rugby player who claimed that after hurting his neck during practice and cutting off the blood flow to his brain, he suffered a stroke, and realized, as he recovered, that his sexual orientation had changed.
The BBC has now done a documentary on Birch, who says he does not recognize himself in photos taken before his accident.
There are few known cases of a stroke turning a straight person gay, and major personality changes in stroke sufferers are rare. Even Jak Powell, Birch's fiance, believes his partner may always have been gay.
"I've still got the same opinion that it was just something that was always there," says Powell. "People grow up not knowing they are gay and have families and then they realise they are gay, but they don't have a stroke to realise that."
Yet Birch disagrees and is convinced that, neurologically, it was the stroke that altered his sense of self. The moment he realised his feelings towards men had changed was a scary period in his life.
"It was a sort of lonely time. It was a time I was afraid to tell anybody because that wasn't who I used to be, so it shouldn't be who I am now," he says.
Watch the full program while it stays up, AFTER THE JUMP...
Here's a shorter promo:
Going over the previous story, I was astonished to read him saying that he started caring more about his appearance - it's hard to square with that haircut.
"A change in your brain's physiology, such as atrophy from a stroke or a change in the levels of neurotransmitters, can change any and every aspect of your personality."
That's objectively untrue. Strokes can cause fundamental changes to a personality, but they never result in the kind of total rewrite you're suggesting.
"That, combined with other cases also reporting a change in sexuality, leads any sensible person to the conclusion that sexuality can be influenced by changes in the brain."
No, a sensible person is a skeptical person, i.e. someone who doesn't automatically accept extraordinary statements at face value. As I understand it, none of the involved medical personnel were willing to come to definite conclusions about what happened - there's a considerable causal bridge to cross still. There are many reasons to doubt this man's story, and few reasons to accept it at this point.
Posted by: Nat | Apr 19, 2012 4:26:32 PM
Well, this man was turned into a genius after being mugged, so why not?
http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/health/2012/04/27/real-beautiful-mind-accidental-genius-draws-complex-math-formulas-photos/
Posted by: Randy 2 | May 13, 2012 4:08:20 PM