Quotations:

• Dr. Robert Spitzer (1932-2015) was a psychiatrist and professor of psychiatry at Columbia University. He played a major role in the development of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM). Referring to persons with a homosexual orientation, he said:

  "They have a choice whether to go into therapy, about whether they adopt a gay lifestyle, whether they tell their friends and their family. They don't have a choice as to whether their basic sexual orientation is gay or straight -- that they don't have a choice about."

• Dr. Spitzer's responded to a question posed in Scientific American Mind magazine in 2004-FEB: "Do gays have a choice?" ₇

"Presumably to "adopt a gay lifestyle" means for a person to choose to be sexually active with member(s) of the same sex rather than to be celibate for the rest of their life, living without an intimate partner."

• Felix Kalu co-founded Freethinkers Association for Social Transformation (FAST), a NGO in Enugu, Nigeria. He posted the following comment on his Facebook page, and asked that it be shared:

  "Homosexuality is not 'curable.'..."

  "The truth is this: When you ban people from loving and marrying who they want to love and marry, they marry who you present to them even when they don't love your choice for them....."

  "If you are gay, there will NEVER be a time you will be an ex-gay. Though you may decide at some point to stop having gay sex, or maybe you're currently celibate. That is obtainable. But the fact remains that your default setting is that you're gay. No matter how many years you quit having gay relationships you will still be gay... It is not about your libido. It is your entire personality.
  
  Marriage to the opposite sex CANNOT make a homosexual person become heterosexual. ..."

  "You're gay and there's nothing you can do about it. You did not become gay, you're just gay all by yourself. People don't become gay because a same sex person touched their sex organ, that may be your first experience but that wasn't a kind of conversion. It only called out what has always been there. If you are not gay even if you at some point have a sexual encounter with a same gender person your sexual inclination remains the same after the encounter, no matter how many times it happened.
  
  Homosexuality is way beyond just having sex with [a person of] the same sex. That is why no matter how many times a gay person has sex with the opposite sex, his sexual orientation remains unchanged."

• The American Academy of Pediatrics, a group with over 60,000 pediatricians) said, "Reparative therapy is never indicated ... and can be harmful." See: Times-Call, 2017-APR-06, at: http://www.timescall.com/

Mental health therapies directed at at gays and lesbians:

The two main types of therapy or counseling directed at gays and lesbians -- and to a lesser degree -- bisexuals:

Gay Affirmative Therapy (GAT) directed at helping gays and lesbians accept their sexual orientation. We will only discuss this briefly.

Reparative therapy (a.k.a. Conversion Therapy, Sexual Orientation Change Effort, SOCE, or Transformational Ministry) programs. These often imply that they can change a gay's or lesbian's sexual orientation. However, their programs are actually directed at changing clients' sexual behavior. Clients with a homosexual orientation are urged to remain celibate without an intimate partner for the rest of their lives. Clients with a bisexual orientation are urged to choose to restrict their sexually active relationships only to members of the opposite sex. Almost all of the essays in this section discuss these topics.

Topics on counseling and therapy in this section:

• The two main types of therapy
  
  
• Reparative therapy, sometimes called Sexual Orientation Change Effort, SOCE, or transformational ministries:
  
  • History of the National Association for Research and Therapy of Homosexuality (NARTH).
    
    
  • Introduction:
    • Part 1: Quotations, overview, terminology
      
      
    • Part 2: History, health insurance aspects, is a change in sexual orientation possible?
      
      
    • Part 3: Acceptance. Email inquiry. Safety. Effectiveness.
      
      
    • Part 4: Brief statements about the effectiveness and safety of reparative therapy.
      
      
  • Overview of the results of formal studies by SOCE, reparative therapy, and transformational ministries.
    
    
    • Details of these studies
      
      
    • Detailed analysis of Dr. Robert Spitzer'0s 2001 study  (4 essays)
      
      
  • Anecdotal observations on Reparative Therapy. What a proper study might look like
    
    
• About Reparative therapy and transformational ministries:
  • Quotations. Overview. Defining terms
    
    
  • Estimates of success. Conclusions. Webmaster's personal comments
  
  
• Statements by professional associations about the use of Reparative Therapy to try to convert gays to heterosexuals:
  • Overview. Years 1973 to 1994
    
    
  • 1994 to 1998
    
    
  • 1998 to 2000
    
    
  • Also: State laws and city ordinances prohibiting Reparative Therapy on minors
    
    
    • 2005 to 2016
      
      
    • 2017 to now
      
      
• Statements on Reparative Therapy by individual groups:
  
  
• Transformational Ministries (typically conservative Christian "ex-gay" ministries).
  
  
• P-Fox.
  
  
• Evangelical Christians and the rest of the public.
  
  
• "Ex-gay" newspaper & TV ads.
  
  
• Our thoughts on pursuing reparative therapy
  
  
• Recent Developments
  
  
  • Ted Haggard's problems reignite the reparative therapy debate
    
    
  • Controversy over therapy; subsequent events
    
    
  • American Psychological Association task force on reparative therapy
    
    
  • Conflict over Ipod "apps," mainly involving Exodus International, LGBT's and Apple
    
    
  • 2012-MAY: Dr. Robert L. Spitzer issues apology & retraction of deeply flawed 2001 study
    
    
  • 2012-JUN: Exodus International reverses course and abandons reparative therapy   << Really big!!
    
    
  • 2012-2016: Laws banning reparative therapy for youth in California, the District of Columbia, etc.
     
  • 2017 to now: Trying to Convert Gays to Heterosexuals using Reparative Therapy. Laws prohibiting such therapy on minors. Online apps.
    
    
  • Books and apps dealing with changing or accepting one's sexual orientation
    
  • 
    
• Resolving differences in beliefs about homosexuality and reparative therapy, etc.
  

Related essays & menus on this web site:

	Main menu about homosexual and bisexual orientation
	Statements by professional groups etc. about homosexuality.
	Religious beliefs of ex-gay and similar ministries about homosexuality

Important external links:

	Mark Benjamin, "My gay therapy session:" A reporter pretended to be gay and received an introductory session of reparative therapy by a Christian counselor. The cost to "either turn straight or get significant relief" would be $14,560. See: http://dir.salon.com/
	Erik Kluzek, a board member of PFLAG Boulder County in Colorado: "Conversion therapy is harmful and should be stopped," Times-Call, 2017-APR-06, at: http://www.timescall.com/
	Nick Duffy, "All the medical organisations who think gay cure therapy is bulls**t ," Pink News, 2018-JAN-03, at: https://www.pinknews.co.uk/

References:

1. "Christian Ex-gay ministry hosts Chicago conference," Charisma. Online at Maranatha Christian Journal, at: http://www.mcjonline.com/news/news3280.htm 
2. APA response was copied from a reader's Email
3. Stuart Shepard, "Ex-gays protest APA," Focus on the Family, at: http://www.family.org/cforum/fnif/news/A0011512.html
4. G.M. Herek, "Attempts to change sexual orientation," at: http://psychology.ucdavis.edu/rainbow/html/facts_changing.html 
5. "Aversion Therapy - Letter to the Royal College of Psychiatrists, " Outrage!, at: http://www.outrage.cygnet.co.uk/quintat2.htm
6. Joe Kort, "So you'd like to learn about Gay Affirmative Therapy (GAT) at: http://www.amazon.com/ Kort has provided a list of 43 books on the topic.
7. David Roberts, "Previously unreleased Spitzer video gives candid results," Ex-gay Watch, 2007-APR-05, at: http://www.exgaywatch.com/

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Copyright © 1996 to 2019 by Ontario Consultants on Religious Tolerance
Latest update: 2019-MAR-08
Author: B.A. Robinson