NYT: Some Tormented by Homosexuality Look to a Controversial Therapy

[Doondoo]

Efforts by religious conservatives to “treat” homosexuality received renewed attention last week with news that the Rev. Ted Haggard, an evangelical pastor dismissed from his Colorado megachurch in a gay-sex scandal, had undergone three weeks of intense therapy and then reportedly concluded that he was “completely heterosexual.”

Although the scientific community cannot say definitively what determines sexual orientation — whether it is nature or nurture — most mainstream mental health professionals dismiss attempts to eradicate homosexual desires or to change someone’s sexual orientation as quackery that is potentially harmful.

Gay rights advocates say the efforts only provide additional fodder for homophobia. Mental health experts say there is no proof that sexual reorientation therapy, as it is often called, works. Meanwhile, they argue, the damage it can inflict on self-esteem, triggering depression and even suicide, is well documented.

“There’s not a debate in the profession on this issue,” said Dr. Jack Drescher, a New York psychiatrist and former chairman of the Committee on Gay, Lesbian and Bisexual Issues of the American Psychiatric Association. “This is like creationism. You create the impression to the public as if there was a debate in the profession, which there is not.”

Nevertheless, these efforts, commonly called the “ex-gay” movement, have become increasingly visible across the country, where the battle over gay marriage and sex scandals in the Roman Catholic Church have brought the divisive issue of homosexuality to the forefront in recent years.


http://www.nytimes.com/2007/02/12/nyregion/12group.html?_r=1&oref=slogin

[whistle]

1. Next step will be Christo-Nazi concentration camps for gays complete

...with gas chambers and crematoriums. What the hell is wrong with these people and their homophobia?

[CarbonDate]

3. Call it a hunch....

...I think there'll be a few steps in between.

That said, it's amazing that Christian conservatives are so enthusiastic for "rehabilitation" for something that isn't an affliction but so opposed to it for things like drug addiction.

[xchrom]

2. wish-bone medicine and therapies.

what this calls attetntion to is deep need that america needs to get a grip on tolerance and acceptance.

[cboy4]

4. How devasting. This so-called therapy is nothing short of voodoo.

Not only might this person blow his brains out because of the overwhelming disappointment, this so-called "therapy" only perpetuates the myth that homosexuality is a choice and people can be "cured."

And that only fuels the fire of belief that people choose to be gay.

I mean, if one can be cured, why should there be gay marriage?

I just cringe when I read stories about this. Just cringe. :(

[va4wilderness]

5. I'd say throwing a whole life of "feelings"...

is not possible nor is it desirable. If a lot of these 11,000 folx are not deeply closeted already, then these programs will push them even further. Sad.

This quote from the NYT article tells it all: "The emphasis in Mr. Matheson’s counseling is on helping men — all his clients are male — develop “gender wholeness” by addressing emotional issues and building healthy connections with other men."

So homophobia and self-denial is 'gender wholeness' and a 'healthy connection with other men.' ?????? Yikes.

[donco6]

11. Here's to "un-wholeness"!

:toast:

[closeupready]

6. Stupid headline. Should read,

"Some gays tormented by self-hatred look to controversial therapy." Homosexuality itself is not the problem. Sorry to parse things, but this is the GLBT forum. :D

[Proud Liberal Dem]

7. Sad

It's sad to think about all the time, money, energy (and "torment") that GLBTQ people are actively ENCOURAGED by others to inflict upon themselves in order to change something that can never be changed but more importantly, DOES NOT NEED TO BE CHANGED IN THE FIRST PLACE!

[NMMNG]

8. Newsflash: People are not tormented by homosexuality.

They are tormented by the bigotry they face from homophobes, and the abuse those individuals heap upon them.

[sakabatou]

9. Bingo

[WindRavenX]

10. Drescher nailed it:"You create the impression to the public as if there was a debate..."

Anyone who tells you that being gay can be "cured" is both an asshole and a quack.