Sojourneer, the anonymous blog administrator at the Narth blog has revised his/her statement about the Schoenewolf article controversy:
I am going to revise my comments on the Schoenwolf article. Many people have misinterpreted my defense of Schoenwolf, as speaking for Narth. I do not speak for Narth and any comments I have made on the blog are my personal opinions. Please read the Narth disclaimer regarding the blog. In addition, Schoenewolf can defend himself and his views are not endorsed by Narth. Regarding his comments about slavery, I regret his choice of words and think his point could have been made with a better choice of words. The comments were incendiary and have inflamed the debate. Therefore, for the sake of continued dialogue with all sides I am going to retract the first letter from Timothy Kincaid as an example of gay intimidation.
I don’t know when this revision was actually posted since it took the place of one that labeled negative reactions from a variety of quarters as attempts to discredit NARTH and Dr. Schoenewolf. This statement is the first that implies that Schoenewolf’s views are not endorsed by NARTH. However, since Sojourneer does not speak for NARTH, I cannot see how the statement can be accepted as an official position. Silence, thus far, is the only official response from NARTH.
I’ve had the pleasure of spending a good part of a day with Timothy. I cannot imagine for the life of me how “Timothy Kincaid” and “gay intimidation” could end up in the same sentence.
Glad? Well, glad, sad, and several other reactions. I am sad that the issue of sexuality and personal values has become polarized and politicized. I say that to both APA and NARTH.
An organization with a focus on sexual identity integration could serve a useful purpose: helping clinicians focus on the client’s narrative and objectives. The sexual identity therapy guidelines are a beginning effort in that direction.
I had planned to present the guidelines at the NARTH conference in Novemeber but yesterday decided not to go. Among other reasons I cannot go into, I think the controversies and ambiguities of recent days will overshadow anything of substance at the conference and thus have decided to back out. I do know there are people who are NARTH members and then those who are APA partisans who are quite enthusiastic about them.
The “first letter” they posted and then retracted was a press release from Wayne Besen, not a letter from Timothy Kincaid. They’ve also left up the second comment from “sojourneer” defending the Schoenewolf article and accusing Timothy of being intimidating.
So I’m guessing you’re kinda glad you’re not a NARTH member, huh Dr. Throckmorton?