Comments on: Sexual identity: Thoughts on the status of the reorientation wars

By: Richard Willmer

Richard Willmer — Wed, 30 May 2018 19:51:54 +0000

From what I can see, the essential position of organizations like NARTH is to discredit and diminish a whole group of people regardless of:-
1. their overall character
2. their contribution to society
3. their overall ‘moral fibre’
4. the quality of their interpersonal relationships (sexual or otherwise)
5. their treatment of, and effect on, others.
This is, quite simply, madness, and utterly devoid of any genuine morality or philosophy. It is also the the thin end of a very dangerous wedge. Some NARTHians like to claim they are basing their view on ‘existentialist reality’; such claims are totally delusional if the items mentioned above are being ignored.

By: Mary

Mary — Wed, 30 May 2018 19:51:54 +0000

Imagine us – still using the Kinsey scale after most if not all of his work and research has come into ethical question.

By: Teresa

Teresa — Wed, 30 May 2018 19:51:54 +0000

Can someone here answer this question for me?
Is the essential psychological view of NARTH the following:
‘Homosexuality’ is a psychiatric illness and never should have been removed from DSM-II … although, they may not publicly state this?
Dr. Charles Socarides was an opponent of the removal of homosexuality as a mental disorder; and, was and is considered by NARTH very favorably.

By: Richard Willmer

Richard Willmer — Wed, 30 May 2018 19:51:54 +0000

I was not really aware of NARTH before I started frequenting this blog. I have to say that they sound to me like a pretty vicious bunch of thugs!

By: DAVE G

DAVE G — Wed, 30 May 2018 19:51:54 +0000

Has anyone determined the specifics of “harm” reported by failed clients? That is, other than loss of friends among the gay community, and lack of a supportive community among ex-gays or non-gays.

By: ken

ken — Wed, 30 May 2018 19:51:54 +0000

Mary# ~ Jun 20, 2011 at 6:32 pm
“Imagine us – still using the Kinsey scale after most if not all of his work and research has come into ethical question.”
Do you know of some ethical flaw with the Kinsey scale Mary? What is it?
what ethical issues are there with Kinsey’s work? Certainly his data collection methods where flawed and it is generally unwise to site his research as authoritative (and frankly I don’t know of anyone who does, other than the occasional 10% of the pop. is gay). However, Kinsey’s real contribution wasn’t his research, rather it was that he was one of the 1st researchers (in the US) to start applying scientific methods to the study of sexuality. Which spawned other (and better) research.

By: ken

ken — Wed, 30 May 2018 18:27:12 +0000

Madison# ~ Jun 21, 2011 at 6:55 pm
“NARTH’s overall intent is pretty simple and I would say non-controversial: to help people with unwanted same sex attraction.”
that sounds really nice, but it isn’t really what NARTH does.
“I think they get into trouble when needing to handle the incessant attacks from TWO, EGW, et al.”
No, they get into trouble because the spread false and misleading information about sexual orientation. Because they offer therapies that are not based on science, but their own prejudices about gays.

By: Madison

Madison — Wed, 30 May 2018 18:27:12 +0000

Teresa & Richard, I don’t think that could be further from the truth. Do you really believe that or is it just the rhetoric that it looks like?

By: ken

ken — Wed, 30 May 2018 18:27:12 +0000

Teresa# ~ Jun 16, 2011 at 1:41 pm
“Can someone here answer this question for me?
Is the essential psychological view of NARTH the following:
‘Homosexuality’ is a psychiatric illness and never should have been removed from DSM-II … although, they may not publicly state this?”
they did publicly state this on their website years ago, don’t know if the pages are still up. And NARTH is the source of the mis-information (“no scientific research”, “it was a political decision”, “it was due to gay extremist threats against the APA” etc) about why the change was made.

By: ken

ken — Wed, 30 May 2018 18:27:11 +0000

DAVE G# ~ Jun 16, 2011 at 2:54 pm
“Has anyone determined the specifics of “harm” reported by failed clients? That is, other than loss of friends among the gay community, and lack of a supportive community among ex-gays or non-gays.”
Types of harm that have occurred: loss of self-esteem, loss of religious faith, anxiety, depression, in extreme cases, suicide.
Box turtle bulletin just did a series of articles about on Kirk Murphy, who was sent to therapy to “prevent” him from becoming gay. You can read about it here:
http://www.boxturtlebulletin.com/what-are-little-boys-made-of-main
Also Shidlo and Schroeder documented other harm as well:
Shidlo, Ariel; Schroeder, Michael (2002), “Changing Sexual Orientation: A Consumers’ Report”, Professional Psychology: Research and Practice 33 (3): 249