Category: Professional issues

Stephen Bennett declares “public divide” with Exodus

Stephen Bennett weighs in on the recent LA Times article and CNN appearance of Alan Chambers.

Stephen takes issue with suggestions from Al Mohler and others that biological factors may be involved in homosexuality:

There is ZERO biological, scientific “evidence” for homosexuality to this date. The biblical evidence for homosexuality is very clear: it’s sin.

Ominously, he declares:

“What we see here is the public divide of the pro-family movement.”

Well, since he brought it up…

I think there have been some significant tensions among social conservatives that may be a part of the broader development of evangelicalism. Of late, divides have occured over environmental policy and abortion. I think we are seeing tensions now over sexuality.

Christian Post reports on changing focus

This morning, the Christian Post’s Lillian Kwon writes about the spate of recent articles on changes in sexual identity ministries and therapy. Note that the article frames the issues in terms of change (life?, sexual orientation?) but gets around to including most of the recent news reports involving Exodus and the “ex-gay controversy.”

Of late, the Christian Post has taken a lead among Christian news sources in reporting about sexual identity.

Alan Chambers on CNN’s The Situation Room

What a difference a day (seems to) makes.

First, the LA Times article and then this afternoon, Alan Chambers appeared on CNN’s Situation Room with Wolf Blitzer. Apparently stimulated by the LA Times article, CNN’s Mary Snow interviewed Alan about the term ex-gay and what is meant by change. Jack Drescher was on briefly to indicate his surprise at the shift (which regular readers of this blog will know has been developing over time). Matt Barber of Concerned Women for America was on to suggest there was no evidence for innateness of sexual orientation. Clearly Alan was cast as breaking with the tide.

See the video here…

LA Times article features ex-gay debate and sexual identity therapy

NOTE: This article is archived here now… 

This morning’s LA Times pulls together a host of factors to suggest that there is “New ground in debate on ‘curing’ gays.” Written by Stephanie Simon, the article cites or quotes numerous sources as evidence that changes are happening in the dialogue regarding sexual orientation, ministry and therapy.

The article begins with a bang:

Alan Chambers directs Exodus International, widely described as the nation’s largest ex-gay ministry. But when he addresses the group’s Freedom Conference at Concordia University in Irvine this month, Chambers won’t celebrate successful “ex-gays.”

Truth is, he’s not sure he’s ever met one.

With years of therapy, Chambers says, he has mostly conquered his own attraction to men; he’s a husband and a father, and he identifies as straight. But lately, he’s come to resent the term “ex-gay”: It’s too neat, implying a clean break with the past, when he still struggles at times with homosexual temptation. “By no means would we ever say change can be sudden or complete,” Chambers said.

His personal denunciation of the term “ex-gay” — his organization has yet to follow suit — is just one example of shifting ground in the polarizing debate on homosexuality.

While I am not sure Alan would categorize his process as “years of therapy,” this section reprises many discussions on this blog about ex-gay as a term and the changing focus at Exodus.

Speaking of blog discussions, Michael Bussee adds his perspective:

“Something’s happening. And I think it’s very positive,” agreed Michael Bussee, who founded Exodus in 1976, only to fall in love with another man — a fellow ex-gay counselor.

Now a licensed family therapist in Riverside, Bussee regularly speaks out against ex-gay therapies and is scheduled to address the Ex-Gay Survivor’s Conference at UC Irvine at the end of the month.

But Bussee put aside his protest agenda recently to endorse new guidelines to sexual identity therapy, co-written by two professors at conservative Christian colleges.

Lee Beckstead gives a fine description of sexual identity therapy:

“It’s about helping clients accept that they have these same-sex attractions and then allowing them the space, free from bias, to choose how they want to act,” said Lee Beckstead, a gay psychologist in Salt Lake City who uses this approach.

Speaking of the sexual identity therapy framework, I think this might the first public mention of their endorsement by Robert Spitzer.

The guidelines for this type of therapy — written by Warren Throckmorton of Grove City College and Mark Yarhouse of Regent University — have been endorsed by representatives on both the left and right. The list includes the provost of a conservative evangelical college and the psychiatrist whose gay-rights advocacy in the 1970s got homosexuality removed from the official medical list of mental disorders.

“What appeals to me is that it moves away from the total polarization” common in the field, said Dr. Robert Spitzer, the psychiatrist.

While not in this article, his complete statement to me about the framework is:

I have reviewed the sexual identity framework written by Warren Throckmorton and Mark Yarhouse. This framework provides a very necessary outline to help therapists address the important concerns of clients who are in conflict over their homosexual attractions. The work of Drs. Throckmorton and Yarhouse transcend polarized debates about whether gays can change their sexual orientation. Rather, this framework helps therapists work with clients to craft solutions tailored to their individual situations and personal beliefs and values. I support this framework and hope it is widely implemented.

You heard it here first…

UPDATE: The article has been reprinted by Newsday and the Fort Wayne Journal-Gazette, the San Mateo County Times, the Chicago Tribune Redeye edition, AM New York and the Advocate.

PFLAG reaction to the Chicago Trib article

PFLAG president John Cepek today posted a particularly vigorous reaction on the Chicago Tribune’s blog regarding the June 11 Tribune article about sexual identity therapy.

In one sense, I can understand that he lumps me in with reparative therapists. The article was not particularly clear on that point. I made it a point to differentiate myself from reparative or conversion therapists. I referred to ACT as a therapeutic foundation for my work. These distinctions were not reported or were edited out.

Troubling though was Mr. Cepek’s reference to Shidlo and Schroeder’s 2002 study as follows:

The outcome that alleged Jeff had flies in the face of the peer-reviewed assessments of the practice. A 2002 study interviewed 202 participants in such treatments. Only 26 reported success – and of those, only eight reported not having “slips” into homosexuality. Even more disturbing were the reports from those who said that the treatment failed. Of the 176 who did not change, 155 had long-term harm from conversion – ranging from the physical effects of shock therapy to inability to maintain relationships with family and friends, to a loss of their faith.

I have written about the misuse of Shidlo and Schroeder before in relation to its reference on the Montel Williams Show by Alicia Salzer.