A college psychology professor's observations about public policy, mental health, sexual identity, and religious issues
If not bumped by breaking news (e.g., Iraq, Holsinger nomination, Paris Hilton sneezes), I will be on CNN today at approximately 1:40pm Eastern Standard Time opposite psychiatrist Benjamin McCommon. Topic: The APA task force and the initiative of the religious coalition reported in last week’s AP article.
Video of the segment is now up on You Tube:
AOL’s GLBT community blog Queersighted has an article by Richard Rothstein this morning that marks tomorrow’s first meeting of the APA Sexual Orientation Task as an important date in gay history. Why? Because he hopes the task force will suggest to the APA that all reparative/conversion therapy should be banned. And what if the APA bans reparative therapy (never defined in this piece)? Well, round up the posse, boys, Mr. Rothstein has the answer:
If the APA does in fact ban reparative or conversion therapy, we will at long last have a solid legal argument for shutting down such groups as Exodus International and Homosexuals Anonymous. This will also mean that under standard and existing malpractice laws, psychologists and therapists who continue to advocate and practice such therapy would be subject to license revocation, hefty fines and even imprisonment.
So if Mr. Rothstein’s vision is realized, reparative therapists and maybe the Exodus crew will be answering questions like: “Hey, doc, what are you in for?”
This is disturbing.
One recent commenter here proposed that what I do under the framework of sexual identity therapy was really reparative. I was fired from Magellan’s Provider Advisory Board in 2005 (and later reinstated) because it was alledged that I was a reparative therapist. People who should know better in the academic community refuse to acknowledge the distinctions I make between what I do and reparative therapy. So should I set up a trust fund for the kids?
The APA may not advocate such strong legal measures, but as the recent AP story made clear, the audience for the APA’s decisions is not only a professional one. PFLAG and the Task Force are ready, presumably with lawyers.
This New York Times piece provides a summary of the stance of Dr. James Holsinger regarding his views on a number of issues.
I thought his responses to the criticisms of his 1991 paper were reasonable and, as a professor, understandable. Most of us writes tons of stuff for various audiences and I certainly do not agree with some things I wrote 16 years ago. As an academic matter, I would wonder how his views have changed and why. Those who oppose him might want to know that to since I doubt they have much trust. Those who were inclined to favor him may now feel he has vacillated.
Note his top priorities:
…tackling childhood obesity, “making America a tobacco-free nation” and improving the ability of the Public Health Service to respond to emergencies.
All three are admirable but the second is, I suspect, a pipe dream…
David Crary of the AP has an article out today about the APA task force on sexual orientation policies.
In this article, David Crary refers to a letter signed by numerous Christian groups and individuals. I am attaching the letter and signers. This is a broad spectrum of people agreeing to only what is written in the letter here. One possible misinterpretation of the Crary article is that the signers of the letter were seeking APA’s recognition of reparative therapy. Not so. If that were the case, I would not have been involved with this. However, the request to the APA is pretty simple: let’s meet and discuss the same-sex attracted constituents represented by the signers. To regular readers of this blog, this will all sound very familiar.
UPDATE: 7/12/07 – The Christian Post published a follow up article today.
Michael Glatze has more to say about his story on World Net Daily today.
UPDATE: Michelangelo Signorile interviewed Paul Schindler of the Gay City News about Michael Glatze today. Mr. Schindler talked with Michael and said that Michael indeed an up and coming leader among young gays. Further, Mr. Schindler revealed that Michael backed out of the Paula Zahn Show and today’s Signorile radio show because he prayed about it and did not believe he would get a fair hearing.
There was some extensive discussion of Michael’s explanation for his development of same-sex attraction. According to Schindler, Glatze told him that he had “undifferentiated sexual feelings” when he was 14 and then a friend explained to him about homosexuality and the gay world. Glatze said this influenced the object of his sexual desire toward boys.
On the issue of the LDS church, Schindler said, “I asked him about that” meaning the reports of conversion and Michael reportedly said these reports are not accurate. According to Schindler, Michael is conversing with someone at the CWA to select the right Christian sect. Look for a report from Schindler on Gay City News late tonight or tomorrow.
UPDATE #2 – The Christian Post explores Mr. Glatze’s statement about faith today.
UPDATE #3 – 7/11/07 – GayCity News has a lengthy interview with Mr. Glatze. It covers a lot of the same ground we have been discussing here but adds some detail.