The Canadian Press — the Canadian branch of AP — has picked up and expanded upon the story first reported by Truth Wins Out last week: that Focus on the Family exgay activist Melissa Fryrear had “hijacked” and distorted Canadian research on lesbian teen suicide to support her employer’s political beliefs.
In fact, said [Dr. Elizabeth] Saewyc, American studies have noted that gay teenagers are at the highest risk of suicide before they come out of the closet. After that, they do quite well unless they’re harassed.
“If they’re trying to kill themselves because they’re embracing homosexuality, one would logically conclude they should all be suicidal,” said Saewyc.
Suicide attempts among heterosexual teens are also often associated with harassment, discrimination and violence, she said.
According to the Canadian Press, Fryrear extended her distortions of science:
Some clinical studies, including one by Dr. Robert Spitzer, have linked contemplating suicide to unwanted attractions to the same sex, she said.
Dr. Spitzer’s study made no such link. The Spitzer study performed no research and offered no conclusions about suicide, and in fact Spitzer made no effort to study mental health among gay or lesbian persons. The study solely examined self-reporting of the degree of “change” in sexual orientation among approximately 200 longtime exgay counseling participants.
Addendum: Spitzer says Fryrear misused his study
Hat tip for CP article: Truth Wins Out
Mike: Bob did ask about depression. There were reports of significant improvement in depression. I will check the 2001 report to see if he asked about suicide. I believe the numbers were 43% of men and 47% of women were markedly or extremely depressed before entering therapy. After therapy, only 1% of men and 4% of women felt depressed at the extreme level. I do not know if this is what Melissa is referring to but she might be inferring suicidality from the reports of depression.
I have not been following this story closely but it occurs to me that there may be disagreement here between Saewyk and Savin-Williams. In the New Gay Teenager, Savin-Williams links early disclosure with other problems in the lives of kids. I do not recall that he reported better mental health status as a result of coming out. My point is not to get into a fuss, I just want to point folks to Savin-Williams for another slant on this line of research.
Thanks for the added context, Warren.
Of course, Spitzer’s one-time phone-based interview request that exgays self-evaluate themselves for subjectively perceived depression does not translate well to clinical research or diagnosis of depression, nor to the gay and lesbian population, nor (as you seem to indicate) to suicidal tendencies.
Savin-Williams might be worth looking into; thanks for the tip….
It’s good to see Dr. Saewyc jump on these distortions so quickly.
Now, if Dr. Spitzer had only done the same thing…
And, the retraction from not-Dr. Fryrear will arrive when?
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Warren,
Savin-Williams AND others have noted that about earliest disclosure, but not what you’re suggesting.
Etc.
Worth noting: those who are youngest will also be the least likely to have formed a stable support group around them prior to coming out. And the most likely to be questioned along the lines of “Are you sure?” etc — particularly if they’ve been reading comments from therapists who insist that gay teens (but apparently not straight teens) are “in flux”.
Those who come out earliest also tend to be the “most obvious” in terms of stereotype. ie the most feminine etc. All the more reason for abuse, according to some.
There is a very good reason most of us don’t come out until several years after we are well aware of ourselves.
Once again, I believe what we are seeing here is the attempt to deliberately smokescreen reality. Since we already know from the Agape Press accounts that Fryrear doesn’t have much of a clue about research, and that the American “Family” Association doesn’t exactly have much of a reputation for considering factual reporting part of “christian” doctrine, I don’t think there is much more to understand about her statements.
While this might seem uncomfortable to some, I’d like to reiterate again that I find it amazingly hypocritical that those representing organizations or groups whose purpose is to demonize gay citizens through any creative means possible also want to project themselves as noble rescuers of “unwanted” homosexual feelings. We all know why those feelings are “unwanted” and who has done their best to inject those feelings into our being.
I suggest the researchers examine the heterosexuals who threatened or committed suicide because they were harassed once they were suspected of being gay as a good starting point. It wouldn’t hurt for someone to practice a little humility about the horrendous social crime of driving anyone’s child to depression and suicide over someone else’s choice and projection of religion. That is the crime.
Perhaps we should follow that up with some research about the sexual attitudes of those who practice religious and “moral” beliefs which dictate they do everything possible to turn natural emotional/sexual reactions into something “unwanted.” These organizations should be concentrating on dealing with the many, many, many cases of “unwanted” sexual feelings toward legal minors, but then that might be cutting things a little too close to home. . .particularly since some states still haven’t cleared their statutes of allowing a 13 or 14 year old to marry a member of the opposite sex without parental permission as long as one of the parties is pregnant.
How many of these so-called Christians have any relationship with the truth? Granted, I am quite sure they believe what they are saying has some relation to the truth, but that does not make their words true. If I cared very little for the truth, it would be possible to say just about anything.
For instance, noting that those who come out earlier in life have a more difficult time in life, school, and with family is deceptive. Yes, most children will have a more difficult time…because of hatred and bigotry in their schools, in society, and in the schools. Change the hatred and bigotry, and you will find that all those kids coming out early do NOT have problems.
There is a reason why Focus on the Family and other groups are getting so desperate in their attacks on happily LGBT people. It has to do with the rising number of people in America who accept us, and who reject the concept that there is something wrong with being gay. Every day, more people are growing towards acceptance and tolerance of us, while fewer people are letting their hearts be filled with hatred by Focus on the Family, AFA, TVC, and the other groups pushing hate.
Fryrear’s lesbian suicide distortion was picked-up by at least one anti-gay protester. During Sunday’s Portland gay pride parade, I watched an anti-gay protester argue with announcers Derek & Romaine. I was surprised to hear among the usual anti-gay tirade, the protester mentioned something about the lesbian teen lifestyle leading to suicide.
Derek & Romaine from SIRIUS radio were very entertaining in responding to the protester’s rant, noting that the protester seemed to be the only one was unhappy at the parade.
Photo: https://nojam75.blogspot.com/2006/06/2006-portland-gay-pride-parade-anti.html
I stand corrected.