This press release from Exodus caused me to laugh out loud:
Exodus International will join several other national organizations to protest the American Psychological Association’s (APA) increasing political involvement at its national convention this Friday, Aug. 11, in New Orleans. In recent years, the APA has moved away from its mission to improve the welfare of its patients in favor of a more political one.
I don’t see how they issued this with a straight face (in more ways than one).
What’s this next photo? Why it’s Randy Thomas (Exodus membership director and “Robin to Alan’s Batman”) speaking at a Florida marriage amendment rally. Oh and lookie here at the section of the Exodus website devoted to marriage initiatives.
Evidently nobody at Exodus has read the APA’s mission statement which begins:
The objects of the American Psychological Association shall be to advance psychology as a science and profession and as a means of promoting health, education, and human welfare…
On the APA’s homepage if you click on “Public Policy” you can find out why the APA is involved in public policy. The Public Policy Office page begins:
APA advocacy is guided by the philosophy that public policy should be based on available scientific knowledge, and that psychological research can contribute to the formulation of sound public policy to address specific social problems and improve human welfare.
Evidently it’s just Exodus that thinks the APA’s one and only goal should be “to improve the welfare of its patients.”
After seeing the comments posted by Michael Bussee on this blog (as well as Warren’s), this press release didn’t make me laugh, it infuriated me.
Exodus has the gall to complain about the APA getting too political.
How many hate crime bills have they lobbied against?
How many anti-gay ballot measures has Exodus been involved in?
Contrary to Alan’s mistaken belief, the APA is not a “mental health organization centered on improving the lives of its clients”.
The APA doesn’t have clients. The membership do, as individual professionals. The improved lives of those clients, due to the underlying ethics and professional knowledge of the APA members, is but only one concern of the APA.
Note the lack of reference to clients. No, their ambitions are a little higher than that — they aim for the welfare of all. Yes… including those who are not fee paying clients of either psychologists or exgay organisations.
When psychologists as a group are prevented from doing that; by, say,the “destructive politicalization of its specialized agencies” within the UN orby taking away the ability of people (even young ones) to control decisions about their reproductive health, orby denying an entire group of people access to the means to support their relationships, or by corrosive discrimination that harms the welfare of the targetthen the professional body can, will, and should take a position on the issues. There is an underlying philosophy that people should be free to make decisions about their lives, but that’s about as much “religion” as you’ll find.
Alan and Exodus, of course, don’t actually care about “human welfare” per se. Not if that would mean permitting people to do what they wish to, rather than what he or they wishes they would. Alan’s idea of human welfare relys on personal religious conviction, and includes the notion of “saving” people from themselves, otherwise they’ll burn in hell. The APA does not, should not, take any position on saving people from going to Hell.
The APA has not banned it’s members from doing reparative therapy etc. It’s even further away from demanding that exgays stop attempting to change. All the APA has done is issue warnings about what can and does occur, and state that there is no evidence that it works.
The APA certainly doesn’t recommend it, let alone advocate it. If the evidence exists, then Alan and his collegues remain free to present that evidence and have it recognised — a freedom they have had, and failed to take up, for the past 30 years.
Should add too that pro-Exodus therapists rely heavily — urgh, no, exclusively — on “client rights”.
That is, the right of someone to demand and receive reparative/change therapy.
And that’s about as far as their ethical concerns go. You will rarely hear mention of:the evidence that such therapy actually helps the client (rather than, say, feeding self-delusion that will evariably all fall in a heap). They rely solely on the demands of current clients, or groups like Exodus, to provide such servicesconcerns that while one client may find it beneficial, the majority will not. They’ll either waste their time and money, or may actually be seriously harmedconcerns about the anti-gay activities and misleading public comments made by pro-change therapists, and exgay groups, that are contributing to the prejudice and the discrimination experienced by the vast bulk of gay men and women who want nothing to do with any idea of changing.Somewhat ironically, given what they so often accuse gay men and lesbians of, the whole pro-change thing would have to be a classic example of a “Me”-centred therapy movement. The ghost of groovy 1960’s self-actualization rattling its chains.
I’m with a developing community organization. We just spent months putting together vision, mission, and organizational values statements; like with most organizations, we wanted mission and vision statements to accurately define our community organization.These days, most business and community organizations put a great deal of thought and energy into their organizational statements; one can learn a great deal by reading organizations’ mission & vision statements because the statements are usually at the heart of organizational structure. Knowing how and why so much energy and thought goes into mission and vision statements, most managers grasp why these statements are important. I’m frankly very surprised that a representative of Exodus International (which has its own About Us and Mission & Doctrinal statements) would make disparaging remarks about another organization’s mission without first familiarizing itself with the written mission statement of that organization. Organizational statements are telling. The developing community organization I’m with has two key, organizational value statements:Integrity – We act with honesty, integrity and openness in our work as representatives of [the community organization]. We promote an environment that values honesty, trust and fairness. Respect – We are respectful of others, recognizing the differences of life experiences and views, and treat others with respect because we want to be treated with respect. Based on Randy Thomas’s words, it appears Exodus International doesn’t have similar organizational value statements — if they do, then the organization doesn’t publish any online. If Exodus International does have integrity and respect related organizational value statements that aren’t published, then it’s clear Randy Thomas doesn’t follow the spirit of the statements. Either situation would be “bad” from an organizational development perspective.
I justed posted a comment about the “pot calling the kettle black” on Warren Throckmroton’s blogspot. Then I signed on here — and saw the graphic above. Exactly what I felt when I read EXODUS’s press release!
Please read my latest posting on Warren’s site. It contains some very disturbing comments from EXODUS’s own leaders and members about how they REALLY feel about gays. You’ll be shocked.
Pot/Black, indeed. Exodus always states that its sole purpose is to “help those with unwanted same sex attractions.” However, it seems they spend most of their time trying to interfere in the lives of people who happily accept their same sex attractions. They can’t leave us alone. They have to always be pushing their noses into our lives and our homes.
Hi Steve,
I’m going to see Jim’s show on Aug. 18th.
Will you be there?
I’d love to see you too, honey.