Ex-Gay Watch

Over the past couple of days, The National Association for the Therapy of Homosexuals (NARTH), and Parents and Friends of Gays and Ex-Gays (PFOX), have quietly removed all traces of any affirmation of Richard Cohen. PFOX has removed all references to him entirely, while NARTH has left only historical events which included his name – all his articles are gone and his books no longer appear in their online bookstore.

Before these completely slide into the void, take a look at what has been removed:

PFOX

Why Rosie O’Donnell has SSA (cached)

This was removed entirely.

Gay Children, Straight Parents (cached)

This was removed entirely.

Ex-Gay Legislation Introduced in Hate Crimes Bill (current)
Ex-Gay Legislation Introduced in Hate Crimes Bill (cached)

This line was removed, “Maryland ex-gay author Richard Cohen was accused of hate against homosexuals when he released his new book ‘Coming Out Straight’. ”

Recommended Resources (current)
Recommended Resources (cached)

Multiple references removed.

Finding a Therapist (current)
Finding a Therapist (cached)

This one is interesting, they removed Cohen’s authorship but left his entire article as is – of all things, his instructions on what to look for in a therapist!

Diary of an Ex-Gay Man — Part 2 (current)
Diary of an Ex-Gay Man — Part 2 (cached)

Removed casual mentions of Cohen throughout narrative.

Diary of an Ex-Gay Man — Part 3 (current)
Diary of an Ex-Gay Man — Part 3 (cached)

(same)

NARTH

Bookstore (current)
Bookstore (cached)

Removed all three books by Cohen.

It is uncertain exactly why they chose now to finally distance themselves entirely (at least publicly) from the the self-described “psychotherapist and educator.” Cohen was permanently expelled from the American Counseling Association several years ago and currently operates without a license. Until last year he was the president of PFOX and just months ago they were still referring people to him. He is known for his bizarre media appearances and unorthodox methods, appearing most recently on The Daily Show in what may have been his most absurd performance to date (though there are so many). Perhaps this was the straw that broke the proverbial camel’s back.

Coincidentally, Exodus president Alan Chambers recently made that organization’s disagreement with Cohen’s methods clear as well. Exodus VP Randy Thomas also displayed his personal embarrassment. Whatever the reasons, it would appear that PFOX and NARTH have had enough of Richard Cohen, as have we all.

PFOX has been at it again with the distribution of their fliers in schools. This time, the letters were passed out at Winston Churchill High School in Potomac, Maryland. The article in the school newspaper titled, PFOX letter stirs student emotions, details the quickly organized student protest that followed the PFOX letter campaign.

“I thought the PFOX letter was very well written and put up a great façade,” GSA president, senior Chloe Richard said. “Most students didn’t understand why [we] were protesting the letter because it was so well written. It was a good fake out, and it really masked the reality of the organization very well.”

The students at Winston Churchill, in response to the flyers, protested by discarding their letters in recycling bins as well as trash bags labeled “PFOX.”

According to the letter passed out to students,

“PFOX seeks to eliminate prejudice and discrimination against former homosexuals” and “conducts community-building activities that support the individual’s right to all information and self-determination.”

PFOX attempts to mask it’s efforts to recruit ex-gays by promoting themselves as an organization for tolerance and awareness of ex-gays, suggesting that ex-gay is a seperate sexual orientation. While I support any individual’s self-determination in regards to their sexual orientation, I can’t get behind pushing ex-gay rhetoric to public school students. PFOX does nothing more than use the same techniques they complain and accuse gay activists of using. Even more frustrating, is the thinking of many PFOX members that there is no such thing as a homosexual (merely broken heterosexuals), and their refusal to use the word gay unless embraced with scare quotes. In the same breath, these folks insist on tolerance for ex-homosexuals and ex-gays. It makes no sense.

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The title of a press release issued yesterday by Focus on the Family was cause for joy:

“Love Won Out Looking Forward to Dialogue About Homosexuality”

That sounds most promising. But the press release makes it clear that no actual dialogue will occur:

Colorado Springs, Colo. – Focus on the Family welcomed news today that its April 14 Love Won Out conference at Trinity Church in Omaha will be protested by gay activists, saying it looks forward to adding its voice to a communitywide dialogue on homosexuality.

It is perhaps a sad self-reflection of Focus on the Family’s “values” that it considers antigay protest and counterprotest to be equivalent to dialogue.

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After a decade of pursuing “change,” Eugene began to notice the holes and inconsistencies in ex-gay philosophy, and after taking Exodus’ advice to “question homosexuality” seriously, came to the conclusion that conservative evangelicals were the ones in error on this issue. For the last year and a half he has critically examined ex-gay claims and other aspects of fundamentalist ideology on his blog, Paradoxy, and he now brings that perspective to the Ex-Gay Watch team.

Please join us in welcoming Eugene to XGW as yet another talented writer who, like the rest of us, comes with his own particular point of view.

Perhaps taking his cue from Exodus’s increasing involvement in US politics, British ex-gay James Parker has weighed in on the UK’s new Sexual Orientation Regulations. The SORs are an attempt to apply the same anti-discrimination laws to gays and lesbians that already apply to race and gender because of the Equality Act 2006. Under these rules, a hotel, say, cannot refuse a room to a couple simply because they are gay; businesses and services must be equally open to straights and gays. By the same token, of course, a gay bar cannot refuse service to straight people. After failing a challenge in the House of Lords, the regulations became UK law on Wednesday last week.

The most discussed consequence of the regulations has been the demand that Catholic adoption agencies no longer refuse to place children with gay parents. After much controversy, the Labour Government announced that there would be no exemptions.

Self-described “post-gay” Rev Peter Ould has rightly supported rules outlawing discrimination on the grounds of sexuality, and has condemned Christians who would deny gays and lesbians equal rights to services. He has been outspoken in criticizing the regulations for threatening freedom of speech, however, arguing that there is no protection against Christians who preach the “biblical” message of condemnation for homosexual acts. Acknowledging that priests and ordained leaders are specifically exempt, he is worried that lay Christians will find themselves being criminalized for condemning homosexuality.

And, of course, there have been the outright extremists, such as the group who made the outrageous claim that the new regulations would force schools to use graphic sexual images to teach 6-year-olds how to experiment sexually with each other’s bodies. (You can read a full transcript here.)

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Karen Booth is the leader of the Exodus member ministry Transforming Congregations who just recently led a charge to force eBay to remove the massage table “where it all happened” from auction. Today she has decided that, though she stands behind that campaign, she wishes to apologize for the way she personally treated Mike Jones in print.

I’ve decided that I want to issue a public apology to Mike Jones. (I’ve also contacted him personally as well.) …And I want to be as clear as I can about what I apologize for and why.

I am not apologizing for protesting the auction to eBay – or encouraging others to do likewise. I’ve already stated my motives for that and I won’t rehash them again.

I shouldn’t have labeled Mike as a “gay prostitute” or “male prostitute.” Jim Burroway was correct to nail me on that. I shouldn’t have made disparaging remarks about Mike’s integrity or questioned his motives. That was an ad hominem attack that has no place in public discourse.

You can read more on Dr. Warren Throckmorton’s blog where she posted the apology. Mike Jones has relisted the table and, while to avoid technical issues he doesn’t mention it in the auction, he has given us permission to convey that he will be giving all proceeds to Project Angel Heart as orginally planned.

While we still completely disagree with her stand, which elevates the value of not being offended over charity for those in need, we recognize that this apology is a positive step for Karen and encourage her to not make it the last one. Wouldn’t it be absolutely Christlike for such a ministry to have offered to buy the table themselves, thus giving help to a worthy charity and eliminating the offensive situation in one act of love? What do you think Karen?

Whenever I discuss transgender medical or therapeutic treatments here at the Ex-Gay Watch, I always seem to go back to the Harry Benjamin Standards Of Care. Like or hate this document (and the GID diagnosis), what the document does is provide criteria for determining if one has a condition that falls under the document’s purview; it provides a general outline of what medical and psychological treatments are appropriate for transsexuals; and it lists timelines and benchmarks for when particular treatments are considered appropriate.

Many medical and mental health conditions have standards of care — evidence-based clinical practice guidelines. There are standards of care for everything from treating ingrown toenails to managing Alzheimer’s disease; from treating acute dental trauma to treating bipolar disorders.

The National Guideline Clearinghouse™ maintains a public resource for many of these guidelines.

Not too surprisingly, there are no entries in the National Guideline Clearinghouse™ for Same Sex Attraction Disorder (SSAD) — no evidence-based clinical practice guidelines listed there for how to conduct conversion therapies for a SSAD (or any other named disorder relating to treatment of homosexuality or unwanted homosexual propensities) diagnosis.

National Association For Research & Therapy Of Homosexuality (NARTH) indicates this about its function:

NARTH’s function is to provide psychological understanding of the cause, treatment and behavior patterns associated with homosexuality, within the boundaries of a civil public dialogue.

After reading the organization’s function one might think that the organization would maintain an evidence-based clinical practice guideline for treating unwanted homosexual propensities. Yet, if one searches the NARTH website, one finds they have no published standard of care for SSAD, or standard of care for any other titled disorder relating to treatment of homosexuality or unwanted homosexual propensities.

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We recently discovered that Alan Chambers had joined the board of PFOX late last year. In an email reply, Alan said he did so as he thought he could assist them in making positive changes. One of the conditions of this arrangement was that PFOX remove all ties with Richard Cohen, the unlicensed, self described “psychotherapist and educator,” and director of the International Healing Foundation. Cohen has received notoriety for frequently appearing on TV, sometimes in venues one might find questionable (Howard Stern?) for someone claiming to be able to “heal homosexuality.”

To date PFOX remains deeply entrenched in Cohen’s questionable ideology, and Cohen’s own site lists him as “an advisory board member of Parents and Friends of Ex-Gays and Gays (PFOX).” Citing this, and a heavy work schedule of his own, Alan Chambers has informed us that he has resigned from the board of PFOX and is no longer associated with their operation. At the same time, the following has just appeared on the Exodus web site:

Exodus International does not endorse the work of Richard Cohen or the methods utilized in his practice. Some of the techniques Mr. Cohen employs could be detrimental to an individual’s understanding of healthy relational boundaries and disruptive to the psychological and emotional development of men and women seeking clinical counsel and aid.

We are mindful of the difficulties involved in such decisions, and congratulate Alan and Exodus on their decision, at least in this instance, to separate themselves from those would put their own agenda ahead of those they claim to help.

PFOX remains an Exodus member ministry.

Who says ex-gays don’t have a sense of humor?

Just a warning: the above clip will probably make you laugh even though it is at the expense of the “ex-gay” movement.

Randy Thomas, vice president of Exodus International, is rightly embarrassed by Richard Cohen’s appearance on the Daily Show:

The guy on the video announces Richard as the foremost expert on “healing the gay” or something like that. Richard is not the foremost of anything except making a spectacle of himself and completely misrepresenting the larger “ex-gay” movement. He is not a part of Exodus and apparently not willing to take our private feedback and accountability to heart.

I have no idea why Richard Cohen does these things. He’s clearly an embarrassment to the “ex-gay” movement. (And by the way, I’ve refrianed from using scare quotes around the term “ex-gay” because I don’t want to offend. Now that Exodus officials are doing it, does that mean I should resume the practice? Okay, never mind. I’ll leave that for another time. Back to Cohen…)

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The National Association for the Research and Therapy of Homosexuality, NARTH, is upset about changes made to an entry about them in Wikipedia. For those who are not familiar:

Wikipedia is a multilingual, web-based, free content encyclopedia project. Wikipedia is written collaboratively by volunteers from all around the world. With rare exceptions, its articles can be edited by anyone with access to the Internet, simply by clicking the edit this page link.

NARTH is unhappy with what they insist are inaccuracies about them introduced to the article by someone they describe as a “lesbian activist,” Joie de Vivre.

NARTH must have the right to post corrections to an article about itself without having a lesbian activist vandalize the site by reposting inaccurate or distorted statements about the history and goals of NARTH.

We insist that Vivre be prohibited from making future changes on the NARTH site – and that whatever corrections NARTH chooses to post on the site will remain there without being deleted by other anti-NARTH activists.

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