Ex-Gay Watch

Ex-gay guru Richard Cohen of the International Healing Foundation has published an “apology” to gays and lesbians he has hurt:

“We at IHF wish to offer a sincere, heartfelt apology to everyone in the LGBTQ community,” said IHF founder and director, Richard Cohen. “I apologize and ask forgiveness to those who were hurt by our message.” Cohen, a leading expert in the field of sexual orientation and married father of three, knows first-hand how it feels to be ostracized having lived a gay life.

Beginning today, IHF’s doors are wide open to everyone in the LGBTQ and straight communities. The new mission, “Coming Out Loved,” is the catalyst of true tolerance, real diversity, and equality for all. IHF staff will assist anyone who is conflicted about their sexuality and other challenging issues that arise for many in the gay community.

Could there be a more cynical attempt to jump on the “I’m sorry” bandwagon? If he really understood the gravity of how his message has hurt LGBT people, he certainly wouldn’t be presenting himself as “a leading expert in the field of sexual orientation.” Nor, having said he’s now promoting a message of diversity and tolerance, would Cohen throw in his lot with NARTH, the supposedly professional organization actually made up mostly of anti-gay religionists and activists, not the mental health professionals it says it represents. From Cohen’s press release:

IHF has adopted therapeutic guidelines from the American Psychological Association for members of the lesbian, gay and bisexual communities; American Counseling Association guidelines for the transgender community; and National Association for Research and Therapy of Homosexuality therapeutic guidelines for anyone questioning their sexuality and/or experiencing unwanted SSA.

In 2007, former ex-gay leaders Jeremy Marks, Darlene Bogle and Michael Bussee unambiguously apologized for the harm they had done. Canadian ministry New Direction really did take a new direction when it turned its back on the false promises of Exodus International. More recently, John Smid went further than ever before in acknowledging how badly he had gotten his message wrong, and it was clearly one more important step along a journey he has been making since the events surrounding Love in Action in 2005.

Now Cohen, sensing the tide is against him, emerges from nowhere and rattles off a glib apology, announceing that his organization will embrace everyone, gay and straight. The smell of cold, calculated fakery is nauseatingly potent.

Hat-tip: ThinkProgress.

Truth Wins Out’s Wayne Besen has challenged Alan Downing to take a lie detector test following claims that he engaged in sexual misconduct with two male clients:

In light of his public denial, Truth Wins Out offered to pay for both a polygraph and a No Lie MRI for Downing, so he can prove his alleged innocence. … We believe that Alan Downing is not telling the truth and that his brain would light up like a Menorah if he took a No Lie MRI.

I’m not convinced either lie detector test is the way to go. No evidence exists that the polygraph is reliable, and investigations into the validity of MRI (or fMRI) method of lie detection, despite having generally positive results, are still at an early stage.

Of course,  Besen’s motivation is equally or mostly to get the allegations out in the open, which is fair enough. But if Downing is guilty of this unsavory sexual abuse, a court–not a machine–will do the work of proving it.

Two men have accused Alan Downing, a life coach with Richard Cohen’s ex-gay International Healing Foundation, of using sexually inappropriate therapy techniques, according to Truth Wins Out.

On separate occasions, Downing allegedly asked Ben Unger and Chaim Levin to undress in front of a mirror and fondle their genitals while he watched, saying this would help them affirm their masculinity.

Downing is a close associate of JONAH, the Jewish ex-gay organization whose leader Arthur Abba Goldberg was exposed as a convicted Wall Street felon earlier this year. He has also run courses and retreats for the controversial Mankind Project., and worked with the gay-to-straight outreach People Can Change and its affiliate Journey into Manhood.

Downing is ex-gay, but admits he is still attracted to men, according to TWO.

First Goldberg, then George Rekers, and now Downing–they’re falling fast this year.

See also Wayne Besen’s follow-up editorial at Huffington Post: Ex-Gay Therapy Is Scandalous.