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Wayne Besen
PO Box 25491
Brooklyn, NY 11202
In response to Friday's picket of the American Psychological Association's annual convention by the conversion therapy group NARTH, the APA today released the following statement obtained by Truth Wins Out:
"For over three decades the consensus of the mental health community has been that homosexuality is not an illness and therefore not in need of a cure. The APA's concern about the positions espoused by NARTH and so-called conversation therapy is that they are not supported by the science. There is simply no sufficiently scientifically sound evidence that sexual orientation can be changed. Our further concern is that the positions espoused by NARTH and Focus on the Family create an environment in which prejudice and discrimination can flourish."
"Truth Wins Out applauds the APA for taking a strong stand against quack science and not buckling to a transparent PR campaign designed to politically pressure the APA into abandoning sound science," said TWO's Executive Director Wayne Besen.
23 Comments:
Great to see. The APA also needs to take a serious look at Nicolosi from NARTH who postulates homosexuality to be a form of narcissism, an assertion that comes from thin air, not sound science. The religious groups on the other hand cannot seem to get their acts together because out of one side of their bigoted mouths comes it's a flippant choice and the other is that we are mentally ill, or is it that we choose to be mentally ill. Nonetheless, the garbage produced by the various hate groups such as FOTF and the AFA should be banned as it is pure bunk.w
posted by Anonymous, at
8/11/2006 12:03 AM
Oh, please. Everyone has issues of some sort. I have never met any person who was sooooo put together that you could not find one item on him that would be described in the DMS (DSM?). We are all just a little off center when you get right down to it.
posted by Anonymous, at
8/11/2006 3:28 AM
Anonymous 3:28, what you said makes no sense. Even if it's true that each of us has something that might be diagnosed under current guidelines (which I don't believe), it doesn't follow that what groups such as NARTH, AFA, etc., are pushing has anything to do with real psychology--or the real world, for that matter. They have a religion-based anti-gay agenda and they're pushing it, no matter how hateful and illogical it is and no matter how many people they hurt in the process. They will ultimately fail, as all bigotry eventually fails, at which time we can hope that they'll crawl back into whatever hole they oozed out of and pull the lid back over their narrow-minded little heads. But in the meantime, we need to counter their hateful and harmful claims at every turn.
Comments like yours don't add to conversation. You're just lobbing bombs for the sake of lobbing bombs. Don't you have anything better to do?
I wasn't lobbing a bomb. I was laughing at the fact that people take all too seriously the idea that they are not perfect. Look for any quirk or wierd thing you do and it can be diagnosed as something. Don't take it in a mean way. It was said in a sense of humor and laughing at us all. Not the religious right or liberals or gay or straight or whatever is without some wierd thing about themselves. I was just laughing at the seriousness that people take themnselves with.
posted by Anonymous, at
8/11/2006 12:07 PM
Okay, thanks. I guess I was one of those "too serious" people there for a few minutes. I just get weary of the whole thing sometimes, so if I took your comments incorrectly, I apologize.
I still wish they'd crawl back into their little holes and stay there. No, wait, that's not right, either. I wish they'd see how wrong they are and learn that we're just people living our lives, going to work, all that mundane boring stuff that people do. I wish they'd understand that religion is a private, personal thing and not a weapon. I wish they'd pay attention to their own lives and leave ours alone.
Thanks, Anon. Have a great weekend.
Patricia Hansen Portland, Oregon
posted by Anonymous, at
8/11/2006 1:05 PM
Whoa! Turn this around. No one is attacking anyone. I have had friends beat up as well. I have been threatened. I am just saying we all have issues. Please, everyone you are taking my comments way out of context and playing defense. You don't even know where I come from. I am saying simply - everyone has issues. Everyone! We all come to the table with predispositions and preconcieved ideas. These in turn make our wolrd colored in some way. And please don't make that comment about race.
posted by Anonymous, at
8/11/2006 1:26 PM
Thanks Patricia. I wish they could see that were all in this thing together and alone at the same time. We all go to work, have aging parents, 401k's to worry about, a car that needs maintenance etc... and vet bills, too. And religion is a private issue. But that goes back the same way. If someone is religious they have a right to so. Just not in my backyard!
posted by Anonymous, at
8/11/2006 1:32 PM
I'll applaud with you when APA posts this statement on it's websi
posted by Anonymous, at
8/11/2006 2:04 PM
Issues? Who's saying I have issues? I don't have issues, I'm fine. Why? Really, who's been saying that? They're just liars out to get me!! They just want to bring me down. They're just conspiring to say things about me. Who said it? I demand to know!!
Anonymous at 2:07, just because you're paranoid, it doesn't mean they're not all out to get you......
posted by Anonymous, at
8/11/2006 2:25 PM
Hahhaahahahaha.
My parents tried that trip on me when I was young. Yeah, they have a sick sense of humor. : )
posted by Anonymous, at
8/11/2006 2:39 PM
Take a good look at the directors of NARTH. They are all either ultra-conservatives Catholics or Mormons. Hmmmm....
posted by Anonymous, at
8/12/2006 8:56 AM
I think Nicolosi is strange looking. I wonder what his voice sounds like.
posted by Anonymous, at
8/12/2006 12:59 PM
"Sound science" or "real psychiatry" are terms invented by people.
The APA highlights 30 years, but ignores its 130 years of active discrimination and having been the main "ex-gay" treatment group in these United States. Mea Culpa, I know.
It's not just in history that the rules are made up only by the winners.
That's why I coined the phrase "Those who forget the past are doomed to repeat it." After all, it's not like sound science thought using a chemotherapy drug in deadly doses would cure HIV. Right?
Pass me the leeches, I feel a cough coming on.
posted by Anonymous, at
8/13/2006 12:23 PM
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