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On May 5, at APAs 2008 convention in Washington, the group will host a symposium, at which one of the two mental health practitioner-panelists is Dr. Warren Throckmorton, a psychologist without state board certification and an advocate for "Sexual Identity Therapy," which he says he has successfully applied to help patients "alter homosexual feelings or behaviors" and live their lives "heterosexually" with "only very few weak instances of homosexual attraction."
The symposium, moderated by Harvard psychiatrist Dr. John Peteet, who chairs APA's Corresponding Committee on Psychiatry, Religion and Spirituality, is titled "Homosexuality and Therapy: The Religious Dimension." Indeed, the panel includes two prominent religious figures from radically different perspectives - New Hampshire Episcopal Bishop Gene Robinson and the Reverend Dr. Albert Mohler. Robinson came to nationwide attention in 2003 when he became the first non-celibate, out gay person elected an American Episcopal Church bishop, for the Diocese of New Hampshire.
(Dr. Throckmorton, Left, to speak on APA panel)
Mohler is the president of the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Kentucky, a nationally syndicated radio host, and a board member of James Dobson's stridently anti-gay Focus on the Family. The symposium's primary booster has noted that Mohler has distinguished himself among Christian right evangelicals in acknowledging that homosexuality may not be a choice. Left unmentioned, however, was Mohler's statement that "if a biological basis is found, and if a prenatal test is then developed, and if a successful treatment to reverse the sexual orientation to heterosexual is ever developed, we would support its use."
Robinson's wisdom in appearing with Mohler - and the broader debate about LGBT advocates engaging those on the other side - are not what make this story intriguing, and indeed troubling. Instead it is the embrace by a scientifically-based organization, APA, of an unlicensed practitioner who espouses controversial professional opinions about homosexuality but can point to no peer-reviewed findings that his clinical approach has merit.
Perhaps most unsettling is the fact that the same defender of the symposium who credited Mohler with some degree of enlightenment on gay issues, Dr. David Scasta - a former president and newsletter editor of the Association of Gay and Lesbian Psychiatrists (AGLP) - has circulated a press release for the event dubbing it "a 'balanced' discussion," the sort of characterization one might expect from intelligent design proponents demanding a seat on a panel of evolution experts.
21 Comments:
in light of all the recent APA statements against ex-gay therapy, how is this happening?
What an outrage! We should flood the APA with letters and calls! They debase their authority in other mental health matters by engaging these fraudulent quacks. This is no better than having a Holocaust revisionist invited to speak at a seminar of professional historians. SHAME!
posted by Anonymous, at
4/24/2008 3:58 PM
I thought that there was no state licensing in his state??? Or am I wrong? Has he ever been sued for malpractice or any other unethical conduct? Just wondering.
posted by Anonymous, at
4/24/2008 6:07 PM
I think this is a symptom of a much broader dumbing down of academic discourse in America, in which discussions are considered "balanced" if they merely involve people with opposite views - even if one view is based on evidence and the other is bat-shit crazy. The media has been doing this for years.
Perhaps someone should invent a parody religion that is backwards from Christianity in that heterosexuality is regarded as the sinful lifestyle - then demand equal time for that viewpoint in these kinds of discussions. Similar to demands that Flying Spaghetti Monsterism be taught alongside Evolution whenever Christians insist on Creationism.
posted by Anonymous, at
4/24/2008 7:29 PM
In spanish, they call it cohones, QU.
posted by Anonymous, at
4/25/2008 12:29 PM
Just for the record Eshto, there are plenty of Christians (and theologians) who believe in evolution and not creationism.
posted by Anonymous, at
4/26/2008 10:22 AM
If quack science is so full of quackery - why is there such a hew and cry over this symposium? I don't get it.
posted by Anonymous, at
4/27/2008 1:06 PM
I am aware there are Christians who accept evolution. Generally mainline protestants and Catholics.
In the famous Dover evolution/creationism trial, several of the teachers who refused to teach creationism as science were Christians, and the judge who ruled in their favor - that intelligent design is creationism and creationism is not science - was a conservative Republican. Whatever his personal beliefs or the popularity of creationism among his colleagues, the judge honorably chose to rule based on the evidence, in accordance with the constitution, for which he received death threats.
But unfortunately even most people who accept evolution lack a proper science education and have misconceptions about the theory, and are willing to allow creationism to be taught in public science classrooms. Movements like the attempt to push ID/creationism into public education are devised by a small number of fanatics, but they gain their power from the ignorance and complacency of the masses.
Not all Christians are creationists, and not all are homophobes.
But by far most creationists and homophobes in the United States are Christians, and their willful ignorance is directly tied to their religious beliefs. (With the notable exception of Ben Stein) creationism is for all intents and purposes a Christian phenomenon.
I would say the same thing about homophobia in the U.S., although on a global scale it is a product of the Abrahamic religious system as a whole. Wherever the deity Yahweh/Jehovah/Allah goes, homophobia follows in his wake.
Again, there are homophobes in other cultures too, but few religions not inspired by the Abrahamic system incorporate homophobic sentiments directly into their religious texts, as does the Bible and the Quran.
posted by Anonymous, at
4/27/2008 3:31 PM
Throckmorton once emailed me and attempted to intimidate me because i gave him a piece of my mind. Basically he said he was going to report me. I emailed him back and told him to fuck off and went on a rant so hard he never bothered me a second time. That is his personality in a nut shell. All talk no bite. He is an ass.
posted by Anonymous, at
4/27/2008 8:06 PM
Maybe he thought you were crazy and out of control and that no one would take you seriously anyhow?
posted by Anonymous, at
4/27/2008 9:09 PM
Eshto,
I've met some atheist or non christians who are homophobic, too. Some people just don't like it whether or not they have a religion.
posted by Anonymous, at
4/27/2008 11:55 PM
Throckmorton is human trash. He is a phony and a pig. Why does anyone listen to him?
"Maybe he thought you were crazy and out of control and that no one would take you seriously anyhow?"
Like "Doc" Throck himself?
Anyone who imagines changing your sexual orientation by snapping a rubber band on your wrist should never be taken seriously.
It's almost as if he believes changing sexual orientation is like training a dog how to sit. If it doesn't work one way, try another - even if you have to make it up at the top of your fucked-up head.
I hate to say but it looks like we have another self-hating homosexual on our hands. I mean he just looks like it doesn't he? He has that tortured queer theorist spirit about him, or something. Either way, he's not the most masculine man in the heavens and I think he's attacking gay people to deal with his own insecurities.
Not all anti-gays are self-loathers but....again, he just looks the part. Seriously, look into his eyes. I just feel sorry for him more than anything.
posted by Anonymous, at
4/28/2008 2:10 PM
Does Throckmorton do the rubber band thing or are you applying someone else's idea to him?
posted by Anonymous, at
4/28/2008 3:31 PM
