ThinkProgress Logo

LGBT

NEWS FLASH

Ex-Gay Researcher Apologizes To The Gay Community | Dr. Robert Spitzer — whose influential 2001 study found that some gay people could change their sexual orientation and significantly bolstered the ex-gay movement — has now officially apologized to the gay community for the flawed science. “I believe I owe the gay community an apology for my study making unproven claims of the efficacy of reparative therapy,” Spitzer writes in a letter obtained by Truth Wins Out. “I also apologize to any gay person who wasted time and energy undergoing some form of reparative therapy because they believed that I had proven that reparative therapy works with some ‘highly motivated’ individuals.”

By clicking and submitting a comment I acknowledge the ThinkProgress Privacy Policy and agree to the ThinkProgress Terms of Use. I understand that my comments are also being governed by Facebook, Yahoo, AOL, or Hotmail’s Terms of Use and Privacy Policies as applicable, which can be found here.

ThinkProgress Signup Overlay Skip and Continue to ThinkProgress Skip and Continue to ThinkProgress

Sign Up