Cartoon via SlapUpsideTheHead.com.

The National Association for the Research and Therapy of Homosexuality (NARTH) is rabidly fundraising in an attempt to block a California bill that would limit how ex-gay therapy could be offered in the state. The bill, SB 1172, would prevent minors from receiving ex-gay therapy and require all interested adults to sign an informed consent form that describes how the therapy is harmful and ineffective. NARTH’s latest email today features a list of legal “concerns” from the anti-gay Pacific Justice Institute that are incredibly easy to debunk:

‘CONCERN’: This bill strictly bans counselors from telling young people that it is possible to overcome same-sex attractions and feelings–even if the minor or their parents seek out this type of counseling.

REALITY: Given that it’s not possible to “overcome same-sex attractions and feelings,” the bill simply requires that counselors not lie to clients in order to sell them a bill of goods.

‘CONCERN’: It mandates a new government form that adults must be given before a counselor or therapist can talk to them about “changing” their sexual orientation. The form would strongly discourage anyone from attempting such a change.

REALITY: Discouraging people from harmful therapy by accurately informing them about it is a good thing.

‘CONCERN’: It imposes an absurd government orthodoxy that insists it is possible to change one’s gender, be bisexual, or go from straight to gay, but it is dangerous and not really possible for an LGBT person to become straight.

REALITY: That “absurd government orthodoxy” happens to also be reality. People who are trans don’t “change” their gender — they actualize it, bisexuality exists, and nobody has ever posited the idea that sexual orientation can change in other directions. People just come out.
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The National Association for the Research and Therapy of Homosexuality (NARTH) issued a statement last week on “Sexual Orientation Change” that attempts to downplay the poor success rates and negative PR surrounding ex-gay therapy — not to mention the harmful impact it has on clients. Without any empirical research to support its conclusions, NARTH advocates redefining the very standard of “change” from an absolute category to a client-defined goalpost on a supposed continuum of change:

NARTH affirms that some individuals who seek care for unwanted same-sex attractions do report categorical change of sexual orientation. Moreover, NARTH acknowledges that others have reported no change. However, the experience of NARTH clinicians suggests that the majority of individuals who report unwanted same-sex attractions and pursue psychological care will be best served by conceptualizing change as occurring on a continuum, with many being able to achieve sustained shifts in the direction and intensity of their sexual attractions, fantasy, and arousal that they consider to be satisfying and meaningful. NARTH believes that a profound disservice is done to those with unwanted same-sex attractions by characterizing such shifts in sexual attractions as a denial of their authentic (and gay) personhood or a change in identity labeling alone.

In other words, NARTH wants to claim that clients have successfully changed their sexual orientation so long as they believe that they are actually changing. NARTH tries to distinguish itself as a psychological organization that stands apart from religious ex-gay ministries, but here it is literally admitting that it should be applauded for creating a placebo effect — that clients should be encouraged to pursue ex-gay therapy in spite of the expected lack of results.

The language of “change” is at the heart of NARTH’s work and messaging. Its mission statement acknowledges a “right of all individuals to choose their own destiny.” In position statements, NARTH suggests “the right to seek therapy to change one’s sexual adaptation should be considered self-evident and inalienable,” encourages schools to allow “discussion about those who have chosen to change their orientation,” and boasts that there are “numerous examples exist of people who have successfully modified their sexual behavior, identity, and arousal or fantasies.” NARTH also offers that change is a “worthy” goal and that “significant numbers” have experienced “substantial healing.” In 2004, Robert Perloff, a former president of the American Psychological Association, addressed the annual NARTH conference, proclaiming, “The individual has the right to choose whether he or she wishes to become straight. It is his or her choice, not that of an ideologically driven interest group.” The implied standard has always been that a person can change from one sexual orientation to another.

Like all proponents of ex-gay therapy, NARTH thinks it’s more important to defend those who have unwanted same-sex attractions than to challenge the internalized homophobia that troubles its members’ potential clients. And like almost all proponents of ex-gay therapy, NARTH continues to profit so long as individuals are susceptible to anti-gay stigma and the hope of changing their sexual orientation. By lowering its standard of “change” to whatever clients are willing to believe is “change,” this group of “psychologists” has admitted that the service they offer produces no results whatsoever.

Richard Cohen demonstrated some of his ex-gay therapy techniques for CNN.

Richard Cohen is one of the most public purveyors of reparative ex-gay therapy, promoting and lecturing about the scientifically-unsound belief that gays and lesbians can change their sexual orientation. The American Counseling Association permanently expelled Cohen in 2002, but his bizarre reparative techniques have attracted mainstream media attention from outlets like CNN and MSNBC.

On Friday, Cohen’s counseling organization, the International Healing Foundation (IHF), announced that it was offering a “sincere, heartfelt apology to everyone in the LGBTQ community,” and shifting its focus from “Change Is Possible” to “Coming Out Loved”:

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. [...]

Cohen asserts everyone should be loved and accepted for who they are. “By opening our doors to everyone in the LGBTQ and straight communities, we are expanding upon our mission and broadening the scope of our services,” he says.

Unfortunately, nothing at IHF seems to have actually changed. In fact, despite the sugar-coated rebranding, the organization is still promoting services geared toward people with “unwanted same-sex attractions,” citing NARTH guidelines and Cohen’s absurd mythology about the “causes” of same-sex attraction. NARTH is the National Association for the Research and Therapy of Homosexuality, a disavowed organization of mostly religious leaders that promotes the idea sexual orientation can be changed, in defiance of all reputable research.

If IHF is still promoting these harmful ideas to clients, then the organization is perhaps more dangerous than ever with its new duplicitous branding. The fact that Cohen’s apology did not specifically address the harm done by reparative therapy is telling. Ex-gay survivor Peterson Toscano has been recently wrestling with the “apology” of another ex-gay leader, John Smid. He suggests that if these individuals wish to recant the harm they’ve done to the gay community and make amends, “they need to speak to their own people and leave queer folks alone.”