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from Clinical/Therapeutic Issues
On the Right to Self-Determination
PRESS CONFERENCE
at the Psychiatric Association Annual Conference
McCormick Place Convention Center
Chicago, Illinois
May 17, 2000
The American Psychiatric Association recently cancelled a debate
which was to explore the ethics and effectiveness of reorientation
therapy.
In protest, approximately 45 ex-gay ministry leaders flew to Chicago
from around the country--some walking with their spouses and children at
their sides--to protest the debate's cancellation. Their message was,
"We have a right to define who we really are."
NARTH's President Joseph Nicolosi and Vice President A. Dean Byrd, Ph.D.
appeared at a press conference outside the A.P.A. meeting alongside
Robert Spitzer, M.D., on the day of the cancelled Psychiatric
Association debate. The group defended the right to therapy.
Dr. Nicolosi called for the A.P.A. to help dissatisfied homosexuals
"pursue their own personal dreams," exactly as gays have. The following
are Dr. Nicolosi's comments.
My name is Dr. Joseph Nicolosi. I am a California State licensed
clinical psychologist and President of the National Association for
Research and Treatment of Homosexuality. NARTH is a professional
scientific organization, representing several hundred licensed
psychiatrists, psychologists and counselors around the country who are
professionally committed to assisting individuals who are transitioning
out of homosexuality.
As mental-health professionals, we have organized ourselves under NARTH
to protect our right to assist persons dissatisfied with their same-sex
attractions.
More importantly, we are committed to protecting the client's own right
to self-determination. We are defending his right to choose
professional support and assistance toward fulfilling the goal of sexual
reorientation--a right that is now increasingly under threat from our
professional associations.
Gay activists, we believe, are blocking the patient's right to
self-determination because they believe their own rights are threatened
by the voices of men and women who have come out of homosexuality.
But we say to them: We would hope that with your own recent gains in
public acceptance and tolerance, that you will feel secure enough in
your social advancement to allow these men and women--who don't want to
be gay--to pursue their personal dreams, just as you have.
Granting ex-gay men and women the right to self-determination doesn't
mean diminishing your right to pursue a different lifestyle.
There are many psychiatrists, psychologists, and other members of the
mental health profession who stand with NARTH in support of struggling
men and women whose dream it is to move away from behavior that
displeases them, and to fulfill their desire for marriage, family and
conventional lifestyle, in keeping with their own values and tradition.
But the Psychiatric Association is making it increasingly difficult for
such therapists to help them.
So we are making an emotional appeal to the psychiatric community: "Get
to know these ex-gay men and women. Find out: Who are they? What are
they trying to accomplish for themselves? How can our profession help
them?"
The A.P.A. can't just keep offering every patient a "one size fits all"
philosophy, which is "Accept your homosexuality--and keep working on
getting rid of your homophobia." This is not psychotherapy. These may
be your values, but these are not their values. This is not a problem
of homophobia; it is a question of their right to autonomy and
self-determination.
The picketing we are seeing here today at the American Psychiatric
Association Convention is a repeat of the appeal made to this very same
association in 1973---involving the same issue, same tactics---but this
time you are seeing not gay men and women, but EX-gays. And they are
making more than a simple emotional appeal for the freedom to define
themselves. They, and we at NARTH, are making an intellectual appeal,
asking you to look at the research--look into the data.
We came close to getting the evidence out for open discussion, because
Dr. Robert Spitzer had scheduled today--this morning!--an open forum on
the ethics and effectiveness of reorientation therapy. After the debate
had been formally put on the meeting schedule, the two gay psychiatrists
who were debating the opposing position dropped out and shut down the
forum.
Our challenge is to the A.P.A. Board of Trustees: Look at the data.
It's either one way or the other: If people do change, then you have a
responsibility to change your policy. If they don't change--that is, no
behavioral or identity shift is accomplished, and they leave therapy
feeling worse about themselves than when they came in---then we really
are doing harm to our patients.
We're ready to open the debate; let's put the evidence on the table.
Updated: 3 September 2008
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