The Adventures of Jessica Sideways

I just got an e-mail today from NARTH, an organization that has the psychotic belief that gay people can be “cured”. Based on a rigorous review of 83 studies conducted between 1960 and 2007, the APA advised psychologists to avoid telling their clients that therapy or other treatments can change them from gay to straight.Based on a rigorous review of 83 studies conducted between 1960 and 2007, the APA advised psychologists to avoid telling their clients that therapy or other treatments can change them from gay to straight. What I got was a press release from NARTH that had a complaint that the panel did not consider their pseudoscience. Naturally, they did avoid this simply because of the fact that ex-gay “therapy” is pseudo science just like creationism, excuse me, “intelligent design”. Allow me to quote from their press release that they recently issued.

NARTH appreciates that the APA stressed the importance of faith and religious diversity. Unfortunately, however, the report reflects a very strong confirmation bias; that is, the task force reflected virtually no ideological diversity. No APA member who offers reorientation therapy was allowed to join the task force.

Well, I can tell you why they did not invite anyone who offers reorientation therapy – because it just does not work! It has been proven that it does not work and unless you are willing to prove differently, the APA is committed to advancing science. I believe that the APA did make a mistake by stressing the importance of faith and religious diversity, seeing as the big religion in America, Christianity, is harmful to the human mind, but I digress. The point is that if they let you guys in, it would be equivalent to the American Astronomical Society (AAS) inviting Astrologists to discuss Astronomy. It would be like comparing meteorology to predicting the weather through fortune tellers or tarot. The point is that if you can prove evidence beyond the testimony of the neurotic, repressed and self-loathing “ex-gays” that you can produce, you would probably be able to get a seat at the table. However, unless you discontinue your intellectually dishonest practices to try to promote this pseudo-science, I doubt that any self-respecting professional could invite you to the table. After all, the APA wants to remain a credible source of information, does it not?

I would like to tell you the obvious truth, that reparative therapy is not about helping the individual in the end. It is about making people believe that homosexuality is evil, can be “cured” and since it can be “cured”, is a choice that people willfully make. Reparative therapy is simply the suppression of our natural sexual urges, which can be exercised in perfectly natural and socially acceptable ways if it were not for the homophobia that these people perpetrate. They do not recognize the fact that homosexuality is perfectly natural and that homosexuals are able to build long-lasting, loving relationships between one another. They make it seem as though there are no redeeming qualities of homosexuality and constantly demonize it. In other words, they create the disease by making homosexuality seem undesirable and offer a “cure”, for a price. This is analogous to how corporations, advertising agencies and plastic surgeons work to make their potential clients and patients self-conscious by making them feel like they are ugly unless they have this procedure or product.

There is one problem with this though – it simply does not work, it is pseudoscience and it makes it’s victims neurotic and unable to express genuine love for another human being. Instead of building up who they are and affirming that homosexuality is perfectly acceptable, they work to make them feel as though it is wrong and as a result, make them feel like they need to and can “become straight”. However, for the people that really do buy into this crapola, they become neurotic people who cannot express true love nor receive desire from the objects of their affection. They lead lives where they can never be truly fulfilled as people who need love and they either spiral into psychosis, lead a life of unhappiness or come to accept the fact that they are gay, there is nothing that can be done to change that and accepting that. Only the latter is a healthy option for people to take.

To invite NARTH and the ex-gay therapy people to the table of discussion would be like taking the Citizens Commission for Human Rights, a Scientology front group, seriously. It would be like every psychologist and psychiatrist taking Dianetics seriously by blind faith, rather than dissecting it and finding out that it is just pseudoscience marketed to the masses and harmful to the human spirit. Reparative therapy does not work, uses only religion in many of it’s materials and does not honour the idea that homosexuality is okay. Therefore, I say that it is a very good idea that the pseudoscience that is reparative therapy is seen as pure quackery by this group of professionals.

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