Can gays change? Some people who wrote to me insisted that
"orientation" is immutable, but behavior is certainly not, and it's
common for people to ask therapists to help them suppress a wide variety
of tendencies with possible genetic bases: compulsive shopping and
gambling, drinking, drug use, aggressiveness, urges to have too much sex
or sex with children and so on. A 2002 research review by Warren
Throckmorton, Ph.D., published in an APA journal, suggests that sexual
conversion therapy is at least sometimes successful. From this and other
sources I've checked, I'd guess that such therapy is probably successful
about a third of the time and that in perhaps another third of the cases,
clients are unhappy or even angry about their failure to change. These
figures might sound discouraging, but there are certainly many examples
of clinical problems that resist change (e.g., agoraphobia and autism) or
that produce angry outcomes after therapy (e.g., couples counseling or
treatment for sexual abuse). Of greater importance is a new study by
Robert Spitzer, M.D., of Columbia University, the man who headed the
committee responsible for removing "homosexuality" from the DSM in 1973.
After surveying 200 people who had remained "ex-gay" for at least five
years-and even though he has been under tremendous pressure by gay
activists to repudiate his findings-Spitzer has concluded that sexual
conversion therapy can produce significant, positive and lasting
changes.
Regarding Dr. Nicolosi and
A Parent's Guide...: The book itself is surprisingly
tame. It notes, for example, that children who might be headed toward
homosexuality "should not be forced into a predetermined mold," that
sexual orientation can only be modified "to some extent," that there is
no "guarantee" that a child will grow up to be heterosexual and that
homosexuality has "biological influences." On the down side, the authors
attribute virtually all male homosexuality to poor father-son
relationships, failing to present any hard data to support their
assertion and ignoring the possibility that fathers avoid effeminate
sons-in other words, that homosexual tendencies cause bad father-son
relations and not vice versa. The authors also make the naive assertion
that because we all come equipped with sex organs, we were "designed" for
heterosexuality. Tell that to the male sheep. Dr. Nicolosi has also made,
in my view, intemperate and irresponsible public comments about
homosexuality, and he does not deny having made them.
Ironically, in addition to receiving threats and insults from gay
activists, I have also received brutal letters from readers who objected
to my sympathetic answer to a question about homosexuality in my column,
"Ask Dr. E," on page 86 of the same issue that carried the ad for the
Nicolosi book. A lot of people, it seems, hate me no matter what I say,
or don't say, on this issue. (To be fair and factual, I also received a
few crossover letters: Some gays expressed strong support for PT's right
to carry the ad, condemning censorship in any form.)
Psychology Today reviewed the sexual conversion issue in 1999, but
it's clearly time to do so again. Two new books are out on the subject,
two others will be out any day now, and the Spitzer data will soon be in
print. So stay tuned; we'll soon offer an objective, comprehensive look
at the ex-gay issue and will also give the factions space to vent.
By the way, in spite of the fact that I've now been introduced to a
dark, intolerant, abusive side of the gay community, I will continue to
be a strong advocate for gay and lesbian causes, to champion the
individual's right to self-determination, and to condemn any attempts by
anyone to suppress the truth. So, am I anti-gay?
Robert Epstein is editor in chief of Psychology Today, university
research professor at the California School of Professional Psychology at
Alliant International University, and director emeritus of the Cambridge
Center for Behavioral Studies. He earned his Ph.D. in psychology at
Harvard University.
