Dear Jim: Thanks for the rejoinder. The real tragedy here is not the attacks--which are never backed up by any research,by any non-advocacy research and never by anyone who has read the literature--the real tragedy is that there are millions of men who wish to overcome their same-sex attraction disorder(yes,they feel it's a disorder and they are suffering)and either are being shamed from ever seeking proper treatment by being told they are "simply reacting to your internalized homophobia" or else,when they ask for help,very few therapists will tell them--as they really HAVE to tell them if they are not to be sued for malpractice-that there ARE forms of treatment which some people say can help and this offer is not made. This is,in my mind,crimnial and of course is totally unethical. The public needs to be informed of the known research so that young children and their parents come to know that contraty to what is read in the newspapers,psycholoists all over the counry and wporld do NOT subscrie to the APA's"position".And it IS a "position" taken by vote and not by a careful examination of the research literature. For shame.
But this kind of irrational attack is what happens all over the country now whenever anyone even tries to submit different explanations and theories AND DATA about the causes of and possible treatment of homosexuality.Political correctness is thriving well within the APA.
We are bound by our duty to help and do no harm to tell clients of other forms of therapy which may help them--in effect to offer them hope rather than sentence them to a life of lonely depression and ultimately suicide(and f you don't think the Russian Roulette game of bathhouse sex and AIDS is a form of suicide,then we have different values about life and diferent theories of psychopathologyThis is an American tragedy but can not be addressed as long as the personal problems of some indivduals become politicized.
Sadly,the APA has become a forum for advocacy research.
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