The Southern Poverty
Law Center filed a first-of-its-kind fraud lawsuit against a counseling
organization that claims it can convert people from gay to straight. The
clients paid thousands of dollars only to be emotionally scarred through
false promises and humiliating techniques that included stripping naked
in front of a counselor and beating effigies of their mothers.
The SPLC is
accusing a New
Jersey
organization of
consumer fraud
for offering
conversion
therapy
services, a
dangerous and
discredited
practice that
claims to
convert people
from gay to
straight.
The lawsuit,
filed in the
Superior Court
of New Jersey,
charges that
Jews Offering
New Alternatives
for Healing
(JONAH), its
founder, Arthur
Goldberg, and
counselor Alan
Downing violated
New Jersey’s
Consumer Fraud
Act by providing
conversion
therapy claiming
to cure clients
of being gay.
It is the first
time a
conversion
therapy provider
has been sued
for fraudulent
business
practices. The
lawsuit
describes how
the plaintiffs
(four young men
and two of their
parents) were
lured into
JONAH’s services
through
deceptive
practices.
"His words were, Gay to
straight is possible. Between two to four years, you will
be totally attracted to women and not men. And that
was like total candy to me."
-BEN UNGER
“Saying the abuse made you gay is terrible. Once I accepted that I was gay, I was able to focus on the more serious problem of a history of sex abuse.”
-CHAIM LEVIN
“I was encouraged to develop anger and rage toward my parents. The notion that your parents caused this is a horrible lie.”
-MICHAEL FERGUSON
Gay
“conversion therapy,” which claims to
help men overcome unwanted same-sex
attractions but has been widely attacked
as unscientific and harmful, is facing
its first tests in the courtroom.
In New
Jersey, four gay men who tried the
therapy filed a civil suit against a
prominent counseling group, charging it
with deceptive practices under the
state’s Consumer Fraud Act.
The former
clients said they were emotionally
scarred by false promises of inner
transformation and humiliating
techniques that included stripping naked
in front of the counselor and beating
effigies of their mothers. They paid
thousands of dollars in fees over time,
they said, only to be told that the lack
of change in their sexual feelings was
their own fault.
In
California, so-called ex-gay therapists
have gone to court to argue for the
other side. They are seeking to block a
new state law, signed by Gov. Jerry
Brown in September and celebrated as a
milestone by advocates for gay rights,
that bans conversion therapy for minors.
In
Sacramento on Friday, a federal judge
will hear the first of two legal
challenges brought by conservative law
groups claiming that the ban is an
unconstitutional infringement on speech,
religion and privacy.
Since the
1970s, when mainstream
mental health associations stopped
branding homosexuality as a disorder, a
small network of renegade therapists,
conservative religious leaders and
self-identified “life coaches” has
continued to argue that it is not
inborn, but an aberration rooted in
childhood trauma. Homosexuality is
caused, these therapists say, by a
stifling of normal masculine
development, often by distant fathers
and overbearing mothers or by early
sexual abuse.
An
industry of “reparative therapy” clinics
and men’s weekend retreats has drawn
thousands of teenagers and adults who
hope to rid themselves of homosexual
urges, whether because of religious
beliefs or family pressures.
But
leading scientific and medical groups
say that the theories of sexuality are
unfounded and that there is no evidence
that core sexual urges can be changed.
They also warn that the therapy can, in
the words of the American Psychiatric
Association, cause “depression, anxiety
and self-destructive behavior” and
“reinforce self-hatred already
experienced by the patient.”
Those
conclusions will be at the center of the
coming legal fights in the state and
federal courts.
In the
spotlight in New Jersey are a counseling
center called Jews Offering New
Alternatives for Healing, or Jonah; its
co-founder Arthur Goldberg; and an
affiliated “life coach,” Alan Downing.
Mr.
Goldberg helped found Jonah in 1999,
after he finished serving a prison
sentence and probation for financial
fraud he committed in the 1980s. The
group describes itself as “dedicated to
educating the worldwide Jewish community
about the social, cultural and emotional
factors that lead to same-sex
attractions,” and says it “works
directly with those struggling with
unwanted same-sex attractions,”
including non-Jews.
While many
Orthodox Jews consider homosexual
relations to be a violation of divine
law, Mr. Goldberg’s group has no
official standing within Judaism, and
many Jews accept homosexuality.
Neither
Mr. Goldberg nor Mr. Downing is licensed
as a therapist, so they are not subject
to censure by professional associations.
The
Southern Poverty Law Center, a rights
group based in Montgomery, Ala., is
bringing the suit on behalf of four
former patients and two of their
mothers, who say they paid thousands of
dollars not only for useless therapy for
their sons but also for more counseling
to undo the damage.
“The
defendants peddled antigay
pseudoscience, defaming gay people as
loathsome and deranged,” said Sam Wolfe,
a lawyer with the group.
The suit,
filed in Superior Court in Hudson
County, calls for monetary compensation
and for a shutdown of Jonah.
Therapists can no longer abuse their power to harm LGBT youth and propagate the dangerous and deadly lie that sexual orientation is an illness or disorder that can be cured.
California has become the first state in the nation to ban so-called conversion therapy that tries to turn gay teens straight. Gov. Jerry Brown announced that he has signed Senate Bill 1172, which prohibits children under age 18 from undergoing “sexual orientation change efforts.” The law, which goes into effect January 1,2013 prohibits state-licensed therapists from engaging in these practices with minors.
"Governor Brown today reaffirmed what medical and mental health organizations have made clear: Efforts to change minors' sexual orientation are not therapy, they are the relics of prejudice and abuse that have inflicted untold harm on young lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender Californians," Clarissa Filgioun, board president of Equality California, said in a press release.
Kate Kendell, executive director of the National Center for Lesbian Rights, added: “Governor Brown has sent a powerful message of affirmation and support to LGBT youth and their families. This law will ensure that state-licensed therapists can no longer abuse their power to harm LGBT youth and propagate the dangerous and deadly lie that sexual orientation is an illness or disorder that can be ‘cured.’”
Dr. Robert Spitzer
is a major architect of the modern
classification of mental disorders. He is
considered by some to be the
father of modern psychiatry. He is now apologizing to the
gay community for his decade-old study that concluded some gay
people can go straight through what's called reparative therapy.
He now says he no longer believes his work showed that.
"I believe I owe the gay community an
apology for my study making unproven claims of the efficacy of
reparative therapy. I also apologize to any gay person who
wasted time and energy undergoing some form of reparative
therapy because they believed that I had proven that reparative
therapy works with some 'highly motivated' individuals."
For the study, Spitzer had
interviewed 200 people who'd claimed some degree of change. The
"fatal flaw" is that there is no way to judge the credibility of
their accounts, Spitzer says in a letter he submitted last month
to a journal that published his work in 2003.
The work made headlines when he
presented it at a 2001 meeting of the American Psychiatric
Association. One reason for the attention was that Spitzer had
played a leading role 30 years before in removing homosexuality
from the list of mental disorders in the association's
diagnostic manual.
Spitzer's study was attacked by
critics who questioned the reliability of the accounts from the
people he interviewed. At the time, Spitzer acknowledged that he
had no proof their stories were accurate, but said several
aspects of their accounts suggested their statements could not
be dismissed out of hand.
In
1973, Dr. Spitzer, a Columbia
University professor, helped
spearhead the removal of
homosexuality as a mental
disorder from the American
Psychiatric Association’s
Diagnostic and Statistical
Manual. So, it was quite a media
sensation when Spitzer unveiled
a controversial new study in May
2001 suggesting that some very
motivated homosexual study
subjects provided by anti-gay
organizations could switch
sexual orientations.
At
that time, LGBT leaders and many
researchers pointed to
methodological flaws in the
study. Despite his differences
with scientists, Spitzer made it
clear that he did not want his
study used to justify
discrimination. He also strongly
emphasized the fact that he did
not think most gay people could
become heterosexual and that
change was extremely rare.
Unfortunately, anti-gay
organizations repeatedly misused
his study to claim that all gay
people could go from gay to
straight through prayer or
therapy. His study results were
deliberately misinterpreted so
often, that Spitzer has been
forced to repeatedly set the
record straight. Here are
examples of Spitzer saying
either that change was highly
improbable or that right wing
organizations had misapplied his
work to fit their political
agenda.
Now he says his
reasoning was
wrong, and that
"there was no
way to determine
if the subject's
accounts of
change were
valid," he wrote
in a letter to
the editor of
the Archives of
Sexual Behavior.
Spitzer, who is
80 years old and
lives in
Princeton, NJ,
sent a copy to
The Associated
Press after a
reporter
interviewed him
about his change
of heart.
"I believe I owe
the gay
community an
apology for my
study making
unproven claims
of the efficacy
of reparative
therapy,"
Spitzer wrote.
"I also
apologize to any
gay person who
wasted time and
energy
undergoing some
form of
reparative
therapy because
they believed
that I had
proven that
reparative
therapy works
with some
'highly
motivated'
individuals."
Reparative or conversion therapy describe any attempt or process
to change a person's sexual orientation, including efforts by
transformational ministries. It is sometimes called sexual
re-orientation.
Research does not support conversion therapy as
an effective treatment modality. There have been no objective
screening criteria, no consensus about outcome measurement, and
no blinded or side-by-side studies and there is no article in a
peer reviewed scientific journal stating that conversion therapy
alters someone's sexual orientation.
More importantly, there is potential for harm when clients
participate in conversion therapy.
The ACA, APA, and
other professional organizations have cited certain ethical
concerns and considerations related to the ethics of this
process.
A
California lawmaker says he’s optimistic
about the prospects of a bill that would
make it illegal for therapists in the
state to try to “convert” gay youths.
Sen. Ted
Lieu, a Democrat from Torrance, says
so-called “reparative” or “ex-gay”
therapy wrongfully treats homosexuality
as a disease and can be dangerous to
minors. If his bill becomes law,
California would become the first state
to ban therapy aimed at turning gay and
lesbian teens straight.
“Some
therapists are taking advantage of
vulnerable people by pushing dangerous
sexual orientation-change efforts,” Lieu
said before the Senate Judiciary
Committee voted to approve the bill on
Tuesday. “These non-scientific efforts
have led in some cases to patients later
committing suicide, as well as severe
mental and physical anguish.”
SB 1172
now goes to the full Senate. No date for
a vote has been set, but it will likely
be in the next month, according to Lieu.
If it passes there, it would face action
in the Assembly.
“For
decades, gay, lesbian, bisexual and
transgender people — particularly youth
— have suffered psychological abuse by
those who are entrusted to care for
their emotional and psychological
well-being,” Clarissa Filgioun, board
president of Equality California, an
advocacy organization that sponsored the
bill, said in a statement. “It's long
past time to do everything in our power
to put an end to the use of therapy
tactics that have no sound scientific
basis and that cause lifelong damage.”
The bill
would ban children under 18 from
undergoing so-called “sexual orientation
change efforts,” often referred to by
the acronym SOCE. It would also require
adults seeking such treatment to sign
informed-consent forms indicating that
they understand potential dangers of
reparative therapy that the bill lays
out, including depression and suicide,
and that it has no medical basis.
“I feel
confident that the bill will pass,” said
Lieu. “The facts are on our side.”
The governing board of American
Psychological Association passed a resolution, 125 to 4,
declaring that mental health professionals should not tell gay
clients they can become straight through therapy or other
treatments.
The article goes on to say
"Instead, the APA urged therapists to consider multiple options
- that could range from celibacy to switching churches - for
helping clients whose sexual orientation and religious faith
conflict.
In a resolution adopted on a 125
to 4 vote by the APA's governing council, and in a comprehensive
report based on two years of research, the 150,000 member
association put itself firmly on record in opposition of so
called "reparative therapy" which seeks to change sexual
orientation. No solid evidence exists that such change is
likely, says the report, and some research suggests that efforts
to produce change could be harmful, inducing depression and
suicidal tendencies."
ETHICAL CONCERNS OF
REPARATIVE THERAPY
American
Psychological Assn Resolution
August 1997
APA Council of
Representatives Passes Resolution on So-Called Reparative
Therapy. Resolution Raises Ethical Concerns About Attempts to Change
Sexual Orientation, Reaffirms Psychology's Opposition to
Homophobia and Client's Rights to Unbiased Treatment.
The Council of
Representatives of the American Psychological Association (APA)
has passed a resolution affirming four basic principles with
regard to treatments to alter sexual orientation, so-called
conversion or reparative therapies.
These principles
are:
Homosexuality is
not a mental disorder and the APA opposes all portrayals of
lesbian, gay and bisexual people as mentally ill and in need of
treatment due to their sexual orientation;
Psychologists do
not knowingly participate in or condone discriminatory practices
with lesbian, gay and bisexual clients;
Psychologists
respect the rights of individuals, including lesbian, gay and
bisexual clients to privacy, confidentiality, self-determination
and autonomy;
Psychologists
obtain appropriate informed consent to therapy in their work
with lesbian, gay and bisexual clients.
The resolution
further states that the APA "urges all mental health
professionals to take the lead in removing the stigma of mental
illness that has long been associated with homosexual
orientation."
Supporters of the
resolution, which passed the APA Council overwhelmingly by a
voice vote, believed that it was critical for the Association to
make such a statement due to the questions of the ethics,
efficacy and benefits of conversion therapy which are now being
debated within the profession and within society as a whole.
"Our concern,"
stated Douglas Haldeman, Ph.D., President of APA's Society for
the Psychological Study Of Lesbian, Gay and Bisexual Issues, "is
that a person, especially a young person, who enters into
therapy to deal with issues of sexual orientation should be able
to have the expectation that such therapy would take place in a
professionally neutral environment absent of any societal bias.
Additionally,
therapists should be providing clients with accurate information
about same-sex sexual orientation. This resolution reasserts the
profession's commitment to those two principles."
The APA Council of
Representatives is the major legislative and policy-setting body
of the organization. The American Psychological Association (APA),
in Washington, DC, is the largest scientific and professional
organization representing psychology in the United States and is
the world's largest association of psychologists. APA's
membership includes more than 151,000 researchers, educators,
clinicians, consultants and students. Through its divisions in
50 subfields of psychology and affiliations with 58 state,
territorial and Canadian provincial associations, APA works to
advance psychology as a science, as a profession and as a means
of promoting human welfare.
AMERICAN
COUNSELING ASSOCIATION
Ethical
Considerations of Reparative Therapy
American Counseling Association members have
consulted ACA staff and leaders regarding the practice of
conversion therapy and the 2005 Code of Ethics. For this reason,
the ACA Ethics Committee is sharing its formal interpretation of
specific sections of the ACA Code of Ethics concerning the
practice of conversion therapy and the ethics of referring
clients for this practice.
Committee members individually considered a
hypothetical scenario that was based on actual questions posed
to the members and staff. The Ethics Committee then met to reach
a consensus opinion.
The scenario
During the third session of counseling, a client
reports that he is gay and states, "I want to change my way of
life and not be gay anymore. It's not just that I don't want to
act on my sexual attraction to men. I don't want to be attracted
to them at all except for as friends. I want to change my life
so I can get married to a woman and have children with her." At
the suggestion of a friend, the client has read about
reparative/conversion therapy and has researched this approach
on the Internet. He is convinced this is the route he wants to
take.
The counselor listens carefully to what the
client has to say, asks appropriate questions and engages in a
clinically appropriate discussion. The counselor informs the
client that, although she is happy to continue working with him,
she does not believe reparative/conversion therapy is effective
and no empirical support exists for the approach. She further
states that this form of therapy can actually be harmful to
clients, so she will not offer this as a treatment. The client
says he is disappointed that the counselor will not honor his
wishes. He then asks for a referral to another counselor or
therapist who will work with him to "change his sexual
orientation."
Interpretation
The ACA Ethics Committee considered many factors
and derived a consensus opinion that addresses several sections
of the ACA Code of Ethics and moral principles of practice
present in such a scenario. We started with the basic goal of
reparative/conversion therapy, which is to change an
individual's sexual orientation from homosexual to heterosexual.
Counselors who conduct this type of therapy view same-sex
attractions and behaviors as abnormal and unnatural and,
therefore, in need of "curing." The belief that same-sex
attraction and behavior is abnormal and in need of treatment is
in opposition to the position taken by national mental health
organizations, including ACA.
The ACA Governing Council passed a resolution in
1998 with respect to sexual orientation and mental health. This
resolution specifically notes that ACA opposes portrayals of
lesbian, gay and bisexual individuals as mentally ill due to
their sexual orientation. In addition, the resolution supports
dissemination of accurate information about sexual orientation,
mental health and appropriate interventions and instructs
counselors to "report research accurately and in a manner that
minimizes the possibility that results will be misleading" (ACA
Code of Ethics, 1995, Section G.3.b). In 1999, the Governing
Council adopted a statement "opposing the promotion of
reparative therapy as a cure for individuals who are
homosexual." In fact, according to the DSM-IV-TR, homosexuality
is not a mental disorder in need of being changed. With this in
mind, we have a difficult time discussing the appropriateness of
conversion therapy as a treatment plan. Regardless, there are
clients who seek out counselors in hopes of changing their
sexual behaviors, orientation or identity, so the ACA Ethics
Committee conducted a review of the literature on reparative
therapy.
We found that the majority of studies on this
topic have been expository in nature. We found no scientific
evidence published in psychological peer-reviewed journals that
conversion therapy is effective in changing an individual's
sexual orientation from same-sex attractions to opposite-sex
attractions. Further, we did not find any longitudinal studies
conducted to follow the outcomes for those individuals who have
engaged in this type of treatment. We did conclude that research
published in peer-reviewed counseling journals indicates that
conversion therapies may harm clients (refer to the full article
posted on the ACA website for references).
These findings bring several questions to the
forefront:
--Is a counseling professional
who offers conversion therapy practicing ethically?
--Since ACA has taken the
position that it does not endorse reparative therapy as a
viable treatment option, is it ethical to refer a client to
someone who does engage in conversion therapy?
--If a client insists on
obtaining a referral, what guidelines can a counselor
follow?
--If professional counselors do
engage in conversion therapy, what must they include in
their disclosure statements and informed consent documents?
Ethics Committee members agreed that it is of
primary importance to respect a client's autonomy to request a
referral for a service not offered by a counselor. In the 2005
ACA Code of Ethics, Standard A.11.b. ("Inability to Assist
Clients") states, "If counselors determine an inability to be of
professional assistance to clients, they avoid entering or
continuing counseling relationships. Counselors are
knowledgeable about culturally and clinically appropriate
referral resources and suggest these alternatives."
Additionally, Standard D.1.a. ("Different Approaches") reminds
us that "counselors are respectful of approaches to counseling
services that differ from their own."
Standard A.1.a. ("Primary Responsibility"),
however, states that "the primary responsibility of counselors
is to respect the dignity and to promote the welfare of
clients." Referring a client to a counselor who engages in a
treatment modality not endorsed by the profession and that may,
in fact, cause harm does not promote the welfare of clients and
is a dubious position ethically. This position is supported by
Standard A.4.a. ("Avoiding Harm"), which says, "Counselors act
to avoid harming their clients, trainees and research
participants and to minimize or to remedy unavoidable or
unanticipated harm."
Professionals also engage in treatment only after
appropriate educational and clinical training and do not
practice outside of their areas of competence (Standard C.2.a.,
"Boundaries of Competence"). This standard clearly states that
"counselors practice only within the boundaries of their
competence, based on their education, training, supervised
experience, state and national professional credentials, and
appropriate professional experience." In addition, per Standard
C.2.b. ("New Specialty Areas of Practice"), "Counselors practice
in specialty areas new to them only after appropriate education,
training and supervised experience. While developing skills in
new specialty areas, counselors take steps to ensure the
competence of their work and to protect others from possible
harm." Therefore, any professional engaging in conversion
therapy must have received appropriate training in such a
treatment modality with the requisite supervision. There is,
however, no professional training condoned by ACA or other
prominent mental health associations that would prepare
counselors to provide conversion therapy.
In addition, requests by clients seeking to
change their sexual orientation should be understood within a
cultural context. Standard E.5.c. ("Historical and Social
Prejudices in the Diagnosis of Pathology") requires that
"counselors recognize historical and social prejudices in the
misdiagnosis and pathologizing of certain individuals and groups
and the role of mental health professionals in perpetuating
these prejudices through diagnosis and treatment." Historically,
the mental health professions viewed homosexuality as a mental
disorder. But in 1973, homosexuality was removed from the
Diagnostic and Statistical Manual as a mental disorder. However,
within various religious and cultural communities, same-sex
attractions and behaviors are still viewed as pathological. Yet
the professional communities of counseling and psychology no
longer diagnose a client who has attractions to people of the
same sex as mentally disordered. To refer a client to someone
who engages in conversion therapy communicates to the client
that his/her same-sex attractions and behaviors are disordered
and, therefore, need to be changed. This contradicts the
dictates of the 2005 ACA Code of Ethics.
Clients may ask for a specific treatment from a
counseling professional because they have heard about it from
either their religious community or from popular culture. A
counselor, however, only provides treatment that is
scientifically indicated to be effective or has a theoretical
framework supported by the profession. Otherwise, counselors
inform clients that the treatment is "unproven" or "developing"
and provide an explanation of the "potential risks and ethical
considerations of using such techniques/procedures and take
steps to protect clients from possible harm" (Standard C.6.e.,
"Scientific Bases for Treatment Modalities").
Considering all the above deliberation, the ACA
Ethics Committee strongly suggests that ethical professional
counselors do not refer clients to someone who engages in
conversion therapy or, if they do so, to proceed cautiously only
when they are certain that the referral counselor fully informs
clients of the unproven nature of the treatment and the
potential risks and takes steps to minimize harm to clients
(also see Standard A.2.b., "Types of Information Needed"). This
information also must be included in written informed consent
material by those counselors who offer conversion therapy
despite ACA's position and the Ethics Committee's statement in
opposition to the treatment. To do otherwise violates the spirit
and specifics of the ACA Code of Ethics.
Informing clients about
conversion therapy
So what do ethical counselors do if clients state
they are still interested in pursuing a referral for a counselor
who offers conversion therapy? We advise professional counselors
to discuss the potential harm of this therapy noted in
evidence-based literature from scholarly publications in a
manner that respects the client's decision to seek it. This
again relates to Standard A.1.a. ("Primary Responsibility") and
Standard A.4.b. ("Personal Values"), which requires counselors
to be "aware of their own values, attitudes, beliefs and
behaviors and avoid imposing values that are inconsistent with
counseling goals." The responsibility of counseling
professionals at this juncture is to help clients make the most
appropriate choices for themselves without the counselor
imposing her/his values. To do so respects a client's request
and leaves open the possibility that the client can return to
the professional counselor if the conversion therapy is
ineffective and harms the client.
Again, Ethics Committee members agree that
ethical practitioners refer clients seeking conversion therapy
only under the conditions previously discussed. Further, it is
imperative that counselors provide clients seeking conversion
therapy with information about this form of treatment, including
what types of information clients should expect from referral
counselors. The following must be included in informed consent
material and communicated to clients seeking referral:
Conversion therapy assumes that a person who has
same-sex attractions and behaviors is mentally disordered and
that this belief contradicts positions held by the American
Counseling Association and other mental health and biomedical
professional organizations. Additionally, the ACA passed a
resolution in 1999 stating that it does not endorse reparative
therapy as a "cure" for homosexuality. Any professional who
engages in conversion therapy is not offering the professional
standard of care and would need to include that he or she is
offering it not as a professional counselor but is providing
counseling within the scope of practice of some other profession
(i.e., Christian counselor).
Conversion therapy as a practice is a religious, not
psychologically-based, practice. The premise of the treatment is
to change a client's sexual orientation. The treatment may
include techniques based in Christian faith-based methods such
as the use of "testimonials, mentoring, prayer, Bible readings,
and Christian weekend workshops" (Shroeder & Shidlo, 2001, p.
150). It may also use cognitive-behavioral techniques such as
aversion therapy (i.e.; stopping clients from masturbating to
same-sex images; encouraging imagery of getting AIDS paired to
same-sex arousal), reinforcement techniques that emphasize
traditional gender role behavior (i.e., for men to "engage in
team sports, to go the gym, and to attend Promise Keepers" and
for women "to learn how to cook, sew, and apply make-up";
Shroeder & Shidlo, 2001, p. 149), and use of sexual surrogates.
However, there is no training offered or condoned by the
American Counseling Association to educate and prepare a
professional counselor wishing to engage in this type of
treatment.
Research does not support conversion therapy as an effective
treatment modality. There have been "no objective screening
criteria, no consensus about outcome measurement, and no blinded
or side-by-side studies" (Forstein, 2001, p. 173) and there is
"no article in a peer reviewed scientific journal" stating that
conversion therapy alters someone's sexual orientation (p. 177).
The results of some research indicate that some clients seeking
this treatment do change their behavior approximately 30% of the
time, but the same clients report changing only their behaviors
but not their sexual orientation. This is an important
distinction to share with clients, helping them understand the
difference between behaviors and sexual identity. Further, no
long-term studies have been conducted to discern whether
research participants who reported a change in their behaviors
maintained these changes over time.
There is potential for harm when clients participate in
conversion therapy. Results of studies indicate that there are
clients who enter this type of treatment and then report that
they function more poorly than when they entered (Nicolosi,
Byrd, & Potts, 2000; Schroeder & Shidlo, 2001).
There are treatments endorsed
by the Association for Gay, Lesbian, and Bisexual Issues in
Counseling (see
http://www.aglbic.org/resources/competencies.html),
a division of the American Counseling Association and the
American Psychological Association (see
http://www.apa.org/pi/lgbc/guidelines.html)
that have been successful in helping clients with their sexual
orientation. These treatments are gay affirmative and help a
client reconcile his/her same-sex attractions with religious
beliefs.
In summary, if clients still decide that they
wish to seek conversion therapy as a form of treatment,
counselors should also help clients understand what types of
information they should seek from any practitioner who does
engage in conversion therapy. The Committee members agree that
counselors who offer conversion therapy are providing "treatment
that has no empirical or scientific foundation" (ACA, 2005,
C.6.e.) and, therefore, must "must define the
techniques/procedures as 'unproven' or 'developing' and explain
the potential risks and ethical considerations of using such
techniques/procedures and take steps to protect clients from
possible harm" (ACA, C.6.e.). Additionally, any client seeking
treatment is entitled to complete information about the
treatment. This is consistent with A.2.b (Types of Information
Needed) that state "counselors explicitly explain to clients the
nature of all services provided. They inform clients about
issues such as, but not limited to, the following: the purposes,
goals, techniques, procedures, limitations, potential risks, and
benefits of services; the counselor's qualifications,
credentials, and relevant experience; continuation of services
upon the incapacitation or death of a counselor; and other
pertinent information." Counselors who do not include this
information would be considered by the Committee to be in
violation of the ACA Code of Ethics.
There also was agreement among the Committee
members that any counselors stating that they can offer
conversion therapy must also offer referrals to gay, lesbian,
and bisexual-affirmative counselors and should discuss
thoroughly the right of clients to seek these professionals'
counsel. In doing so, counselors must explore with clients the
underlying reasons for their interest in changing their sexual
orientation and discuss the social, political, and religious
influences that underpin homophobia that may be harming the
client.
Counselor Education
Finally, in
addition to educating potential clients about conversion
therapy, the members of the Ethics Committee agreed that
counselor education training programs must also adhere to
section F.6.f (Innovative Theories and Techniques), which states
that "when counselor educators teach counseling
techniques/procedures that are innovative, without an empirical
foundation, or without a well-grounded theoretical foundation,
they define the counseling techniques/procedures as 'unproven'
or 'developing' and explain to students the potential risks and
ethical considerations of using such techniques/procedures." A
similar approach to informed consent for clients seeking
conversion therapy must be upheld when discussing this treatment
with counseling students.
(From
Joy S. Whitman, Harriet L. Glosoff, Michael M.
Kocet, and Vilia Tarvydas)
PRAYER FOR BOBBY
The Story of a Mother's Grief
In 1989, Leroy Aarons read a newspaper story about a
young man's suicide. Particularly striking to him was
the mother, Mary Griffith, who had tried throughout her
son's adolescence to "pray away" his "gay nature". Bobby
Griffith suffered enormously from his family’s lack of
support and the condemnation of his church. At age 20,
he jumped to his death from a freeway bridge in
Portland, Oregon.
Mary was transformed by her loss and eventually
renounced the rigid religious beliefs that had kept her
from fully accepting Bobby during his lifetime.
The Griffiths' story resonated with Aarons' own
transformation as an openly gay journalist and
activist.
After Bobby’s death, his mother became an iconic
activist for the national association Parents, Families
and Friends of Lesbians and Gays (PFLAG),
urging parents to understand and accept their children's
homosexuality.
"This extraordinary conversion touched me as deeply as
the tale of Bobby’s tragic death," Aarons wrote. "What
enabled her to transcend her background and perform what
could only be described as acts of courage."
The SPLC is accusing a New Jersey organization of consumer fraud for offering conversion therapy services, a dangerous and discredited practice that claims to convert people from gay to straight.
The lawsuit, filed in the Superior Court of New Jersey, charges that Jews Offering New Alternatives for Healing (JONAH), its founder, Arthur Goldberg, and counselor Alan Downing violated New Jersey’s Consumer Fraud Act by providing conversion therapy claiming to cure clients of being gay.
It is the first time a conversion therapy provider has been sued for fraudulent business practices. The lawsuit describes how the plaintiffs (four young men and two of their parents) were lured into JONAH’s services through deceptive practices.