Study: Can Gays Go Straight?
A psychiatrist at Columbia University has released a controversial new study that
says some gays can become heterosexual. That conclusion was
quickly lauded by Christian ministries dealing with homosexuality and challenged
by gay rights activists.
Dr. Robert Spitzer said his study was based on 45-minute telephone interviews
with 143 men and 57 women who had sought help to change their sexual
orientation. He and his colleagues found that 66 percent of the men and 44
percent of the women had achieved "good heterosexual functioning," he said.
"If somebody wants to change and it's not because they are just responding to
pressure, it shouldn't be automatically assumed that it's irrational or giving in to
society," Dr. Spitzer told the New York Times.
Ironically, Spitzer had spearheaded the American Psychiatric Association's 1973
decision to remove homosexuality from its list of mental disorders. At the time, he
said homosexuality does not meet the criteria for a mental disorder, and he called
for more research to determine whether some people can change their sexuality.
Spitzer, who does not offer reparative therapy, said that he began his study as a
skeptic at the prodding of former homosexuals who protested the association's
policy discouraging "reparative" therapies.
Spitzer's current study was immediately criticized by gay rights groups, which
noted that 43 percent of the sample had been referred to Spitzer by Christian "ex-
gay ministries" that offer programs to gay people who seek to change. Another 23
percent were referred by the National Association for Research and Therapy of
Homosexuality which considers homosexuality a developmental disorder.
"It's snake oil, it's not science," David Elliot, a spokesman for the National Gay
and Lesbian Task Force, a lobbying group in Washington, said of the study.
"The sample is terrible, totally tainted, and totally unrepresentative of the gay and
lesbian community," Elliot said.
John Paulk, Focus on the Family (FOF) gender and homosexuality department
manager who organized a group of 60 protesters at last year's APA meeting,
disagreed. He told Charisma News Service (CNS) that the survey was not
skewed at all, noting that Spitzer has described himself as "an atheist, humanistic
Jew."
"He was coming at this completely unbiased," said Paulk, who took part in
Spitzer's study along with his wife, Anne. "It's hard to argue with the story of 200
people who had been out of homosexuality for at least five years. Five years is a
good period of time to show change. Gay activists have been asking, 'Where are
your study numbers?' Here you go."
Paulk told CNS the study would gain credibility if Spitzer could publish it through
the APA. "They [the APA] have been trying to disavow any therapies attempting
to change sexual orientation," he said. "What we've been looking for is
documented proof. This psychologically and scientifically legitimizes what's been
happening for thousands of years going back to biblical times -- that people have
been overcoming homosexuality. We think it will make a great impact."
Spitzer said he cannot estimate what percentage of highly motivated gay people
can change their sexual orientation. But, he said, the research "shows some
people can change from gay to straight, and we ought to acknowledge that."
************************************************************************
Jim Guinee, Ph.D.
Director of Training & Adjunct Professor
President, Arkansas College Counselor Association
University of Central Arkansas Counseling Center
313 Bernard Hall Conway, AR 72035 USA
(501) 450-3138 (office) (501) 450-3248 (fax)
"Almost every sect of Christianity is a perversion of its
essence, to accomodate it to the prejudices of the world."
-- William Hazlitt
**************************************************************************
