Subject: Letters to the Editor: Homosexuality Doesn't Need a `Cure' Date: Published: 01/23/97 (186 lines of text) Source: Wall Street Journal. Copyright Dow Jones & Co. Inc. Letters to the Editor: Homosexuality Doesn't Need a `Cure' Correction: Yesterday's Letters to the Editor included the wrong date for the editorial-page piece "Don't Forsake Homosexuals Who Want Help." The correct date is Jan. 9. (WSJ Jan. 24, 1997) Dr. Charles Socarides and his co-authors distort and exaggerate more than 40 years of social science research about sexual orientation ("Don't Forsake Homosexuals Who Want Help" by Charles Socarides, Benjamin Kaufman, Joseph Nicolosi, Jeffrey Satinover and Richard Fitzgibbons, editorial page, Jan. 10). What they fail to tell the reader -- and this is backed up by reports conducted by members of the American Psychological Association, the American Psychiatric Association, and the American Sociological Association -- is that, at most, the small percentage of people who claim to become heterosexuals have changed only their behavior, not their identity, fantasies, or attractions; were most likely bisexual to begin with; and exhibit these sexual behavioral changes only for a short-term following therapy. Long-term behavioral changes and changes in sexual orientation (that is, identity and attraction) have not been established scientifically. Furthermore, their preposterous ideas about "excessive clinging to mothers," defective masculinity, and feelings of guilt and shame have not been substantiated ever since researchers began to look beyond clinical samples. The authors' remark implying that if many men had sought reparative treatment for their homosexuality they would not have died from AIDS uncovers one of their vicious agendas. Their assumption -- that if these men were to have become heterosexual, they would not get AIDS -- is a sad comment on their lack of knowledge about HIV transmission. With the majority of AIDS cases world-wide attributed to male-to-female sexual transmission, why would they think lives would have been saved by converting them behaviorally to heterosexual sex? Peter M. Nardi Professor of Sociology Pitzer College Claremont, Calif. (Mr. Nardi is co-editor of "In Changing Times: Gay Men & Lesbians Encounter HIV/AIDS," University of Chicago Press.) --- The American Psychological Association and the American Psychiatric Association long ago determined that homosexuality is not a mental disorder. Research has failed to prove that one's sexual orientation can be changed. The "Homophobic Therapies: Documenting the Damage" project is conducting research on behalf of the National Lesbian and Gay Health Association with lesbians and gay men across the country who have gone through conversion therapies or counseling. The project is being led by Drs. Ariel Shidlo and Michael Schroeder, of New York's Columbia Center for Lesbian, Gay and Bisexual Mental Health and Montefiore Medical Center respectfully. Their research has found that many individuals are significantly scarred by such ineffective interventions. Christopher J. Portelli Executive Director National Lesbian and Gay Health Association Washington (Also signing the letter is Jeffrey Akman, M. D., Department of Psychiatry, George Washington University, and board president, NLGHA.) --- Dr. Socarides and his colleagues are correct in saying there is controversy about the biological basis of homosexuality. As authors of the Scientific American articles they cite -- one arguing for such a biological basis, one skeptical of such claims -- we obviously have diverging positions on the issue. But we are united in our belief that homosexuality, whatever its origins, is a healthy variation of human sexuality that neither needs nor is amenable to medical treatment. On the contrary, we lament the great suffering imposed on gay people over the past hundred years by misguided and fruitless attempts to change their sexual orientation. Simon LeVay, Ph. D. West Hollywood, Calif. William Byne, M. D., Ph.D. Department of Psychiatry Mount Sinai School of Medicine New York --- It's small wonder that many homosexuals seek counseling and help; in fact, the miracle is that any one of us rise above societal condemnations and become useful and productive citizens. What is puzzling is how respected newspapers such as yours publish this garbage. Most psychiatrists long ago abandoned the strong mother, weak father theories and have instead tried to help gay people come to terms with who they are. Dan Byrne The Colony, Texas --- The authors say psychiatrists should suggest to unhappy gay men that they consider therapy to become straight to reduce their risk of HIV infection and AIDS. If one follows their line of reasoning it might also be good to encourage unhappy straight women to become lesbians since this would not only reduce their risk of becoming infected with HIV, but would also totally eliminate their risk of unwanted pregnancies. John F. Krowka San Francisco --- Dr. Socarides, et al., present some infrequently reported information: Homosexuals, through therapy, may sometimes be able to change to heterosexuality. This assertion is consistent with a survey I conducted in 1992. The results were published in 1994 in the Journal of the American Psychoanalytic Association, 42:4:285 psychoanalysts from all regions of the county reported their experiences analyzing 1,215 homosexual patients (824 male, 391 female). They reported that 84% of patients received significant therapeutic benefit, and that 23% changed to heterosexuality. The average length of analysis was 4.2 years. Houston MacIntosh, M. D. Washington --- I would like to thank Dr. Charles Socarides, et al, for setting me straight (so to speak). As a conservative, middle-aged gay man, I had come to trust your editorial page for better analysis and more accurate information than was available elsewhere. After reading this, that trust is gone. Perhaps the cruelest assertion by the authors is that it is despair over not having a "normal life with a wife and children" that causes some young gay men to feel their lives are of little value, leading them to engage in unprotected sex and contract AIDS. If these young men feel of little value, it is perhaps because they come of age in a society that largely treats them as freakish, laughable, or worst of all, nonexistent. It would be far better for us to raise our homosexual sons with the same expectations that we have of our heterosexual sons: that they live decent, productive and monogamous lives. That way, young gay men would be freed from despair; and many heterosexual women would be spared the pain of marriage to men who can never feel romantic love for them. Paul M. Nicholls Atlanta --- One needn't look far to see the authors' true colors revealed. There is a clear message here: homosexuality is wrong. Heterosexuality is "normal," while homosexuality is a "disorder" or a "condition." Those men whose sexuality the doctors claim to have changed (a dubious claim, at best) are "improved." As an adult gay male (and one, incidentally, who never "clung" to my mother in early childhood nor experienced any of the other cited "causes" for homosexuality), I know that my sexuality is normal, as is my 15-year monogamous relationship. Nick Canavan Sherman Oaks, Calif. --- It doesn't take a genius to understand that being gay isn't a choice. Why would millions choose a lifestyle for which they will be scorned? A lifestyle in which committed couples are not entitled to the same legal benefits as straight, married couples? A lifestyle for which they might get beaten up or killed? A lifestyle that may very well isolate them from friends and family? The only choice for a gay person is whether to accept being gay and live a happy, productive life, or deny it and live in a lonely closet, lying and hiding. Charles Godwin Davenport, Iowa --- Apparently, lesbians are not homosexuals. Why leave us desperately unhappy women out? We too want to experience shock treatment, drugs and psychological treatment to cure us of our terrible affliction. Perhaps voluntary euthanasia of us poor, depressed, unfortunates might be a quicker, cleaner solution, or concentration camps with compulsory laughing gas to cheer us up. Bernie Sheehan Sydney, Australia --- The late Dr. Evelyn Hookers and others conducted research on gay men in the 1940s, '50s and '60s. Their research convinced most psychiatrists and psychologists that there was nothing abnormal about same sex attraction and that there was nothing to treat. This research concluded that the biggest problem gay men and lesbians faced was the social prejudices fueled by hatred and misinformation. Jeff Harris Seattle --- Dr. Socarides and his colleagues promise to help young homosexuals who want to become heterosexuals, but their therapy administers the very poison that causes despair in these men. Therapies that attempt to "reverse" homosexuality have been proven ineffective, but they are not harmless. These therapists promote self-hatred and a sense of hopelessness that their clients have come to resolve. Research, including my own, has shown that self-hatred, caused by the direction of antihomosexual attitudes toward the self, causes psychological and physical distress. From an early age, society teaches gay men and lesbians that they have no hope for intimacy, love, and family. Socarides and his colleagues have incorrectly concluded that young homosexual men who seek their help experience an "unwanted sexual attraction." Ilan H. Meyer, Ph.D. Columbia University New York MS NCY IN HEA NS ARI CRX HLT LIF RE NME US JN LRS OED DMS Consumer Non-Cyclical DIN Health Care Providers DNS * AIDS Issues and Research; Corrected Stories, Releases; Health; Lifestyle DRE North America; United States DJN Letters to the Editor; Op-Ed Articles [This article is made available here by Dow Jones Co. for the personal and non-commercial use of callers to this bbs, in the hope that it will be of some help to those who are suffering from the disease and others who are seeking to help them.]