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What is PFOX?
Founded in 1998, Parents and Friends of Ex-Gays
& Gays (PFOX) is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization providing
outreach, education, and public awareness in support of the ex-gay
community and families touched by homosexuality.
Each year thousands of men and women
with same sex attractions make the personal decision to leave
homosexuality.
However, there are others who refuse to
respect that choice.
Consequently, formerly gay men and women
are reviled simply because they dare to exist.
Without PFOX, former homosexuals would
have no voice in a hostile environment.
PFOX families love their homosexual child
unconditionally and are a positive presence in their child’s life.
Because of PFOX, the public is beginning
to recognize that ex-gays have much to contribute to the
understanding of sexual orientation.
PFOX promotes an inclusive environment for the
ex-gay community, and works to eliminate negative perceptions and
discrimination against former homosexuals and lesbians.
PFOX conducts public education and
community-building activities to further individual
self-determination, personal choice, and compassion and respect for
all Americans, regardless of their sexual orientation.
PFOX envisions communities characterized
by more stable families and a tolerant understanding of sexual
orientation.
Do gay activists oppose the efforts of PFOX to protect the equal
rights of ex-gays?
They shouldn’t.
Although gay organizations advocate for the
rights of homosexuals, lesbians, bisexuals, and transgenders, the
intersexed, and questioning youth, they do not add “ex-gay” to that
list.
Yet the addition of ex-gays to the highly diverse realm of sexual
orientation ensures tolerance for all segments of our
society. If it were not for ex-gay organizations like PFOX,
former gay men and women would have no support in an increasingly
hostile environment. Nor would homosexuals and lesbians have access
to information on the right to change their sexual preference if
they so choose.
PFOX is not an anti-gay organization – we are a pro-ex-gay
organization. PFOX believes that all people should be treated
with dignity. We respect the opinions of others, even if they
disagree with us. Indeed, we do not ask for their approval – only
their tolerance.
Do I have to dislike ex-gays if I have gay friends or family?
No!
You can have friends who are gay and
other friends who are ex-gay.
Befriending the ex-gay community does
not mean that you are being disloyal to the gay people you know and
love.
Just like you have everstraight friends,
you can also have ex-gay friends.
I’m happy being gay, so why should gays change their sexual
orientation?
Change is only for those with unwanted same-sex
attractions.
What makes you happy may not make
someone else happy because we are all individuals.
Please respect other people’s decisions
for their lives.
What is the ex-gay movement?
Former homosexuals are the last invisible
minority group in America.
The ex-gay movement is a
civil rights movement to ensure the
safety and inclusion of former homosexuals in all realms of society,
and to support the ex-gay community’s equal access to all public
venues.
Ex-gays and their supporters should not
have to be closeted for fear of other’s negative reactions or
disapproval. We
like to think that many ex-gays and their families are fine people.
They do not think something is wrong
with them because they decided to fulfill their heterosexual
potential.
Nor do they believe others should
condemn them for the personal decision they have made for their
lives.
Why do gays hate ex-gays so much?
Many gay activist organizations instruct their
members to reject ex-gays and homosexuals who refuse to embrace
same-sex conduct or self-identify as "gay."
This rejection is another form of
heterophobia that can be overcome with education and outreach.
Gay activists cannot claim sympathy as
victims when they victimize their own.
We should all be tolerant of each other
regardless of our sexual orientation.
The demonization of ex-gays by gays themselves
is a sad end to the long struggle for tolerance by the gay
community.
That ex-gays and their supporters are
now oppressed by the same people who until recently were victimized
themselves, demonstrates how far the gay rights movement has come.
Indeed, a new chapter in the movement
has begun – the right of homosexuals and lesbians to leave unwanted
homosexuality.
Why would anyone choose to leave homosexuality when there is so much
discrimination against the ex-gay community? Because of the abuse heaped upon them by society, former homosexuals experience discrimination at every level. When a gay marries an opposite sex partner, that ex-gay is ridiculed by former friends. Ex-gays find heterosexuals also reject them if their past is known because "Once gay, always gay" is assumed. While gays can come out of the "closet," ex-gays are forced to stay in theirs because of public prejudice. While gays gain sympathy as victims, ex-gays are criticized and face life-long intolerance for simply existing as living proof that homosexuality is not innate. Americans need to face the real issue of bigotry -- oppression of ex-gays.
What about gay teens and suicide that I’ve heard about?
Research shows that the risk of suicide
decreases by 20% for each year that a person delays homosexual or
bisexual self-labeling.
Therefore, in order to reduce suicide
risks, we should not encourage teens to self-identify as “gay” at
such an early age.
(Source:
Risk Factors for Attempted Suicide in
Gay and Bisexual Youth by Pediatrics,
Official Journal of the American Academy of Pediatrics.)
Do gays undergo reparative therapy in order to become ex-gays?
Not all ex-gays underwent reparative therapy,
or any other kind of change therapy, for that matter.
Some ex-gays transitioned out of
homosexuality by ex-gay ministries, Homosexuals Anonymous, group
counseling, or on their own initiative.
None of the medical or scientific
associations prohibit reparative therapy or any other change
therapy.
Indeed, the associations adhere to a
code of ethics which call for client self-determination of their
individual therapy.
Moreover, none of the associations
condone intolerance against former homosexuals.
Do mental health associations support change therapies?
Dr. Robert L. Spitzer, Professor of Psychiatry and Chief of
Biometrics at Columbia,
now says that homosexuality may be changeable.
Dr. Sptizer’s Columbia University study
of former homosexuals documented that same-sex attractions may be
overcome. Ironically, Dr. Spitzer is the psychiatrist who
initiated the removal of homosexuality from the psychiatric
diagnostic manual in 1973. His provocative new study
drew worldwide media attention at the American Psychiatric
Association's annual conference on May 9th, 2001[i]
and after peer review, it was published in the October 2003 journal
Archives of Sexual Behavior.
“Like
most psychiatrists," says Dr. Spitzer, "I thought that homosexual
behavior could be resisted--but that no one could really change
their sexual orientation. I now believe that's untrue--some people
can and do change." A total of 200 subjects (143 men and 57
women) were personally interviewed by Dr. Spitzer.[ii]
He now believes that
"...there is evidence that change in sexual orientation following
some form of reparative therapy does occur in some gay men and
lesbians.”[iii]
Dr. Spitzer also stated, “It is often said that those who try to
change their sexual orientation become very depressed as a result.
That was not the case for the subjects of this study. There
was in fact a marked decline in depression after their effort to
change.”
[iv]
In his study, Spitzer found that 43% of men and 47% of women
reported depression before reorientation therapy; after receiving
therapy those numbers dwindled to 1% of men and 4% of women.
According to Dr. Spitzer, "Patients should have the right to
explore their heterosexual potential."[v]
The American Psychological Association admits reorientation therapy
is not harmful. Dr. E. Mark Stern, Ed. D. Fellow of the
A.P.A. and Professor Emeritus of The Graduate Faculty of Arts and
Sciences, Iona College N.Y., has acknowledged that
"the APA [American Psychological Association at its summer 2001
meeting] did admit that there was no body of evidence to prove that
reorientation therapies are harmful."[vi]
Dr. Martin Seligman,
(1998 President of the American Psychological Association),
cites research in his book, What You Can Change and What You
Can't, that he is optimistic about change for those who
have had fewer homosexual experiences and/or some bisexual feelings.[vii]
Dr. Raymond Fowler,
(CEO of the American Psychological Association), acknowledges
that his interpretation of the APA's position on reparative therapy
is that those who wish to explore developing heterosexual feelings
or behavior have a right to do so as part of every
client's right to self-determination.[viii]
Dr. Robert Perloff,
(Past President of the American Psychological Association),
condemns attempts to repress research on the effectiveness of
reparative therapy.[ix]
Dr. Perloff, now with the University of
Pittsburgh, charged that the APA is "too politically correct, too
bureaucratic, too obeisant to special interests."
The APA’s gay Society for the
Psychological Study of Lesbian, Gay and Bisexual Issues has
consistently lobbied against the right of homosexuals and lesbians
to receive treatment for
unwanted same-sex attractions, or to
even study the viability of sexual reorientation therapy.
At a Town Hall Meeting at the organization’s 2006 convention, APA President Gerald P. Koocher stated, “APA has no conflict with psychologists who help those distressed by unwanted homosexual attraction.” What a psychologist believes about politics and religion should have no bearing on a patient’s desires or needs.
Larry T. Freeman, MA, LPC, Manager, Ethics and Professional
Standards for the American Counseling Association (ACA)
[2005], affirms that “[T]he ACA’s Code of Ethics Section A.2.
(Respecting Diversity) and b. (Respecting Differences) is applicable
to clients who seek to change their sexual orientation. [T]he
person(s) should have the freedom of choice to seek appropriate
treatment for it…”
It is gratifying to know that struggling men and
women seeking changes to unwanted same sex attractions won't be
relegated to second class status in the mental health field simply
because they want to live happier, fulfilling lives. We note
that several studies on the efficacy of change therapies have been
published in scientific journals. For example, see "Initial
Empirical and Clinical Findings Concerning the Change Process for
Ex-Gays” in the American Psychological Association journal
Professional Psychology: Research and Practice (June 2002); “Motivational,
Ethical, and Epistemological Foundations in the Clinical Treatment
of Unwanted Homoerotic Attraction” in the Journal of Marital and
Family Therapy, 29, 13-28 (2003); “Can Some Gay Men and
Lesbians Change Their Sexual Orientation?” in the Archives of
Sexual Behavior, Vol. 32, No. 5, 403-417 (October 2003); “Efforts
to Modify Sexual Orientation” in Journal of Mental Health
Counseling,” 20, 283-304 (1998); “Ethical Issues in Attempts
to Ban Reorientation Therapies” in the American Psychological
Association Journal Psychotherapy:
Theory/Research/Practice/Training, Vol. 39, No. 1, 66-75 (2002),
and “Young Women’s Relinquishment of Lesbian/Bisexual Identities
Over a 5-Year Period” in the Journal of Personality and
Social Psychology, 84, 352-3649 (2003).
Have mental health associations banned the practice of
change therapies?
No.
To be sure, nearly all mental health associations have issued
advisories concerning sexual orientation change in counseling.
The one that has not, the American Mental Health Counseling
Association, has taken no position on the subject.
However, these organizations have not banned the practice of
reorientation therapies.
Consider the words of the former Executive Director of the
American Psychological Association (APA), Raymond Fowler:
So despite Dr. Spitzer’s legitimate concerns that people not be
forced into reorientation counseling, he clearly favors a revision
in the official skepticism of mental health groups toward ex-gays.
Dr. Spitzer has frequently commented that no one has any way
to determine how many people can or will change, but he has stood by
the view that sexual orientation is much more flexible than he
thought before he conducted his study.
So why would professional associations overlook the lives of
ex-gays and claim reorientation to be ineffective?
Dr. Spitzer related a hypothesis concerning that issue:
[i]
Dr.Robert L. Spitzer, "200 Subjects Who Claim to Have Changed Their
Sexual Orientation from Homosexual to Heterosexual", American
Psychiatric Association Annual Convention, New Orleans, (May 9,
2001).
[ii]
Ibid
[iii]
Dr. Robert L. Spitzer, “Can Some Gay Men and Lesbians Change Their
Sexual Orientation?... Archives of Sexual Behavior, Vol 32, No
5, October 2003, p 403.
[iv]
Ibid
[v]
Dr. Robert L. Spitzer, "200 Subjects Who Claim to Have Changed Their
Sexual Orientation from Homosexual to Heterosexual", American
Psychiatric Association Annual Convention, New Orleans, (May 9,
2001).
[vi]
Dr. E. Mark Stern, "The Battle Against the A.P.A. Resolution,
Interview" NARTH (2002),
www.Narth.com
[vii]
Reported in "1999 NARTH Conference, Speech by Brent Scharman,"
The NARTH Bulletin, (December 1999).
[viii]
Ibid. |
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