Wednesday 11 April 2012

Dr. Robert Spitzer Renounces Infamous ‘Ex-Gay’ Study

In a significant blow to “ex-gay” programmes and anti-gay organisations, Dr Robert Spitzer has repudiated his much-criticised 2001 study that claimed some “highly motivated” homosexuals could change from gay to straight. His retraction occurred in an American Prospect magazine article that hit news stands in the US today.

This is a big deal, as many of the "ex-gay" movement's organisations relied on Dr Spitzer's credibility. As one of the foremost people responsible for the removal in 1973 of homosexuality from the list of mental disorders in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual (DSM) of the American Psychiatric Association, Dr Spitzer clearly 'had no axe to grind' and could not be said to have any part in the anti-gay agenda. You can imagine how this distressed the gay rights movement at the time.

Further information:
Commentary: Still the Iconoclast, Dr. Robert Spitzer Renounces His Infamous ‘Ex-Gay’ Study
Posted April 16th, 2012 by Wayne Besen 
Can Some Gay Men and Lesbians Change Their Sexual Orientation? 200 Participants Reporting a Change from Homosexual to Heterosexual Orientation - Robert Spitzer's original paper (pdf)
How The ‘Ex-Gay’ Movement Has Harmed Every Gay Person’s Life - contains two segments from a US tv show by Rachel Maddow

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