NARTH Promotes Bizarre Anti-Gay Theories and Racist Ideology, Says TWO
ORLANDO,Fla. — Truth Wins Out joined a coalition of organizations in Orlando on Saturday to protest the National Association for Research and Therapy of Homosexuality’ annual meeting. More than thirty GLBT advocates chanted, “Quacks, Quacks, Quacks, Stop The Attacks,” in an effort to oppose a disreputable pseudo-scientific group that claims there “are no gay people, just heterosexuals with a homosexual problem.”
The demonstration — which had representatives from PFLAG, HRC Orlando and Equality Florida – included inflatable ducks, duck whistles and a character in a duck suit to highlight the peculiar ideas from NARTH, which claims that in some cases “non-homosexual men who experience defeat and failure may also experience homosexual fantasies or dreams.”
“NARTH’ theories are laughable, but the psychological damage they perpetrate on desperate and vulnerable people is far from funny,” said TWO Executive Director Wayne Besen. “When one learns of this group’ odd ideas, it is clear that many of these so-called doctors are in need of a good shrink.”
Currently, NARTH is embroiled in two major controversies. In the first, a NARTH doctor wrote an essay supporting gender variant children being “ridiculed” in school so they would conform. In the second, another NARTH doctor wrote an article justifying slavery. As a result of the slavery remarks, two NARTH presenters refused to speak at this conference.
NARTH supports so-called conversion therapy and believes gay people are mentally ill. Upon co-founding the group, the late Dr. Charles Socarides said, “Homosexuality is a psychological and psychiatric disorder, there is no question about it.”
NARTH’ leader, Dr. Joseph Nicolosi, has said factors in the causation of homosexuality include “fear of tall bridges” a “phobia of the phone” and once claimed that gay men are more likely to be “pee shy.” He has encouraged his clients to become more masculine by drinking Gatorade and calling friends “dude.”
The organization’ methods are so peculiar and bizarre that the American Psychological Association specifically condemned NARTH by name at the APA’ annual convention in August.
“For over three decades the consensus of the mental health community has been that homosexuality is not an illness and therefore not in need of a cure. The APA’ concern about the position’ espoused by the National Association of Research and Therapy of Homosexuality and so-called conversion therapy is that they are not supported by the science. There is simply no sufficiently scientifically sound evidence that sexual orientation can be changed. Our further concern is that the positions espoused by NARTH and Focus on the Family create an environment in which prejudice and discrimination can flourish.”
TWO is a non-profit think tank and educational organization that counters right wing disinformation campaigns, debunks the ex-gay myth, and provides accurate information about the lives of GLBT people. Besen, the group’ founder and Executive Director, is the author of “Anything But Straight: Unmasking The Scandals and Lies Behind the Ex-Gay Myth.”
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