Mental Health Experts Off the Mark on Sexual Orientation Change, Researcher Says
by Jim Brown and Jody Brown
May 27, 2004
(AgapePress) - A university professor who specializes in researching issues involving sexual orientation says the nation's leading mental health association is discriminating against an organization that helps former homosexuals.
The National Mental Health Association (NMHA) is a professional lobbying group that advocates for funding and programs to better address the country mental health problems. It recently decided to bar the organization Parents and Friends of ExGays and Gays (PFOX) from its annual conference.
Dr. Warren Throckmorton, director of college counseling at Grove City College in Pennsylvania, says NMHA refuses to acknowledge the existence of ex-homosexuals.
"The NMHA was just simply asked [by PFOX] to have some booth space at their convention so that information about sexual orientation change could be presented," Throckmorton explains. NMHA's reaction, he says, "shocked and disappointed" him. He says instead of calling PFOX and talking over the two groups' differences, the marketing manager for NMHA simply sent a letter.
According to Throckmorton, the May 17 letter from Becky Roser stated: "NMHA feels that your organization's principles diverge from our core mission .... Having PFOX exhibit at our conference would indicate to participants that NMHA condones 'reparative' or 'corrective' therapy. As this is not the case, it would be disingenuous to have your organization participate in our Annual Conference."
Throckmorton, one of the nation's foremost researchers on sexual orientation change, has worked alongside the NMHA on initiatives designed to improve citizen access to mental health care. NMHA's response to PFOX, he says, seems a "sad and illogical twist."
"I was surprised that the National Mental Health Association didn't even want to talk about the possibility of change -- they didn't want to meet any ex-gays, didn't want to talk to any ex-gays," he says. "And for an organization that claims to value mental health in all American citizens, I was appalled by that."
The Grove City College instructor says NMHA's view of sexuality is strongly influenced by the political aspirations of "gay and lesbian" advocacy groups. That influence may be behind the mental health group's pleasure last summer when the U.S. Supreme Court's ruling in the Lawrence v. Texas case effectively eliminated sodomy laws in 14 states.
Upon the high court's announcement of that ruling, NMHA declared it a "historic step towards tolerance and a victory over discrimination," adding that "laws like the Texas statute can harm the mental and physical health of gays and lesbians."
NMHA claims it promotes tolerance through its programs, among them one called "What Does Gay Mean?" which the group describes as an "anti-gay bullying initiative."
Throckmorton says judging from the NMHA publication by the same name, the mental health group "could use some assistance from groups like PFOX to better address its mission with the subset of people who have gone from gay to straight."
