October 14, 2013

The following excerpts are from the Washington Post article “‘Ex-gay’ movement targets Va. universities, demands ‘conversion’ option be offered to gays” by Tom Jackman and Christopher Doyle’s response two days later on the Voice of the Voiceless website: “… But Doyle, who works closely with Parents and Friends of Ex-Gays, claims there are First Amendment and therapeutic issues here: That students have a right to hear from all sides, and that the university should not screen out those whose views they don’t agree with. He also noted that in proper and ethical counseling, ‘You take the client’s goals, and you work with their goals and you don’t impose your own values. It’s supposed to be value neutral.’ The Voiceless website says the group’s mission is ‘to defend the rights of former homosexuals, individuals with unwanted SSA, and their families.’ I think we would all agree that everyone deserves equal rights. And what is SSA? you ask. Same-sex attraction. Nothing to do with that abbreviation backwards. [This appears to be an underhanded slight insinuating that Doyle is an ASS for taking the position that students should be informed that therapy exists that can help a person change unwanted homosexuality]
So the question becomes, When is it appropriate for a public university to offer information about a thoroughly discredited belief? California and New Jersey have both banned ‘reparative therapy’ to undo homosexuality, calling it dangerous. In June, the largest group devoted to changing sexual orientation, Exodus International, shut down and its leader apologized for its misdirected work. Must the idea that homosexuality can be ‘repaired’ or ‘converted’ still be offered to students? Your thoughts welcomed below.”

Christopher Doyle responded to Jackman’s slight by writing: “The amount of audacity and disrespect it takes for a reporter to use such language in this type of forum is indicative of how seriously threatened the liberal media is and how marginalized former homosexuals and individuals with unwanted same-sex attractions are in our culture.”

In response to Jackman’s claim change therapy has been discredited Doyle wrote: “Again, the reporter’s lack of accuracy and objectivity bleeds through with this report. First, the notion that homosexuality is in-born, and therefore subject to change has not been discredited by objective scientists. The American Psychological Association (APA) said in 2008 that people are not born homosexual, and a biased, gay-affirming APA Task Force said in 2009 that while efforts to change sexual orientation via therapy has the ‘potential’ to be harmful (whatever that means, since ‘potential’ is not a scientific description) there is insufficient evidence to suggest that such efforts are effective or ineffective. Second, California and New Jersey now have laws prohibiting change therapy for minors (not adults) that is currently being challenged in federal court (conveniently not mentioned). Finally, Exodus International was never a therapeutic organization that offered this therapy, but rather, a large network with ministries providing support to individuals leaving homosexuality.”