July 30, 2013

In a USA Today column critical of the Southern Poverty Law Center lawsuit against JONAH, former American Psychological Association president Nicholas Cummings concluded … “But contending that all same-sex attraction is immutable is a distortion of reality. Attempting to characterize all sexual reorientation therapy as ‘unethical’ violates patient choice and gives an outside party a veto over patients’ goals for their own treatment. A political agenda shouldn’t prevent gays and lesbians who desire to change from making their own decisions.”

“Whatever the situation at an individual clinic, accusing professionals from across the country who provide treatment for fully informed persons seeking to change their sexual orientation of perpetrating a fraud serves only to stigmatize the professional and shame the patient.”

Nicholas Cummings was president of the American Psychological Association (1979-80).