My so called ex gay life

Of course, there was the heartbreaking and finally uplifting personal story that took us through the social history of antigay "therapy. I know you've read it, so I won't belabor all that here. What I will post: Dr. Robert Spitzer's full-on public renunciation of his study.

As you've read already, Gabriel Arana's reportorial call triggered Spitzer's decision to openly repudiate that work. He's now written an apology, which he's sent to the editor of Archives of Sexual Behavior that has been obtained by Truth Wins Out 's Wayne Besen emphasis added :.

Several months ago I told you that because of my revised view of my study of reparative therapy changing sexual orientation, I was considering writing something that would acknowledge that I now judged the major critiques of the study as largely correct. After discussing my revised view of the study with Gabriel Arana, a reporter for American Prospectand with Malcolm Ritter, an Associated Press science writer, I decided that I had to make public my current thinking about the study.

Here it is. Basic Research Question. From the beginning it was: "can some version of reparative therapy enable individuals to change their sexual orientation from homosexual to heterosexual? The Fatal Flaw in the Study — There was no way to judge the credibility of subject reports of change in sexual orientation.

I offered several unconvincing reasons why it was reasonable to assume that the subject's reports of change were credible and not self-deception or outright lying. But the simple fact is that there was no way to determine if the subject's accounts of change were valid.

I believe I owe the gay community an apology for my study making unproven claims of the efficacy of reparative therapy. I also apologize to any gay person who wasted time and energy undergoing some form of reparative therapy because they believed that I had proven that reparative therapy works with some "highly my so called ex gay life individuals.

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The Afterlife of Gabriel Arana's Ex-Gay Life

Skip to main content. Newsletter Signup Donate. He's now written an apology, which he's sent to the editor of Archives of Sexual Behavior that has been obtained by Truth Wins Out 's Wayne Besen emphasis added : Several months ago I told you that because of my revised view of my study of reparative therapy changing sexual orientation, I was considering writing something that would acknowledge that I now judged the major critiques of the study as largely correct.

Robert Spitzer. Emeritus Professor of Psychiatry, Columbia University. Back to Search Results.