miami.com The Miami Herald
Gays can become straight, disputed study says
BY MALCOLM RITTER Associated Press
NEW ORLEANS -- A study says that some highly motivated gay people can turn straight -- a conclusion that clashes with that of major mental health organizations. Dr. Robert Spitzer, a psychiatry professor at Columbia University who led the study, said he cannot estimate what percentage of highly motivated gays can change their sexual orientation. However, he said the research ``shows some people can change from gay to straight, and we ought to acknowledge that.''
He is scheduled to present his findings today in New Orleans at a meeting of the American Psychiatric Association, or APA), and said he plans to submit his work to a psychiatric journal for publication. PRESENTING FINDINGS
Major mental health groups say sexual orientation is fixed and that so-called reparative therapy might be harmful.
A critic of the study also noted that many of the 200 ``ex-gays'' who participated were referred by religious groups that condemn homosexuality.
Psychologist Douglas Haldeman, who is on the clinical faculty of the University of Washington and has published evaluations of reparative therapy, said the study offers no convincing evidence of change.
He also said the participants appeared unusually skewed toward religious conservatives and people treated by therapists ``with a strong anti-gay bias.'' Such participants might think that being a homosexual is bad and feel pressured to claim they no longer were gay, Haldeman said. POSSIBLE BIAS ALLEGED
David Elliot, a spokesman for the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force in Washington, also criticized the study.
``The sample is terrible, totally tainted, totally unrepresentative of the gay and lesbian community,'' he said.
The issue has been hotly debated in the scientific community and among religious groups, some of which contend that gays can become heterosexuals through prayer and counseling.
Major mental health organizations say nobody knows what causes a person's sexual orientation.
Theories tracing homosexuality to troubled family dynamics or faulty psychological development have been discredited, the psychiatric association says. The American Psychological Association says most scientists think that sexual orientation probably comes from a complex interaction of factors.
Spitzer spearheaded the APA's 1973 decision to remove homosexuality from its list of mental disorders. He said homosexuality does not meet the criteria for a mental disorder, and he called for more research to determine whether some people can change sexuality.
Spitzer, who said he does not offer reparative therapy, said his department's funds paid for the research.
He conducted 45-minute telephone interviews with 200 people, 143 of them men, who said they had changed their orientation from gay to heterosexual.
Respondents answered about 60 questions about sexual feelings and behavior before and after efforts to change. Most said they had used more than one strategy to change their orientation.
About half said the most helpful step was work with a mental health professional. A third cited a support group.
Spitzer concluded that 66 percent of the men and 44 percent of the women had arrived at what he called good heterosexual functioning.
That was defined as a sustained, loving heterosexual relationship within the past year, getting emotional satisfaction to rate at least 7 on a 10-point scale, having satisfying heterosexual sex at least monthly and never or rarely thinking of the same sex during heterosexual sex.
Classifieds | Shopping | Travel | Health | |