NEW ORLEANS--A study released today which shows that some gays and lesbians can experience a significant shift in sexual orientation is making media headlines across the nation. Dr. Robert L. Spitzer, Chief of Biometrics Research and Professor of Psychiatry at Columbia University in New York City, announced the results of his research in a presentation today at the annual meeting of the American Psychiatric Association.
"Contrary to conventional wisdom, some highly motivated individuals, using a variety of change efforts, can make substantial change in multiple indicators of sexual orientation," Spitzer said.
Dr. Spitzer, a leading figure in the 1973 APA decision that removed homosexuality from the official diagnostic manual of mental disorders, said that he began the study as a skeptic. "Like most psychiatrists, I thought that homosexual behavior could only be resisted, and that no one could really change their sexual orientation. I now believe that to be false. Some people can and do change," he said.
The Spitzer study is reported in today's issue of USA Today, The Washington Post, The New York Times, and was released to hundreds of local newspapers by the Associated Press. The story is also being widely reported on the World Wide Web through such prominent news sites as foxnews.com, cbsnews.com, abcnews.go.com, and msnbc.com. Dr. Spitzer was featured on this morning's edition of "Good Morning America."
Spitzer's study was "based on 45-minute telephone interviews with 143 men and 57 women who had sought help to change their sexual orientation," reported The New York Times. "[Spitzer] and his colleagues found that 66 percent of the men and 44 percent of the women had achieved 'good heterosexal functioning'."
Today's edition of The Washington Times gives more details of the study's results: "Before changing, 20 percent were married. Afterward, 76 percent of the men and 47 percent of the women had tied the knot. The typical respondent started trying to change at the age of 30 but did not feel any different sexually for at least two years. Seventy-eight percent reported a change in orientation after five years.
"Due to a combination of therapy and prayer, 17 percent of the men and 55 percent of the women reported they had no homosexual attractions whatsoever. Twenty-nine percent of the men and 63 percent of the women reported 'minimal' same-sex attractions," The Times said.
Spokespersons for various national pro-gay organizations issued statements today attempting to discredit both Dr. Spitzer and the study's results. "This study has little scientific value because the sample was largely drawn from organizations with strong anti-gay missions and appears to be a reflection of the researcher's personal bias," said Wayne Besen, Human Rights Campaign's Associate Director of Comunications. Bob Davies, Executive Director of Exodus North America, dismissed these protests as invalid. "Dr. Spitzer is a self-identified humanistic atheist," Davies said. "At the beginning of this study, he was skeptical that change was possible. If anything, his bias is against change, not that change is possible."
Besen claimed that lack of acceptance and fear of rejection may have played a key role in the subjects' decision to enter into conversion therapy. However, the subjects themselves gave different reasons for seeking change, including the feeling that homosexuality was "not emotionally satisfying" (81 percent), conflict with religious beliefs (79 percent), and the desire to get married or stay married (67 percent of the men, 35 percent of the women).
ABC News confronted Spitzer with the claim by some gays that "change therapy" causes damage, depression and even suicide among clients who are not successful in finding change. "There's no doubt that many homosexuals have been unsuccessful and, attempting to change, become depressed and their life becomes worse," Dr. Spitzer responded. "I'm not disputing that. What I am disputing is that is invariably the outcome."
Spitzer told ABC News that some of his subjects had been despondent and even suicidal for the opposite reason: "...they had been told by many mental health professionals that there was no hope for them, they had to just learn to live with their homosexual feelings."
Some gays questioned the subjects involved in the study. "The sample is terrible, totally tainted, totally unrepresentative of the gay and lesbian community," David Elliot, a spokesman for the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force in Washington told ABC News. "But Spitzer said that, while the people in his sample were unusual--more religious than the general population--it doesn't mean their experiences can be dismissed. And, he said, it doesn't mean they aren't telling the truth," ABC News said.
The ABC report continued: "A well-designed survey, [Spitzer] said, can determine whether or not a respondent is credible. And his respondents, each of whom was asked some 60 questions over 45 minutes, have all the earmarks of credibility.
"In fact, he said, to dismiss his survey would be to dismiss an awful lot of psychological and psychiatric research. The methods used in designing his study are the same as those used to determine the effectiveness of drugs, he says."
According to the ABC report, Spitzer asked subjects "very detailed questions not only about sexual attraction, but about fantasies during masturbation and sex, and yearnings for romantic and emotional involvement with the same sex and a variety of other variables that indicate sexual orientation. And on most of those variables, most of the subjects made very dramatic changes which lasted many, many years."
"The assumption that people can't change is a political conclusion rather than a scientific conclusion," said Dr. Joseph Nicolosi, director of the National Association for Research and Therapy of Homosexuality (NARTH) and an Exodus member. "It points to the influential gay lobbyists within the profession, of which there are many. When we issued a study last year saying more than 800 people had changed, it was pushed to the side. But when Spitzer issues this, it has to be listened to because of his track record as a gay advocate."
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Copyright © 2001, All rights reserved Exodus International-North America