Date: Mon, 01 Sep 1997 09:08:03 -0400 From: Riki Anne Wilchins Subject: PSYCHOLOGISTS CONDEMN `REPARATIVE' THERAPY MEDIA ADVISORY - FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE CONTACT: Clare Howell (718)638-7062, Clare@Gpac.Org NATIONAL PSYCHOLOGISTS' RESOLUTION CONDEMNS `REPARATIVE' THERAPY ================================== [Washington, DC: 14 Aug 97] THE AMERICAN PSYCHOLOGIST ASSOCIATION (APA) has affirmed its 1973 resolution that homosexuality is not a mental disorder, and that the APA opposes all portrayals of lesbian, gay, and bisexual people as mentally ill or in need of treatment due to their sexual orientation. The resolution was a response to the recent growth of 'reparative' therapies intended to 'cure' homosexuals of their homosexuality. Said Doug Haldeman, President of APA's society for the study of lesbian, gay, and bisexual issues, "In the past 10 years, Christian fundamentalists have enlisted a coalition of old-style psychologists, psychiatrists, and social workers who have... a mission to cure homosexuals. Our aim is not to try to stop them per se or interfere with anyone's right to practice [therapy], but we want to expose the social context that creates this market." NGLTF: Resolution Doesn't Go Far Enough --------------------------------------- The National Gay & Lesbian Task Force (NGLTF) criticized the new resolution for not going far enough, condemning reparative therapy but not calling for a complete end to such therapies. Declared Kerry Lobel, Executive Director of NGLTF, "Attempts to change an individual's sexual orientation through conversion therapy is morally and ethically wrong. Such practices are a therapeutic perpetration of the homophobia that exists in society today." Socarides: Homosexuality as Purple People Eater ----------------------------------------------- Charles Socarides, a NYC psychiatrist and President of the National Association of Research and Therapy of Homosexuality (NARYH), is a proponent and practitioner of reparative therapy. He states, "Homosexuality is a psychological and psychiatric disorder, there is no question about it. It's a purple menace that is threatening the proper design of gender distinction in society." There are no official figures on the number of people who have tried reparative therapy. A Seattle-based Christian organization reports that more than 500 people a month call for information about the therapy and that more than 6,000 people are in therapy at its 90 ministries across the country. GenderQueer Children and Adults Still at Risk --------------------------------------------- In the meantime, the diagnosis of Gender Identity Disorder (GID) is still very much on the books. GID is routinely used as an accepted backdoor to inflict reparative therapies on gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender teens and children as young as three, as well as gender-variant adults seeking hormones or surgery. In the past, gender-variant children have not only been subjected to involuntary behavioral therapy, but some have been confined on locked wards or given psychoactive drugs as part of their "treatment." Notes GenderPAC Executive Director Riki Anne Wilchins, "Queer activists had better wake up: we are still at risk. By ignoring gender, this resolution means gender-variant kids are still totally unprotected. And since getting hormones or surgery means presenting yourself as `sick' and needing a `cure,' gender-variant adults are still going to be diagnosed as mental disordered with GID -- effectively ending their chances of ever getting private medical, life, or disability insurance." ### Online Editor: Clare Howell, Clare@Gpac.Org Subscriptions. Please send: Subscribe iyf-online OR Unsubscribe iyf-online TO MajorDomo@Apocalypse.Org For prior press releases, check the GenderPAC web site at: http://WWW.Gpac.Org (c) 1997 InYourFace An on-line, news-only service for gender activism. When re-posting, please credit InYourFace.