Reparative Therapy: Psycho, Psicko, Psychiatrists

You know how they say what comes around goes around? Well, in an interesting development, the American Psychological Association next week will discuss "Reparative Therapy," you know, the therapy that allegedly makes gay people straight (read "back in the closet"). What's ironically beautiful here is that there was a time when any attempt to turn gays straight was accepted by the APA. That changed, though, in 1973, when the APA finally agreed that being gay was merely another aspect of human sexuality--basically saying, "if you're gay, you're not a psycho."

In 2000, the APA Assembly and Board approved a statement saying they were concerned about the use of reparative therapy on gays and lesbians. However, the statement being discussed next week would directly confirm that reparative therapy is misleading, damages young gays and lesbians, aggravates internalized homophobia, and depresses those in therapy, pushing them deeper into states of self-loathing. So, now we come full circle, in that the APA will be discussing the idea that so-called psychiatrists who apply reparative therapy are, themselves, the psychos, and not the gays they're attempting to "cure."

Of course, the gay-hating religious organizations like Focus on the Family are declaring this as an anti-Christian ploy by the pro-homosexual lobby, and that Christianity is being unfairly targeted. Again, what comes around goes around, and it's delightfully delicious to have these right-wing, Bible-thumping, gay-haters on the defensive. There is a God.