Father of Ex-Gay Movement Apologizes to Gay Community for Making It All Up

Posted by Kevin Farrell on Apr 26, 2012 in Health | 28 comments

Dr. Robert Spitzer’s watershed 2001 study on reparative therapy is widely credited as having given birth to the modern Ex-Gay movement, and the evangelical belief that sexual orientation can be changed through prayer and therapy, earning Spitzer the ire of the worldwide LGBT community.

A decade later, Spitzer has written a public apology admitting that he essentially made the whole thing up.

Several months ago I told you that because of my revised view of my 2001 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 Prospect, and 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?” Realizing that the study design made it impossible to answer this question, I suggested that the study could be viewed as answering the question, “how do individuals undergoing reparative therapy describe changes in sexual orientation?” – a not very interesting question.

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 motivated” individuals.

Robert Spitzer. M.D. Emeritus Professor of Psychiatry, Columbia University

BAM! And just like that, the very cornerstone of the argument that gays and lesbians can pray away their gayness crumbles into a pile of rubble.

Honestly, my initial reaction was to call Spitzer a quack and a fraud. But admitting his mistake, and publicly at that, arms the LGBT community with a critical argument against those who condemn and demonize us. Spitzer, while guilty of having created this monster, has given us a gift in return for the last decade of strife.

Nobody is asking you to forget, but are you able to forgive?

(via Truth Wins Out)

http://twitter.com/ptelder Kenneth Brown

Considering that Sptizer is also the guy who got Homosexuality de-listed as a mental disorder, I’m going to go with forgive on this one.
http://www.facebook.com/jeff.coulter1 Jeff Coulter

I can forgive. He did it and everyone argued the study was flawed and he has made an apology, which he didn’t have to make. Without the apology, the study would still be used. Entire organizations are scrambling right now to figure out what to do.

Kaoru Negisa

I think you’re being overly optimistic. PFOX, Exodus, and their ilk will simply continue to cite the study and those inclined to believe them will do so anyway. They’re not scrambling to figure out what to do, they’ll do the same thing they always do: ignore reality in favor of the fiction that makes them feel good.

http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100000671521997 Terry Schwanke

then sue the bastard for fraud! think of how much money he made off of this………………..
http://www.facebook.com/lithiumpunk Anthony DiPaolo

I’m gonna take the high road on this one and do something that seems to be foreign to a lot of religious zealots these days and that’s doing something Jesus would do and forgive.
http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100000787382085 Crystal Shields

Forgive…cuz he realizes his error and apologized and Im a Christian and as a Christian I am supposed to forgive, as Jesus says to do…
http://twitter.com/BlueScorpioMoon Jennifer

Yeah, it’s forgivable I guess, because it doesn’t seem like it was done with malicious intent (though the “science” he used was pretty unforgivable). However, I’m afraid the damage might last well beyond his apology and explanation. It reminds me of the study linking autism to vaccination, which has been torn apart by scientists in the field, had all the authors distance themselves from it based on poor science, and finally the lead author retracted the paper admitting the data was fabricated – yet people still believe it.Once something is out there, no amount of retraction can make it completely go away.
http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=592796245 Trenton Flock

The focus now should not be on forgiving him, but holding accountable any hateful, illiterate organizations that might still use his discredited work to persuade credulous families and individuals to try their damaging therapy. As for Spitzer, he did wrong by his inaction for the last decade, sparing himself professional embarrassment, but he was never anti-gay. He also downplays his good contributions. (He has admitted that homosexuality would have been inevitably delisted as a disorder, and he merely hastened the process.) Only time will tell how he will be remembered, if at all. As for me, why not forgive? Forgiveness generally benefits the forgiver more than the forgiven. (Hence why I consider Jesus to be such a selfish bastard.)
Kaoru Negisa

I don’t think this is as simple as forgiving or forgetting. Spitzer has done one of the best (getting homosexuality de-listed as a mental disorder) and one of the worst things ever for the LGBT community (this study). The guy is not a homophobe, but he has caused untold pain and suffering because he mistakenly did bad science. It’s not really up to us to make a judgement of any sort except in terms of his credibility as a scientist, which I think has taken a major hit by this. I respect that he’s coming forward now about this, but we’re talking about running a study that was so obviously methodologically flawed that one wonders what he could have possibly been thinking in doing it in the first place, at least in that fashion.

Dr. Spitzer doesn’t seem like a bad guy, and people make mistakes, but I’m inclined to give his science a much more skeptical eye than I otherwise would. As to his hope, expressed in the article a few weeks ago, that now that he’s corrected the record that we can put this all behind us, I’m afraid there is absolutely no chance of that. The queer community will be fighting the ghost of this study for another generation, constantly batting it down whenever religious bigots pull it out to prove a point or some well-meaning person uses it as apologetics for their terrible faith claims, and regardless of Dr. Spitzer being a generally nice guy and friend to the LGBT community, he can never escape that battle. I hope only that he’ll continue to fight along side of us, even if he does nothing but give speeches on the importance of quality scientific education and method, something that would not only help LGBTs in the future, but the world at large.
http://www.facebook.com/ascripts Scribbles Arent

Sptizer is human like the rest of us. He can suffer with greed, strife, and anything else just like us. No need to ask. I’ve been open for everyone else, I can even hug a self hating douche like him. He just needs a hug. Because remember, scientific evidence now suggests they are closeted individuals.
http://www.facebook.com/adamelohey Sevak Kirakosyan

Nice!
http://www.facebook.com/people/Ronald-L-Bonneau-II/1570226829 Ronald L. Bonneau II

I believe the hardest part was admitting he was wrong and a biased researcher. I think the question is this. How does he pay for his sins? every action has a consequence. What is his? I will admit this was an excellent move on his part and it will help us vastly. I am glad he realized that creating biased research is wrong and hurtful to the people you are researching.
http://www.facebook.com/jennifer.ringle Jennifer Ringle

Unfortunately this won’t get as much attention as his first statement. Much like the false reporting that child vaccines give kids autism that is now totally debunked as well – people still believe it. And it’s sad that people will still believe what he said so long ago and never see this one…
Anonymous

I’m guessing the question should be asked from someone who’s parents forced them into one if the abominable programs, shamed themselves into one, or killed themselves because they just couldn’t make the change “proven” possible to do. On a lesser note, ask the millions of us affected by the religious zealots who used this study to base their campaigns of hate against us.

For a decade+ this was reported while he watched and listened knowing full well his study was a fraud. It seems the guilt is what has finally gotten to him, or his legacy. So it shouldn’t stop here. One letter won’t fight or undue the harm. We need him to speak out, give lectures, debate those like NOM and Tony Perkins and repudiate this idea that our lives are a choice.

Do that, then we can speak of forgiveness.
Craig Cormier

Sadly, when faced with facts against their argument, they will just pretend these new revelations never happened.
http://twitter.com/Dr_Nikolai ♂Pinkhawk Derpmoyed♂

he made a mistake, and he recognized that he made that mistake. Takes an honest man to do that.
http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1548316881 KD NoReally

It is a little misleading to say that he “made the whole thing up”; He came to conclusions that the data didn’t support upon further scrutiny and didn’t listen to critical reviews. Having done research myself in past years, the want to prove ones hypothesis can cloud the way one looks at the results, and happens with a lot of studies. The sad part is that his IRB and the publication never questioned any of this, and a bunch of zealots grabbed hold of one *single* study and portrayed it as fact and ruined a lot of lives. He may have wrote it, but there was a group of people involved. He *is* however the one that needed to apologize because he represents that group. Him coming out and saying this this late sounds more like someone who realized he made a mistake BUT he also doesn’t have to worry about getting kicked out of anywhere for admitting it at this point. So while I’m thankful he’s admitting his mistake now and it was for sure difficult to release this statement, I’m sad it’s 11 years later and I think of the suicides, the shame, and the work people put into trying to be the son/daughter that their family wanted, and now who they really were. Forgive him? I forgive easy because I’ve made some horrible judgements and mistakes in my life that I can’t go back and change. Forget? Never. Remember? I remember those who died because of this.
http://www.facebook.com/nicole.fredrickson Nicole Schneekloth

There isn’t anything wrong with having homosexual tendencies…What is a sin is the act of sex 1) with someone of the same sex, and 2) with someone outside of marriage.

That being said, all Christians know we sin every day – all sins are equal. A heterosexual married man watching occasional porn is considered just as wrong. A woman being angry at a co-worker is also just as wrong.

All Christians know that because we sin daily, we can only turn to Jesus to save us.

http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1231851604 Penny Culliton

So, heterosexuals should get the chance to live out their sexuality via marriage but homosexuals shouldn’t? That seems to be what you’re saying. If you are married, would you want your relationship with your husband to be considered a sin? I guess so, since as a self-labeled Christian, you are of course treating others as you would have them treat you. Right?

mary

Marriage will never make homosexuality normal.

imachainsaw

oh jesus, sounds like a dictatorship

mary

No, but stating the double-entendre : “We should be able to love whomever we choose,” is certainly the basis for a dictatorship.

http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=738171912 Matthew Damon Skinta

As a psychologist who has followed this issue closely over the years, I think it’s worth pointing out that though Spitzer was roped into this one and may have fueled some temporary acceptance in the mainstream media for ex-gay causes with this article, Spitzer was late to the game and, until this specific Unicornbooty article, has never been credited with establishing or being the “father” of the ex-gay movement, modern or otherwise. That dubious distinction might belong to Drs. Charles Socarides or Joseph Nicolosi, but seriously, guys, the fact-checking on this is atrocious.
http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100001229776819 Evan Malcolm

oh beautiful
http://www.facebook.com/people/Zach-Reus/100000207224091 Zach Reus

What’s interesting is that this article completely ignores the fact that he was the one who had gotten homosexuality out of the DSM, which is what constitutes something as a mental disorder. It also forgets to mention that his evidence could be somewhat supported, but it was all anecdotal evidence, making it very unlikely to be proven. Also, his evidence was given by ex-gay groups in the first place, who were already biased.
http://ctrlclick.com/ Joshua Meadows

This article is really unfair — as others have mentioned, Spitzer spearheaded the effort to get homosexuality declassified as a mental disorder within the psychiatric community in 1973, and calling him the “father” of the ex-gay movement based on a study he released in 2001 is just ridiculous. Exodus International was founded in the late 70s and has been drumming the reparative therapy movement for three decades.

If you also actually look at the circumstances in which the study was conducted and delivered, it’s not at all the thing you’d believe it was by the complaints of its critics or the “holy grail” of the ex-gay movement. He did it not because he wanted to hurt gay people but because he was concerned that “you can’t change your orientation” was something that had been taken as immutable truth by the scientific community without challenge — even if it was an opinion he personally believed in. Nonetheless, he acknowledged that it was a mistake and has repeatedly and consistently expressed upset that it was taken by groups who do want to hurt gay people as proof that they can be changed.
http://www.facebook.com/people/Gos-Blank/100003544656040 Gos Blank

I can forgive.

I’ve learned something — on that rare occasion that you hear a scientist utter those three magic words — “I was wrong” — you can be assured that his integrity stands head and shoulders above his peers in the scientific community, most of whom have never uttered those three words in their entire careers, no matter how badly they needed to.
mary

Now that Spitzer has admitted that his research was not “Science,” it’s time for the APA to acknowledge that the decision to remove homosexuality from the DSM was not based on science either.

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