Truth Wins Out: Dr. Robert Spitzer renounces 'ex-gay' study claiming some gays could change

News release from Truth Wins Out:

NEW YORK, April 11, 2012  / PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- In a move that serves as a significant blow to "ex-gay" programs and anti-gay organizations, Dr. Robert Spitzer repudiated his much-criticized 2001 study that claimed some "highly motivated" homosexuals could go from gay to straight. His retraction occurred in an American Prospect magazine article that hit newsstands today. Spitzer's rejection of his own research, which was originally published in the prestigious Archives of Sexual Behavior, is a devastating blow to "ex-gay" organizations because it decisively eliminates their most potent claim that homosexuality can be reversed through therapy and prayer.

"Dr. Spitzer's repudiation of his 2001 study is an earthquake that severely undermines the validity of 'ex-gay' programs," said Truth Wins Out's Executive Director Wayne Besen, who criticized the study in his 2003 book, Anything But Straight: Unmasking the Scandals and Lies Behind the Ex-Gay Myth. "Spitzer just kicked out the final leg from the stool on which the proponents of 'ex-gay' therapy based their already shaky claims of success."

Spitzer's 2001 study was a surprise and created a media firestorm because he had previously led the charge in 1972-73 to remove homosexuality from the list of mental disorders in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual (DSM) of the American Psychiatric Association.

According to today's American Prospect article:

"In retrospect, I have to admit I think the critiques [of my study] are largely correct," Dr. Spitzer told the American Prospect in an article by Gabriel Arana titled, My So Called Ex-Gay Life. "The findings can be considered evidence for what those who have undergone ex-gay therapy say about it, but nothing more."

Spitzer asked for a retraction of his 2001 study, "So I don't have to worry about it anymore?"

Dr. Spitzer's research was particularly harmful because he was the only non-socially conservative scientist to produce a study claiming some people could "pray away the gay."

"Virtually every anti-gay organization in the country quotes Dr. Spitzer's work," said TWO's Wayne Besen. "It will be an integrity test to see which groups remove citations of his work in the coming week."

Truth Wins Out is a nonprofit organization that fights anti-LGBT extremism and the "ex-gay" myth.

Gay Pride grand marshal Chaz Bono: No dancing around questions about transition, LGBT politics

BY STEVE ROTHAUS, srothaus@MiamiHerald.com

Sonny & Cher’s only child knew early in life there would be no privacy, no matter what. Not in 1995 when Chastity Bono announced she was a lesbian or 15 years later when Chaz Bono confirmed he was transgender.

“There’ve been times in my life where I had to come to that conclusion. I really don’t have a choice in it so I’m going to take the situation and make the best of it,” says Bono, grand marshal of Sunday’s Miami Beach Gay Pride Parade and a speaker Monday at Florida International University.

Bono, 43, says his second-coming out was the toughest.

“It was much harder when I was trans and having to do a transition and do it in the public eye,” he says. “It took years and years to get the courage to do that.”

Bono, who documented his journey in the book Transition: Becoming Who I was Always Meant to Be (updated in paperback available May 29), says there is still much misunderstanding about gender identity, even in the gay community.

“We’re a part of the community that the general public knows little about. Maybe there are some people in the LGBT community who are more involved in the community and politics and have more awareness, but it’s really limited,” Bono says. “With some exceptions, I don’t think there is as much understanding in the LGBT community as there is in the general public.”

Bono has well-documented his famous mother’s personal struggle adjusting to life with a son, not a daughter. Cher eventually became Chaz’s biggest cheerleader when he competed last season on Dancing With the Stars.

Parents Sonny and Cher divorced in 1975 when Chaz was 6. Sonny later became a politician and was elected a congressman from California in 1994. He died four years later in a skiing accident and his widow, Mary, succeeded him in the House.

“Mary and I have always gotten along very well since we first met. I was 14,” Bono says. “I’m a staunch Democrat. Mary’s a moderate conservative. She’s not got a bad record on LGBT issues. She will hopefully continue to follow her heart and mind on these things. We don’t talk politics very much. I learned from my dad not to let politics get in the way.”

In 2007, Mary Bono married U.S. Rep. Connie Mack IV of Fort Myers, a Republican now running for U.S. Senate in Florida.

“Mary and Connie have been incredibly supportive of my transition from the beginning,” Bono says. “I spent Christmas with them and had an amazing time.”

Bono says its important for LGBT activists to work with both Democrats and Republicans.

“It’s so important. One of the things that frustrates me so much about the political system, it seems the two parties have gotten so far apart. I feel there is common ground that anyone can find, even one small kernel. It’s time to build with what we have in common.”

IF YOU GO

• Chaz Bono will be grand marshal of the Miami Beach Gay Pride parade on Sunday, Ocean Drive from 5th to 14th streets.
• Bono will also speak 6:30 p.m. Monday at FIU’s Wolfe University Center Ballrooms at the Biscayne Bay Campus, 300 NE 151st St., North Miami. Free for students, faculty and alumni; $10 advance; $20 at door. Call 305-919-5524 for tickets.

18 men, presumed to be gay, charged with indecency after Gambia dance for tourists

ASSOCIATED PRESS

BANJUL, Gambia -- A court in Gambia has arrested 18 people and accused them of organizing an "indecent" dance ceremony for tourists.

The 18 men each pleaded not guilty on Tuesday to charges of "indecent practice contrary to the law of the country."

The criminal charge is applied toward people who are accused of taking part in homosexual acts in Gambia.

In 2008, President Yahya Jammeh told gays and lesbians to leave the country or have their heads cut off.

Gays and lesbians face threats of violence and discrimination across the continent.

In western Africa, legislators in Liberia and Nigeria are also trying to pass laws that would increase the legal penalties for homosexuality in those countries.

Video: Young Kansas man speaks about the Bible and role of gay Christians in the church

On YouTube:

Matthew Vines speaks on the theological debate regarding the Bible and the role of gay Christians in the church. Delivered at College Hill United Methodist Church in Wichita, Kansas on March 8, 2012. Transcript: http://matthewvines.tumblr.com.

National Organization for Marriage [NOM] sites (Facebook, Twitter, blog) apparently hacked

It appears the National Organization for Marriage has been hacked on its blog, Twitter and Facebook accounts:

Facebook:

We sincerely apologize to anyone we have banned from this page in the past. That is why anyone who was ever banned for simply exercising their right to free speech is now welcome once again to engage with this page. We vow to work on how we address our opponents in the future.

Twitter

NOM Blog

Gay group sues Nevada for same-sex marriage

BY KEN RITTER, ASSOCIATED PRESS

LAS VEGAS -- A national gay rights advocacy group took its state-by-state fight for same-sex marriage equality to a federal court for the first time Tuesday, filing a lawsuit in a bid to force Nevada to allow gay and lesbian couples to marry.

The Lambda Legal Defense and Education Fund lawsuit focused on the differences between rights granted by a domestic partnership law passed by the state Legislature in 2009 and a gay marriage ban made part of the state constitution by voters in 2002.

It seeks to void the constitutional ban "and any other sources of state law that exclude same-sex couples from marriage," and to recover unspecified legal costs and fees. It claims eight same-sex couples are being discriminated against because they aren't allowed to marry.

"Nevada already gives same-sex couples the rights and responsibilities of family, parenting and relationships," said Tara Borelli, a Los Angeles-based Lambda Legal attorney. "What is the reason for not giving them the one word that says it all?"

Click here to read the complete article.