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Message from "Ex-Gays" to American Psychological Association: Don't Ban Therapy

By Hilary White
ENCINO, California, December 4, 2007 (LifeSiteNews.com) - Debbie Thurman was shocked when she was told by homosexual activists that, as she defined herself as a former sufferer of same-sex attraction disorder, she could not possibly exist. In a very personal self-disclosure, Thurman has written urging the American Psychological Association (APA) not to carry out its threat to ban therapy intended to correct the underlying psychological causes of homosexuality.

Thurman writes that "gay activists" tried to deny her own experience of having overcome same-sex attraction, so entrenched is the doctrine of "sexual orientation" as an indelible characteristic.

Research and anecdotal evidence provided by people who have themselves overcome the condition have shown clear indications that homosexuality, or same-sex attraction disorder (SSA), is connected to a quantifiable set of circumstances. Children from "broken homes" where the parents are divorced or separated and where one or both parents are not present; children who were sexually abused; and children who are temperamentally sensitive are more likely to suffer same-sex attraction disorder and the many psychological disorders associated with it, like depression.

"I raise my hand to all of the above." Thurman wrote, supporting the work of some psychotherapists in helping homosexuals overcome the disorder.

Debbie Thurman, the author of the book "From Depression to Wholeness: The Anatomy of Healing", is a Christian minister with Sheer Faith Ministries and is a family mental health advocate. She says her "mission [is to] educate, encourage and bring unconditional love to the mentally and emotionally ill and their families."

"In order for gay activists to disparage the very possibility of change in one's sexual orientation," she wrote on the website of the National Association for Research and Therapy of Homosexuality (NARTH), "and convince the mental health establishment to do the same, they generally must engage in the predictable ploy of ad hominem attacks on ex-gays."

She fears that therapists and other professionals helping homosexuals overcome SSA  will be forced out of the APA because of the organization's dedication to legitimizing homosexuality.

"If the APA decides to ban such therapy," she writes, "not only will it disregard empirical evidence, but it will also close itself off to recognition of the fourth realm (in addition to the bio-psycho-social) where change has been shown to be especially effective -- the spiritual." Such an omission, she said, "would, most assuredly, 'do harm'."

Despite substantial protest from many therapists, the APA removed homosexuality from its diagnostic list of mental disorders in 1973. The homosexual activist doctrine about the substantial association of homosexuality with depression and drug abuse is the result of tensions experienced from society's "homophobia".

Some have accused the APA of having reduced itself from an organization dedicated to objectivity and empirical science to being a tool of the homosexual political lobby. In 2003 the APA discussed the possible removal of paedophilia from the diagnostic manual of mental disorders and this year made a statement supporting "gay marriage".

In July this year, in the face of the threat by the APA to disallow "reparative therapy" for homosexuals, a group of religious leaders and professionals urged the organization to guard against discrimination against clients' religious beliefs, including those that hold homosexual activity to be sinful and damaging.

Homosexuality is widely associated with elevated levels of psychological disturbance and self-harm including suicide, depression, eating disorders, antisocial personality disorder and substance abuse. The homosexual activist community claims that such problems are exclusively the result of a "homophobic" culture and the social stigma attached to "gay lifestyles".  Despite the wide and growing acceptance of homosexual "lifestyles", however, such problems have not been reduced among the self-identified homosexual population.

Given the growth in media, courts, the medical and mental health fields, and even the churches, Thurman calls on those who have recovered to speak out in support of therapy. She writes, "Just as many gays remain closeted, so do a number of ex-gays. Not all of us are going to be front and center in discussing our journey. Most of us have no interest in going on the Oprah Show. It's painful for most people to disclose their personal struggles."

"The time has come, however, when more of us are realizing the need to stand up and be counted."

Read related LifeSiteNews.com coverage:

Professionals, Religious Leaders Urge Religious Toleration by American Psychological Association
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2007/jul/07071202.html

American Psychiatric Association Now Wants To Normalize Pedophilia
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2003/jun/03061108.html

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