ChildCare Action Project:
Christian Analysis of American Culture (CAP)
APA RISKS SERIOUS MENTAL HEALTH CONSEQUENCES FOR PATIENTS SEEKING CHANGE FROM HOMOSEXUALITY
"GAY NORMALCY" REQUIREMENT THREATENS RIGHT TO UNBIASED TREATMENT
This press release from the Family Research Council (FRC) is absolutely disgusting!!!. Not because it is from the FRC, but because of its message.
I am a foster/adoptive father and have been for years. Fifteen children have come and gone, two have become permanent family members, and two more are fixin to become permanent family members. And we hope to provide His care to many more foster children over our remaining years (about 30). However, if the state Child Protective Services Case Workers, who are in a position to dictate to foster parents that which is 'best' for the foster child, are told by the American Psychological Association (APA) to tell me I have to teach or even suggest to the kids in our care that it is normal and healthy to be gay, I will end my involvement in fostercare. And I am not alone in this. So, you see a lot more is at risk if the people at APA start telling people homosexuality is normal and healthy! Though not qualified to adjudicate or determine mental health, I would, beyond any shadow of a doubt, question the mental health of the idiot (my opinion) APA decision-makers if they promote homosexuality is normal and healthy.
God Almighty. Help us.
Thomas A. Carder
President
ChildCare Action Project: Christian Analysis of American Culture (CAP)
P. O. Box 177
Granbury, TX 76048-0177
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: AUGUST 14, 1997
CONTACT: KRISTIN HANSEN (202) 393-2100
APA RISKS SERIOUS MENTAL HEALTH CONSEQUENCES FOR PATIENTS SEEKING CHANGE FROM HOMOSEXUALITY
"GAY NORMALCY" REQUIREMENT THREATENS RIGHT TO UNBIASED TREATMENT
WASHINGTON, D.C. -- People seeking professional mental health therapy as a way out of homosexuality may soon face a brick wall erected by those who want to deny any hope of change.
A decision expected on Thursday by an American Psychological Association governing body would force sexual reorientation therapists to read a statement to their patients declaring that homosexuality is normal and healthy. Many therapists feel that this blatantly mischaracterizes the nature of homosexuality, threatens the freedom to seek and to provide treatment, and may condemn many patients to a life of hopelessness and needless suffering, denying them a normal family life.
"Forcing therapists to read any such statement to their clients represents gross interference with therapists' free speech rights, conscience, and professional clinical judgment. Therapists are going to have to lie to their patients about what it means to be gay," said Robert H. Knight, Director of Cultural Studies for the Family Research Council. "This goes against clinical knowledge and the tradition of professional psychological training, not to mention 5,000 years of human experience and the teaching of all major religions.
"The APA cannot claim that there is an absence of clinical evidence showing successful therapeutic change for homosexuals. They are well aware that people have been successfully treated for decades and that a growing population of ex-gays is becoming more visible in America today. Cowed by aggressive homosexual activists who say--without credible evidence--that people are `born gay,' the APA is trying to snuff out genuine hope for those struggling with gender identity problems.
"The National Association for the Research and Therapy of Homosexuality (NARTH) has a consistent track record of success on behalf of those willing to change. A Recent NARTH study of 850 individuals who claim to have made a degree of sexual-orientation change and 200 therapists who have counseled such individuals found that 99 percent of them believe treatment to change homosexuality can be effective and valuable. Exodus International, a Christian outreach staffed by former homosexuals, also cites high rates of change by those weary of their homosexual identity. The APA has also chosen to ignore decades-old evidence from sex researchers Masters and Johnson, who reported a 71.6 percent success rate--even after five years--for clients who wanted to change their sexual preference.
"We call on the APA to reject this disastrous retreat from sound clinical practice and to acknowledge the truth--that homosexual behavior entails inevitable physical and psychological risks and that homosexuals can change."
FOR MORE INFORMATION OR INTERVIEWS, CONTACT THE FRC PRESS OFFICE.
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Thomas A. Carder
President
ChildCare Action Project: Christian Analysis of American Culture (CAP)
©1997 ChildCare Action Project: Christian Analysis of American Culture (CAP)