National Association for Research and Therapy of Homosexuality
Encyclopedia
The National Association for Research & Therapy of Homosexuality (NARTH) is a non-profit organization
that offers reparative therapy and other regimens that purport to change the sexual orientation
of individuals who experience unwanted same-sex attraction
. NARTH's leaders describe their organization as "dedicated to affirming a complementary, male-female model of gender
and sexuality
." NARTH was founded in 1992 by Joseph Nicolosi
, Benjamin Kaufman, and the late Charles Socarides
. Its headquarters are in Encino, California
, at the Thomas Aquinas Psychological Clinic. Julie Hamilton is the current president of NARTH. NARTH's leaders disagree with the mainstream
scientific consensus and the holding of the world's major mental health organizations that homosexuality
is not a disorder.
and similar professional organizations "had totally stifled the scientific inquiry that would be necessary to stimulate a discussion [about homosexuality]." NARTH's leaders argue that the political atmosphere had changed, making it politically incorrect to make even the suggestion of a dialogue that opens up the question of the normality of homosexuality. Kaufman states that NARTH was formed in response to "censorship of a politically unpopular position."
NARTH is a secular organization, differentiating it from other ex-gay
groups which are primarily religious in nature. Nevertheless, NARTH often partners with religious groups, such as its partnership with Jews Offering New Alternatives for Healing and Evergreen International in Positive Alternatives to Homosexuality
. The NARTH website contains a resource list of theological articles.
In July 2011, NARTH failed to pay its dues to the California Board for Behavioral Sciences and was removed from the list of providers that provide continuing education credits to California therapists. NARTH had been an approved continuing education provider since 1998.
NARTH's leaders argue that there is today a widespread propaganda in favor of normalizing homosexuality in law and education. NARTH believes that clients have the right to claim a gay identity.
NARTH differs with the American Psychological Association
on their views of the nature and development of sexual identity. NARTH states that they agree with the American Psychological Association that "biological, psychological and social factors" shape sexual identity at an early age for most people. Nevertheless, while the American Psychological Association emphasizes biological influences, they say that NARTH places more emphasis on the environmental influences.
is a past president. Notable members of the Scientific Advisory Committee include Hillel Goldberg, Nathaniel S. Lehrman and Jeffrey Satinover
. A notable supporter of NARTH is Robert Perloff
, a former president of the American Psychological Association
.
Love Won Out
ministry claims to exhort and equip the church to respond in a Christ-like way to homosexuality from "a biblical point of view." The conference bases its "Prevention of Male Homosexuality" session on NARTH's leaders' research. Love Won Out believes homosexuality to be developmental and questions if it may be unhealthy. Love Won Out shows in a statistic according to a study by NARTH: "500 studies show self-destructive, maladaptive behavior associated with a gay lifestyle."
In 2006, Joseph Nicolosi
represented NARTH at the Love Won Out conference speaking on "Prevention of Male Homosexuality" and on "The Condition of Male Homosexuality". Nicolosi is the president and principal research investigator for NARTH and the clinical director of the Thomas Aquinas Psychological Clinic in Encino, California, where he specializes in the treatment of men with unwanted homosexuality.
.
for Gerald Schoenewolf's essay, Gay Rights and Political Correctness: A Brief History, in which the member of NARTH's Science Advisory Committee argued that "Africa at the time of slavery was still primarily a jungle... Life there was savage ... and those brought to America, and other countries, were in many ways better off." He also stated that the civil rights movement, the women's rights movement, and the gay rights movement were all "irrational" and "destructive." Schoenewolf later on clarified that "No person is better off enslaved, obviously... What I tried to say, before my words were twisted by that reporter, is that despite the clear and obvious evil of that practice, we tend to forget that many of the enslaved people had been first been sold into bondage by their fellow countrymen; so coming to America did bring about some eventual good. No social issue has all the 'good guys' lined up on one side and 'bad guys' on the other."
On May 4, 2010, press reports alleged that Rekers had hired a gay male prostitute from rentboy.com
to accompany him on a ten-day European vacation. Rekers explained that the companion had been brought on the vacation so that he could carry Rekers' baggage. On May 6, NARTH issued a statement on their website saying, "NARTH takes seriously the accusations that have been made, and we are currently attempting to understand the details behind these press reports."
launched the Truth Wins Out
project to criticize NARTH and related ex-gay groups. He has strongly criticized NARTH's academic literature as falling short of accepted standards for peer review
.
In 2009 an American Psychological Association research summary included the following statements:
No major mental health professional organization has sanctioned efforts to change sexual orientation and most of them have adopted policy statements cautioning the profession and the public about treatments that purport to change sexual orientation. These include the American Psychiatric Association, American Psychological Association, American Counseling Association, National Association of Social Workers in the USA, Royal College of Psychiatrists, and Australian Psychological Society.
The American Psychological Association and the Royal College of Psychiatrists expressed concerns that the positions espoused by NARTH are not supported by science and create an environment in which prejudice and discrimination can flourish.
NARTH argues that mainstream health and mental health organizations have, in many cases, taken public positions on homosexuality and same-sex marriage that are based on their own social and political views rather than the available science.
Non-profit organization
Nonprofit organization is neither a legal nor technical definition but generally refers to an organization that uses surplus revenues to achieve its goals, rather than distributing them as profit or dividends...
that offers reparative therapy and other regimens that purport to change the sexual orientation
Sexual orientation
Sexual orientation describes a pattern of emotional, romantic, or sexual attractions to the opposite sex, the same sex, both, or neither, and the genders that accompany them. By the convention of organized researchers, these attractions are subsumed under heterosexuality, homosexuality,...
of individuals who experience unwanted same-sex attraction
Same-sex attraction
Same-sex attraction is a term occasionally used instead of the more common term homosexuality to refer to a person's feelings of sexual attraction toward members of the same gender identity....
. NARTH's leaders describe their organization as "dedicated to affirming a complementary, male-female model of gender
Gender
Gender is a range of characteristics used to distinguish between males and females, particularly in the cases of men and women and the masculine and feminine attributes assigned to them. Depending on the context, the discriminating characteristics vary from sex to social role to gender identity...
and sexuality
Human sexuality
Human sexuality is the awareness of gender differences, and the capacity to have erotic experiences and responses. Human sexuality can also be described as the way someone is sexually attracted to another person whether it is to opposite sexes , to the same sex , to either sexes , or not being...
." NARTH was founded in 1992 by Joseph Nicolosi
Joseph Nicolosi
Joseph Nicolosi is an American clinical psychologist, founder and director of the Thomas Aquinas Psychological Clinic, in Encino, California, and a past-president of the National Association for Research and Therapy of Homosexuality...
, Benjamin Kaufman, and the late Charles Socarides
Charles Socarides
Charles W. Socarides was an American psychiatrist, psychoanalyst, physician, educator, and author. Socarides was born in Brockton, Massachusetts. Socarides focused much of his career on the study of homosexuality, which he believed can be altered...
. Its headquarters are in Encino, California
California
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
, at the Thomas Aquinas Psychological Clinic. Julie Hamilton is the current president of NARTH. NARTH's leaders disagree with the mainstream
Mainstream
Mainstream is, generally, the common current thought of the majority. However, the mainstream is far from cohesive; rather the concept is often considered a cultural construct....
scientific consensus and the holding of the world's major mental health organizations that homosexuality
Homosexuality
Homosexuality is romantic or sexual attraction or behavior between members of the same sex or gender. As a sexual orientation, homosexuality refers to "an enduring pattern of or disposition to experience sexual, affectional, or romantic attractions" primarily or exclusively to people of the same...
is not a disorder.
History
NARTH was founded in 1992 by Benjamin Kaufman, Charles Socarides, and Joseph Nicolosi. In an article titled In Defense of the Need for Honest Dialogue, Kaufman wrote that Socarides, Nicolosi, and himself founded NARTH because the American Psychiatric AssociationAmerican Psychiatric Association
The American Psychiatric Association is the main professional organization of psychiatrists and trainee psychiatrists in the United States, and the most influential worldwide. Its some 38,000 members are mainly American but some are international...
and similar professional organizations "had totally stifled the scientific inquiry that would be necessary to stimulate a discussion [about homosexuality]." NARTH's leaders argue that the political atmosphere had changed, making it politically incorrect to make even the suggestion of a dialogue that opens up the question of the normality of homosexuality. Kaufman states that NARTH was formed in response to "censorship of a politically unpopular position."
Activities
NARTH's activities include providing referrals to reparative therapists, conducting research, hosting lectures, publishing literature, distributing literature to schools and libraries, promoting awareness of issues of homosexuality, and increasing public awareness of people who seek change in their sexual orientation.NARTH is a secular organization, differentiating it from other ex-gay
Ex-gay
The ex-gay movement consists of people and organizations that seek to get people to refrain from entering or pursuing same-sex relationships, to eliminate homosexual desires, to develop heterosexual desires, or to enter into a heterosexual relationship...
groups which are primarily religious in nature. Nevertheless, NARTH often partners with religious groups, such as its partnership with Jews Offering New Alternatives for Healing and Evergreen International in Positive Alternatives to Homosexuality
Positive Alternatives to Homosexuality
Positive Alternatives to Homosexuality is a coalition of groups that want to help "people with unwanted same-sex attractions realize their personal goals for change -- whether by developing their innate heterosexual potential or by embracing a lifestyle as a single, non-sexually active man or...
. The NARTH website contains a resource list of theological articles.
In July 2011, NARTH failed to pay its dues to the California Board for Behavioral Sciences and was removed from the list of providers that provide continuing education credits to California therapists. NARTH had been an approved continuing education provider since 1998.
Sigmund Freud Award
Beginning in 1996, NARTH has given one researcher per year an award in recognition of the work they have done. This award is named the "Sigmund Freud Award," and is presented at the NARTH annual conference.| Recipients of NARTH's Annual Sigmund Freud Award | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| name | year | reason | note |
| Abraham Freedman | 1996 | Therapeutic Attitude in the Treatment of Male Homosexuals | – |
| George Rekers | 2000 | clinical works on childhood gender-identity disorder | – |
| Richard Fitzgibbons | 2001 | for his prolific writings and work in the field of reorientation therapy | – |
| Robert L. Spitzer | 2004 | research on the ability of gay people to modify sexual orientation | declined to accept |
| Warren Throckmorton Warren Throckmorton E. Warren Throckmorton is an associate professor of Psychology at Grove City College in Grove City, Pennsylvania. He is a former advocate of sexual orientation change efforts and the creator of the documentary I Do Exist, about people who say they have changed their sexual orientation.Throckmorton... |
? | ? | date and reason unpublished |
Mission Statement and Beliefs
NARTH's mission statement reads:NARTH's leaders argue that there is today a widespread propaganda in favor of normalizing homosexuality in law and education. NARTH believes that clients have the right to claim a gay identity.
NARTH differs with the American Psychological Association
American Psychological Association
The American Psychological Association is the largest scientific and professional organization of psychologists in the United States. It is the world's largest association of psychologists with around 154,000 members including scientists, educators, clinicians, consultants and students. The APA...
on their views of the nature and development of sexual identity. NARTH states that they agree with the American Psychological Association that "biological, psychological and social factors" shape sexual identity at an early age for most people. Nevertheless, while the American Psychological Association emphasizes biological influences, they say that NARTH places more emphasis on the environmental influences.
Affiliations
Dr. A. Dean ByrdA. Dean Byrd
Albert Dean Byrd is a former president of the National Association for Research & Therapy of Homosexuality , a research organization that advocates sexual orientation change efforts . He is a psychologist who focuses on SOCE, and has written on the topic...
is a past president. Notable members of the Scientific Advisory Committee include Hillel Goldberg, Nathaniel S. Lehrman and Jeffrey Satinover
Jeffrey Satinover
Jeffrey Burke Satinover is an American psychiatrist, psychoanalyst, and physicist. He is well-known for books on a number of controversial topics in physics and neuroscience, and on religion, but especially for his writing and public-policy efforts relating to homosexuality, same-sex marriage and...
. A notable supporter of NARTH is Robert Perloff
Robert Perloff
Robert Perloff is an American psychology and business administration professor emeritus.Born and raised in Philadelphia, Perloff was drafted into the United States Army to fight in the Philippines during World War II...
, a former president of the American Psychological Association
American Psychological Association
The American Psychological Association is the largest scientific and professional organization of psychologists in the United States. It is the world's largest association of psychologists with around 154,000 members including scientists, educators, clinicians, consultants and students. The APA...
.
Focus on the Family
Focus on the Family'sFocus on the Family
Focus on the Family is an American evangelical Christian tax-exempt non-profit organization founded in 1977 by psychologist James Dobson, and is based in Colorado Springs, Colorado. Focus on the Family is one of a number of evangelical parachurch organizations that rose to prominence in the 1980s...
Love Won Out
Love Won Out
Love Won Out is an ex-gay ministry launched by Focus on the Family in 1998. It was founded by John Paulk. Its stated purpose is "to exhort and equip Christian churches to respond in a Christ-like way to the issue of homosexuality." Love Won Out was sold to a former affiliate Exodus International as...
ministry claims to exhort and equip the church to respond in a Christ-like way to homosexuality from "a biblical point of view." The conference bases its "Prevention of Male Homosexuality" session on NARTH's leaders' research. Love Won Out believes homosexuality to be developmental and questions if it may be unhealthy. Love Won Out shows in a statistic according to a study by NARTH: "500 studies show self-destructive, maladaptive behavior associated with a gay lifestyle."
In 2006, Joseph Nicolosi
Joseph Nicolosi
Joseph Nicolosi is an American clinical psychologist, founder and director of the Thomas Aquinas Psychological Clinic, in Encino, California, and a past-president of the National Association for Research and Therapy of Homosexuality...
represented NARTH at the Love Won Out conference speaking on "Prevention of Male Homosexuality" and on "The Condition of Male Homosexuality". Nicolosi is the president and principal research investigator for NARTH and the clinical director of the Thomas Aquinas Psychological Clinic in Encino, California, where he specializes in the treatment of men with unwanted homosexuality.
PATH
In 2003, NARTH's leaders made NARTH a member of Positive Alternatives to HomosexualityPositive Alternatives to Homosexuality
Positive Alternatives to Homosexuality is a coalition of groups that want to help "people with unwanted same-sex attractions realize their personal goals for change -- whether by developing their innate heterosexual potential or by embracing a lifestyle as a single, non-sexually active man or...
.
Gerald Schoenewolf controversy
NARTH received criticism from the Southern Poverty Law CenterSouthern Poverty Law Center
The Southern Poverty Law Center is an American nonprofit civil rights organization noted for its legal victories against white supremacist groups; legal representation for victims of hate groups; monitoring of alleged hate groups, militias and extremist organizations; and educational programs that...
for Gerald Schoenewolf's essay, Gay Rights and Political Correctness: A Brief History, in which the member of NARTH's Science Advisory Committee argued that "Africa at the time of slavery was still primarily a jungle... Life there was savage ... and those brought to America, and other countries, were in many ways better off." He also stated that the civil rights movement, the women's rights movement, and the gay rights movement were all "irrational" and "destructive." Schoenewolf later on clarified that "No person is better off enslaved, obviously... What I tried to say, before my words were twisted by that reporter, is that despite the clear and obvious evil of that practice, we tend to forget that many of the enslaved people had been first been sold into bondage by their fellow countrymen; so coming to America did bring about some eventual good. No social issue has all the 'good guys' lined up on one side and 'bad guys' on the other."
George Alan Rekers
George Alan Rekers was once listed on NARTH's website as an advisor, but this is no longer true . Rekers has testified in court that he believes homosexuality is a sin.On May 4, 2010, press reports alleged that Rekers had hired a gay male prostitute from rentboy.com
Rentboy.com
Rentboy.com is a commercial social networking site which connects male sex workers and masseurs with potential clients. Its offices are based in Manhattan and CEO Jeff Davids and company director Sean Van Sant act as a public face for the company....
to accompany him on a ten-day European vacation. Rekers explained that the companion had been brought on the vacation so that he could carry Rekers' baggage. On May 6, NARTH issued a statement on their website saying, "NARTH takes seriously the accusations that have been made, and we are currently attempting to understand the details behind these press reports."
Truth Wins Out
In 2006, gay rights activist Wayne BesenWayne Besen
Wayne Besen is an American gay rights advocate. He is a former spokesman for the Human Rights Campaign and the founder of Truth Wins Out.Besen says he has interviewed hundreds of former and current "ex-gays," and is an outspoken critic of organisations such as Homosexuals Anonymous.- Photos of...
launched the Truth Wins Out
Truth Wins Out
Truth Wins Out is an organization formed by Wayne Besen to fight what it considers "anti-gay religious extremism," especially the ex-gay movement...
project to criticize NARTH and related ex-gay groups. He has strongly criticized NARTH's academic literature as falling short of accepted standards for peer review
Peer review
Peer review is a process of self-regulation by a profession or a process of evaluation involving qualified individuals within the relevant field. Peer review methods are employed to maintain standards, improve performance and provide credibility...
.
Position of professional organizations on sexual orientation change efforts
Main Article: Sexual orientation change effortsIn 2009 an American Psychological Association research summary included the following statements:
The longstanding consensus of the behavioral and social sciences and the health and mental health professions is that homosexuality per se is a normal and positive variation of human sexual orientation.
SOCE [sexual orientation change efforts] has been controversial due to tensions between the values held by some faith-based organizations, on the one hand, and those held by lesbian, gay and bisexual rights organizations and professional and scientific organizations, on the other.
There are no studies of adequate scientific rigor to conclude whether recent SOCE do work to change a person’s sexual orientation.
Some individuals and groups have promoted the idea of homosexuality as symptomatic of developmental defects or spiritual and moral failings and have argued that SOCE, including psychotherapy and religious efforts, could alter homosexual feelings and behaviors. Many of these individuals and groups appeared to be embedded within the larger context of conservative religious political movements that have supported the stigmatization of homosexuality on political or religious grounds.
No major mental health professional organization has sanctioned efforts to change sexual orientation and most of them have adopted policy statements cautioning the profession and the public about treatments that purport to change sexual orientation. These include the American Psychiatric Association, American Psychological Association, American Counseling Association, National Association of Social Workers in the USA, Royal College of Psychiatrists, and Australian Psychological Society.
The American Psychological Association and the Royal College of Psychiatrists expressed concerns that the positions espoused by NARTH are not supported by science and create an environment in which prejudice and discrimination can flourish.
NARTH argues that mainstream health and mental health organizations have, in many cases, taken public positions on homosexuality and same-sex marriage that are based on their own social and political views rather than the available science.
See also
- Biology and sexual orientationBiology and sexual orientationBiology and sexual orientation is the subject of research into the role of biology in the development of human sexual orientation. No simple, single cause for sexual orientation has been conclusively demonstrated, but research suggests that it is by a combination of genetic, hormonal, and...
- Environment and sexual orientationEnvironment and sexual orientationEnvironment and sexual orientation is research into possible environmental influences on the development of human sexual orientation. Some researchers distinguish environmental influences from hormonal influences while others include biological influences such as prenatal hormones as part of...
- Homosexuality and psychologyHomosexuality and psychologyPsychology was one of the first disciplines to study homosexuality as a discrete phenomenon. Prior to and throughout most of the 20th century, common standard psychology viewed homosexuality in terms of pathological models as a mental illness...