Last fall, Gareth Fenley, a licensed psychiatric social worker, attended the Atlanta premiere of Warren Throckmorton’s exgay video, “I Do Exist.” The premiere was emceed by exgay activist D.L. Foster.
Fenley wrote about the event in Southern Voice, and I briefly analyzed her article.
More recently, however — in an April 10 entry in her weblog — Fenley points out that her original article declined to mention Dr. Robert Spitzer’s role in the video — in particular, his on-screen criticism of the American Psychiatric Association. Fenley now offers an update on what happened next with Dr. Spitzer. The bold type is mine:
I told him that the reason APA does not support any type of method to change sexual orientation is that safety and efficacy have not been established for any treatment. Spitzer wrote back and told me that he thought I might be surprised that he agrees with me, and he regrets participating in the documentary. I asked him to use his prestige and influence to advocate comprehensive research into actual outcomes of ex-gay ministries and conversion therapies, including the harm, and we talked on the phone, but he didn’t seem to be very interested in following up.
Fenley reports that two more videos may be in the works — one by members of the gay caucus of the American Psychiatric Association, another by an outfit seeking to produce a video to appear on commercial television.
Fenley also says that editor Laura Brown of Southern Voice mangled her original article; published a protest by D.L. Foster against writing that in fact wasn’t hers; and denied her an opportunity to set the record straight.
Fenley now sets the record straight on her blog — about the misuse of her writing, and Foster’s resulting character attacks against her.
He obviously regrets being put in the documentary because he knew that his views would be taken out of context by Conservative Christians (a group he clearly disagrees with).
As for his views, he feels that sexual orientation is not fixed, and is more fluid than we think. Again, as mentioned before, this view is nothing new, nothing special. In fact, I know many LGBT individuals who believe this.
I hear stories of women who were heterosexual, but then after having sex change operation to become male, started to experience attraction to other women. There are also stories of gay men who, for whatever reason, find that they do enjoy sleeping with the occasional women, but keep it a secret to prevent being ostracized by their friends. And, of course, there’s the people on yestergay.com, whom give very credible stories of life changes.
Ultimately, Spitzer is being used as an instrument by those with a religious agenda. It is regrettably inevitable.