It appears the Paula Zahn show will air a segment on Richard Cohen this week, possibly Monday night unless it gets bumped by something constituting real news. Other people interviewed for the story include Jash Drescher, Robert Spitzer, Shawn O’Donnell, and a client who’s been seeing Cohen for three years.
Update: It looks like the segment won’t be airing tonight but probably later in the week.
This should be good. IMO, Richard Cohen is the craziest of the whole bunch.
Ex-Jew, ex-gay, and mad as a march hare. The funniest thing is that they still use him as a spokesman. Can they really not do any better?
I wish Paula Zahn would interview Peterson Tascano and Wayne Besen. Shawn O’Donnel is a good choice too but I must say that I had the opportunity last summer to visit his former ex-gay live-in home not far from San Francisco, California with Shawn O’Donnel himself. I am afraid that the individuals who run that live-in home (if they see Shawn on Paula Zahn) would most likely think that he is on his soap box to get attention due to some “insecurity, selfishness” etc which is a typical Exodus response. I’m almost certain that they would share that information with the Exodus national organization and eventually to Focus on the Family and others. I can totally understand why Shawn left the live-in home (I would have gone nuts in a place like that) but while we were visiting I never witnessed Shawn trying to earn any credibility as a gay Christian through using intelligent, persuasive conversation with these people. He hung out at his former ex-gay live-in house apparantly trying to tell them (through his presence there including his freshly painted fingernails) that he is happy, free and does not need that place in order to be happy and Christian. I really don’t think the people there really cared that much but what one individual in particular did care about was seeing Shawn as his eyes lit up when he saw him and he really was very congenial.
The feeling I got from that place (from the individual we talked to) was that he was nice, kind, congenial and positive his attitude toward Shawn and myself as well. The leader of the home (I don’t recall his name) was somewhat cold however.
The reason I am sharing this is that it is crucial that we know how our opponants (in this case the ex-gay movement) think, what they see in us and what sort of example we are showing to the Christian Right and especially to Exodus. Obviously the ex-gay cause is bankrupt and a fraud; however, there are many positive lessons to be learned through these organizations. One is discipline and another is learning more about Christian Ideals such as kindness, charity, love, self-control, integrity, etc. and using them in life. There are several other things as well but the bottom line is that the premise of the ex-gay movement is where the problem lies.
I think it would be wonderful if Shawn not only shared the experience he had with his ex-gay past but his new experience as a gay Christian and what Christ has done to help him in his life as a gay Christian. I am totally with Shawn when it comes to having his photo and any association with Exodus taken off their logo, etc. and I hope that he succeeds in this.
CNN ran the Cohen piece on 23May. I just finished watching it. Cohen is a loon. The glimpses of his ‘therapy’ were filled with nonsense. Since he blames childhood trauma for homosexuality, his work depends on his ‘patients’ identifying the key trauma. IMO this leads too easily to constructed memories.
Another technique shown in the segment was ‘touch therapy’. The vision of Cohen, holding a male patient in a comfort position, tells me that he is not a ‘cured’ homosexual. He is using that technique for his own needs (male contact) and is lying to himself and others!
I think the best sign of his wacko credentials though was his beating a defenseless pillow with a tennis racket and shouting about his mother. It was a classic…
Even though the segment included opponents of conversion therapies, I think Cohen himself spoke the loudest against the ex-gay charade.