Over the past couple of days, The National Association for the Therapy of Homosexuals (NARTH), and Parents and Friends of Gays and Ex-Gays (PFOX), have quietly removed all traces of any affirmation of Richard Cohen. PFOX has removed all references to him entirely, while NARTH has left only historical events which included his name – all his articles are gone and his books no longer appear in their online bookstore.
Before these completely slide into the void, take a look at what has been removed:
PFOX
Why Rosie O’Donnell has SSA (cached)
This was removed entirely.
Gay Children, Straight Parents (cached)
This was removed entirely.
Ex-Gay Legislation Introduced in Hate Crimes Bill (current)
Ex-Gay Legislation Introduced in Hate Crimes Bill (cached)
This line was removed, “Maryland ex-gay author Richard Cohen was accused of hate against homosexuals when he released his new book ‘Coming Out Straight’. ”
Recommended Resources (current)
Recommended Resources (cached)
Multiple references removed.
Finding a Therapist (current)
Finding a Therapist (cached)
This one is interesting, they removed Cohen’s authorship but left his entire article as is – of all things, his instructions on what to look for in a therapist!
Diary of an Ex-Gay Man — Part 2 (current)
Diary of an Ex-Gay Man — Part 2 (cached)
Removed casual mentions of Cohen throughout narrative.
Diary of an Ex-Gay Man — Part 3 (current)
Diary of an Ex-Gay Man — Part 3 (cached)
(same)
NARTH
Bookstore (current)
Bookstore (cached)
Removed all three books by Cohen.
It is uncertain exactly why they chose now to finally distance themselves entirely (at least publicly) from the the self-described “psychotherapist and educator.” Cohen was permanently expelled from the American Counseling Association several years ago and currently operates without a license. Until last year he was the president of PFOX and just months ago they were still referring people to him. He is known for his bizarre media appearances and unorthodox methods, appearing most recently on The Daily Show in what may have been his most absurd performance to date (though there are so many). Perhaps this was the straw that broke the proverbial camel’s back.
Coincidentally, Exodus president Alan Chambers recently made that organization’s disagreement with Cohen’s methods clear as well. Exodus VP Randy Thomas also displayed his personal embarrassment. Whatever the reasons, it would appear that PFOX and NARTH have had enough of Richard Cohen, as have we all.
It’s 1984 all over again!
“We are at war with Eastasia. We have always been at war with Eastasia!”
Well, they do claim to be a Ministry of Truth.
Thank you David,
Now we need not bother with what we’ve observed over the past week 🙂
In our best Straiyan — what a bunch of filthy, lying, dirtry, underhanded pack of bastard bandicoots they are.
Let me guess: “Richard Cohen — never heard of him” (in my best Alan Chambers voice)
Amazing: it’s bought to their attention for years, and they do nothing. Instead NARTH quote him, and PFOX makes him President.
Bad PR> cannot spin> instant reation. Cohen never existed.
The sure sign of fraud. Him, and Them.
Next!
PS: does this mean there is now a “FFPFOX”.
Former Friends of Parents and Friend of ExGays …
Or are they FFPFOXBSLHLJW.ST???
(“Former Friends of Parents and Friend of ExGays But Still Loving Homsexuals Like Jesus Would. So There.”)
Doesn’t THEIR viewpoint deserve equal time with PFOX? (and a much wider flyer…)
I think they made their statment loud and clear that Cohen is not a representative of the current trends in reparative therapy.
That they did so quietly, is right up their with the rest of the folks who realize they made a mistake and have just stepped away. The APA has done this with other members who have been removed from their organization. Large corporations do so when there is a change in the board of directors, hospital boards do that when risk rating increase at their facilities, etc… No group is immune to being wrong and then correcting themselves.
PFLAG has organizational changes, ACT OUT, MCC (Metropolitan Community Church), etc… have all had growth pains and had to make changes in policy and standards etc… when it was discovered that someone amongst their group had “failed” to uphold the good of others.
I am glad to see NARTH and EXODUS take these needed steps.
Mary,
Who did the APA do that with? And why?
Sorry — one of the “rules” here is that you need to back up a claim. The rule is a complete pain at times, but it helps keep things honest. Who are you refering to?
If you mean Cohen: that was the ACA, no the APA.
And Cohen wasn’t just an obscure “member” of PFOX – he was the President. He spoke on behalf of them for years. Cohen’s behaviour hasn’t changed in years — but something obviously else has…
Professional organisations kick out bad members all the time, but they do it in response to an individual’s unprofessional behaviour — not bad publicity. And they don’t then use the publicity to try and prove they are legitimate etc.
The ACA booted Cohen because he behaved unethically. They made no song and dance about it, but then again he was also not the ACA President.
Despite all this, PFOX loved him. Until now. He knew, and they knew, he was unlicenced (and a very odd individual) but they still made him President etc.
A more serious question is why Exodus, PFOX etc continued to professionally associate with Cohen; even though they knew full well that he was a sandwich short of a picnic.
Why is it the efforts of the gay men and women who are the target of Exodus/PFOC/etc (such as ourselves) that seem to be the only force that cause Exodus/PFOX/etc to behave ethically and professionally? Are they so stupid or without ethics that they cannot do themselves?
(And it’s ACT-UP, not OUT, but anyway… UP, OUT, whatever :))
Mary said:
Not that one thing would excuse the other, but please provide examples of when these organizations made similar clandestine changes to disavow someone they had previously held in such high esteem. Blanket statements aren’t allowed in such context without substantiation.
Cohen was expelled from the ACA years ago, and his methods and beliefs do not appear to have changed much over the past decade. It’s been quite some time since he appeared in photos next to men with full frontal nudity and leather garb on the Howard Stern Show and only now he is being dropped? And in the case of NARTH and PFOX, without even a statement? At least Exodus made a public statement.
Equating all this with some unstated, unsubstantiated hypothetical action by groups on the other side of the equation doesn’t change the reality of the situation. At the very least PFOX and NARTH need to make a clear public statement disavowing Cohen and his methods once and for all, not drop him from their sites in the middle of the night.
If groups got rid of all the things on their pages that were distortions and such, they would have empty pages.
GREAT WORK on this.
A note: some sites which cache stuff can be cleared out…
If you want to guarantee a permanent grab, check out SCRAPBOOK, the addon to FireFox.
Mike
Time for some wild guesses:
Reason why Cohen has been “acceptable” for so long after everyone knew he was a raving loon – It’s nice to have at least one example of someone willing to claim “I once was fully homosexual and now am fully heterosexual”. For all their faults, even the most ardent Exodus champions can’t convince themself that they aren’t “human and subject to temptations”.
Reason why Cohen is no longer “acceptable” and now must become invisible – Something other than public appearances has occurred – something that probably relates to personal behavior – which would be embarrassing if discovered.
That last bit is just a guess. But in general the ex-gay movement includes the wackiest zaniest folks without a blink of an eye. Claim God will heal you from AIDS – welcome brother. Throw unsafe sex parties – a little rehab and you’re on the payroll. Lash out with venom and hatred (and some meep-meeps) – you’re the movement’s ambassador to the Carribean.
So I’m guessing there’s something more going on that just a disapproval of methodology.
But, on the other hand, it would be wonderful to be wrong and have this be an evidence of the maturity and responsibility of the leaders of the ex-gay movement. Ummmm, yeah, that’s likely. 😛
Sorry about that . Yes, ACA not APA.
As far as substantiating – I guess I can’t name names and will so refrain. However, we all know that this occurs in organizations.
And I am glad that the gay community keeps these groups on thier toes.
Hmm, Timothy, yes. You’re onto something.
Plainly: being a simple simpleton, or on the “anti” side of “anti-gay” is not enough. We need more. A “meep meep keep them in prison” or a “whack whack take that you mother who loved me too much” is not enough. Ya really got to push — neigh, burst — the envelop for this lot to take notice.
Gawd. What could Cohen have possibly done?
Oh. It’s the surname, right? They finally figured it out…
It’s that, or a major sponsor rang and said “Get rid of him.”
Mike Rogers:
I highly recommend Scrapbook for just this purpose. Mine is full of interesting things…
Have you been successful in helping men and women transition from a homosexual to a heterosexual orientation?
What kind of success rate do you have? (questions from the PFOX article on “choosing a therapist”)
Wait a second… has even NARTH (or Exodus for that matter) had any of its own members list their personal “success rate”? I’m curious if PFOX can provide those figures from their personal experiences with family and friends in fact. Has Cohen himself published his own purported success rate? If not, why not?
Mary said:
Actually they do — the Independent Gay Forum, Andrew Sullivan, Larry Kramer and Michael Petrelis are well-known for their criticism of groups such as NGLTF and HRC.
No doubt NARTH will now describe a new psychosis associated with latent homosexual feeling in ex-gays who have undergone touch/holding therapies and brand Cohen with the affliction.
Tim… are you saying we should be staking out the East Washington/Annapolis gay bars? You seem to be right about the Cohen claim to fame among the ex-gay movement. He even says so in his most recent newsletter[https://www.gaytostraight.org/newsletters/2006-Winter.pdf]:
Cohen lists his victories as: 1] trained 7 counselors in his now oft-discredited therapies; 2] worked with 300 clients, couples or families; 3] published 2nd editions of two books, Gay Children, Straight Parents & Coming Out Straight and donated some books to prisons; 4] LSI Healing Seminar; and 4] was interviewed by several people in the media; most notably Paula Zahn and Jimmy Kimmel Live.
Tim… are you saying we should be staking out the East Washington/Annapolis gay bars?
Don’t bother looking for gay bars in East Washington or Annapolis. There are none.
I think it all goes back to his Daily Show appearance. If you watch it back to back with the “cleaned up” CNN spot, I think it demonstrates just how powerful it is to have real news questions asked. It’s just odd that it took the daily show to give an unvarnished display of not only his oddity, but also to ask the not-so-tough questions about licensure, lack of a doctorate, etc.
I doubt he did anything personally objectionable, beyond simply looking as ridiculous a figure as he already is.
I am aware of these conversion therapies but not the individual freaks who run them. Doesn’t sound like anything Cohen did on the Daily Show was any different than he’s been doing for years. The hugging therapy did seem a little ‘gay’ IMHO. Cohen also did a bad job of proving his heterosexuality. Two theories on his being canned:
There’s a Reverend Ted moment somewhere (my personal favorite)
The Daily Show has gained such gravitas that getting punked on it is all that is necessary to be ostracized.
You can’t ‘cure’ queer is the basis against these boobs. So Cohen is at least as ‘cured’ as Haggard. I think the word ‘cured’ has a different meaning for these folks. Substitute “deeper in the closet” and you’ll be closer to the truth.
Enjoy.