Increasingly irrelevant in the US, the National Association for the Research and Therapy of Homosexuality (NARTH) has created a new division to spread their views abroad. The International Federation for Therapeutic Choice (IFTC), while it sounds formidable, appears only to be a new Yahoo group to which members are privy after paying the usual $65 per year to join. Though NARTH claims membership of over a thousand, former members have estimated less than 200 are actually professional therapists, with the rest made up of pastors, activists and just plain everyday people. With less than 50 in attendance at their last annual meeting, NARTH may be feeling a bit pale. Their central figure, Dr. Joseph Nicolosi, has been appointed by the NARTH board as the director of this new division. It is important to note that NARTH always appoints their own officers; the president, for instance, is never voted on by the membership.
As the population of the US becomes more educated about the facts surrounding GLBT issues, there is less willingness to accept the junk science of reparative therapy here. New incursions by Exodus into countries which have had less experience with these issues seems misguided at best. And as if to compound arrogance with error, NARTH is commonly used as an example of the “science” behind what is essentially religious dogma in these presentations.
It would appear that the creation of the IFTC is in keeping with this new attempt to grow ex-gay organizations and thought abroad. The NARTH member designated as their IFTC representative in Ireland is none other than Dr. Paul Miller. Dr. Miller advises Iris Robinson, the wife of the First Minister (Northern Ireland). Robinson has achieved notoriety of late for her comments concerning homosexuality. Dr. Miller, it turns out, trained under the embarrassing Richard Cohen, and holds his work in high regard. Miller organized a seminar for Cohen as recently as 2007, and currently recommends his book, Coming Out Straight, on the website of his nonprofit, ABEO.
Also on Miller’s website, he lists NARTH along with Jews Offering New Alternatives to Homosexuality (JONAH) and, oddly enough, The Mankind Project and People Can Change (the latter is an ex-gay program based on MKP principles). JONAH is a close ally of NARTH — their president, Arthur Goldberg, is NARTH’s executive secretary. The Mankind Project and affiliated programs have been recommended by Nicolosi as a way to assist those seeking to change from gay to straight “heal old wounds” and become more masculine, more manly. Recently sued for alleged culpability in a suicide, MKP uses rather odd methods to say the least. XGW has also reported on recent distortions by People Can change.
It would seem that Dr. Miller has bought into the entire ex-gay package deluxe, and he has the ear of the “first lady” of Northern Ireland. Certainly the people there deserve better than to be subjected to our discarded failures.
Edited 1pm ET – geopolitical corrections
Just a note that Iris Robinson’s husband is First Minister of Northern Ireland, the northern portion of the island which is part of the UK, not the Irish Republic.
Thanks for following the paper trail of where she’s gotten her misinformation!
Thanks Bill. Since it just went up, I made the edit in place.
The ManKind Project was present at this year’s Philly Pride Fest. A couple of gay men were manning the booth, of course. I made a point to speak with them. They made it quite clear that MKP was a gay-friendly organization. When I told them that their group was often used by reparative ex-gay therapy groups and individuals to try to “man up” gay people, thus turning them straight, they were surprised and of course offended by the idea, having not been apprised of this fact at all. I was thanked for sharing this information. They also invited me to participate in some kind of large meeting the organization was having in which members from many areas would congregate. I thought about doing so to try to get some interviews and official comments, but I have since lost the info they gave me.
JONAH? I aways did have trouble in believing that story about Jonah and the big fish.
Nature and nurture. How do you explain bi-sexuality, transgenderism, and polyamory? Gay, lesbian, bi’s, tran’s, and poly’s — all a combination of nature and nurture? Does self-control ever enter in to the equation?
Creationism vs Darwinism. Which? If there is an “oughtness” to the nature of sex as per religious dogma, then sexual orientation has a right and a wrong — man and woman in wedlock. If there is an “oughtness” to the nature of sex as per Darwinism, then sexual orientation has a right and a wrong — a survivor and a loser. How do you reconcile sexual preference with either worldview? Interested in your perspective. I am obviously pre-disposed, but interested in how you reconcile these views. Hope you will respond.
Dave,
Being the best we can within the limits of our own innate sexuality is the best approach to being successful in life. “To thine own self be true” is as true today as when Shakespeare first said it.
Bill
Some confusion of thought here, Dave.
No, not in this context. Self-control – always desirable – is about how you behave, what you do.
What is under discussion here is the cause or causes of sexual orientation, and whether or not it can be altered, not behaviour. (Although, of course, whether your sexual behaviour, if any, is heterosexual, homosexual or bi-sexual is likely to be related to your orientation.)
Irrespective of the self-control exercised in one’s actual behaviour, no amount of self-control is going to stop gay people from being gay. No amount of self-control will stop straight people from being straight either, as St Jerome discovered.
Transgenderism, if that’s the right word, is about gender identity rather than sexual orientation, and is thus a separate matter, but self-control is hardly relevant there either.
And what is polyamory? If it means having sex with anything that moves, then it sounds intriguing, but I don’t think that I’ve ever encountered it myself – at least not knowingly.
Dave,
Ditto William.
Also, there are certainly more than the two world views you cite. Heck, we could spend our lives discussing just the various “Christian” world views, we don’t even need to include Darwin.
Thank you Bill for quoting the other Bill… one of my favorite lines. Geez, the lessons in Hamlet are a wonder.
Dave, in keeping with the notion of being true, when was the last time you met someone who has sex in order to follow their particular religious dogma or to survive. I have never once thought, “gee, I need to be fruitful and multiply for the sake of the survival of humanity.” Wouldn’t it be funny if the primary nature of sex turned out to be to feel good and connect with another human being, and procreation is secondary? It sure seems to be the most motivating factor.
Dave Roberts,
Arthur Goldberg is not only on the NARTH board, but, also on the board of Richard Cohen’s (the guy who was permanently expelled from the American Counseling Association for unethical conduct and who slams the tennis racquet into the pillow while screaming, mommy, mommy, why did you….) International Healing Foundation. I thought that NARTH had broken off all contact with Cohen, but here we find these inter-board relationships. Rather strange.
Now that Jim Phelan has been accepted back into Exodus, maybe it is catching on and Cohen will be forgiven for all of his internet shennanigans and back in the good graces of Exodus, NARTH, etc. and all is forgiven.
Hi David
Great site, very informative…
Thought you might like to know that Dr.Paul Miller has resigned as Iris Robinson’s adviser and has also ‘temporarily’ stepped down from his job at the Mater Hospital, Belfast. He is under investigation after complaints about his comments were made to the British Medical Council – reading between the lines he has been asked to take some leave until his name is cleared. It doesn’t seem possible to get find out any further information. Certainly a lot of damage has been done….Mrs.Robinson is a bigot, a liability to her husband(the First Minister) and the DUP. She herself is being investigated by the Police Service of N.Ireland under ‘Hate Crime’ legislation. To date over 100 people have complained to the police. An e-petition with over 16,000 names has been sent to Gordon Brown asking him to reprimand her in the House of Commons, but this has been rejected as being unconstitutuional. On 17th June in her 3rd and most recent outburst Mrs. Robinson(Health Minister) said, during a debate on Child Abuse “There can be no viler act,apart from homosexuality and sodomy,than sexually abusing innocent children”.
How can N.Ireland stop the spread of organisations like NARTH and JONAH?
John, Belfast