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from What do clinical studies say?
Some Gay Advocates Acknowledge Reorientation Therapy as a Legitimate Option--
Simon LeVay Joins Douglas Haldeman in Qualified Support
by Linda Ames Nicolosi
Some gay advocates--including noted researcher Dr.
Simon LeVay and psychologist Douglas Haldeman--say
that reorientation therapy should be permissable out of
respect for client choice and autonomy.
Douglas Haldeman is a gay man, an activist for gay causes,
and a psychologist who has strongly advised against reorientation
therapies. Still, he has conceded that--
"not all supporters of conversion therapy seek to
interfere in the lives and freedoms of gay people,
or...are out to do us harm. Rather...there is a religious
basis from which these people are operating,
not malicious, but rather in the service of their own
religious beliefs....This is not to say that I endorse
these beliefs or share them myself; but neither do I
endorse the prospect that we, as gay scholars and
activists, should interefere with people's choices." (1)
Out of respect for personal autonomy, Haldeman grants
that the client with strong religious convictions therefore
has the right to pursue change:
"A corollary issue for many is a sense of religious or
spiritual identity that is sometimes as deeply felt as
is sexual orientation. For some it is easier, and less
emotionally disruptive, to contemplate changing
sexual orientation, than to disengage from a religious
way of life that is seen as completely central
to the individual's sense of self and purpose." (2)
Therefore, Dr. Haldeman says, such therapy is not necessarily
harmful or unethical:
"There appear to be many dissatisfied homosexually-
oriented individuals who seek psychological
guidance or spiritual intervention to achieve a goal
they identify as a change in sexual orientation...
some...particularly those who have experienced
less invasive styles of conversion therapy, seem not
to have been affected adversely."
LeVay Agrees with Haldeman
Likewise, the same qualified support for reorientation therapy
comes from noted researcher Simon LeVay. LeVay garnered
worldwide attention about ten years ago with a study
that found a difference between the brains of a small group
of homosexual men, most of whom had died of AIDS, and
heterosexual men who had died of other causes. Although
LeVay's study has not been replicated, it is said to offer
evidence
suggesting that for an unknown percentage of homosexual
men, a disruptive prenatal hormonal event could have
feminized a portion of the brain called the hypothalamus.
LeVay observes that the concept of psychological normality
is a value judgment, ultimately outside the realm of science.
Science cannot tell us what constitutes "core identity," LeVay
says--that is, whether a person can legititmately claim that
"homosexual is who I am."
Biological Error --- Or Normal Variant?
LeVay's statement followed his expressed concern that the
prenatal hormonal influences that may predispose some
people to homosexuality could be viewed as a "biological
error." And if those prenatal influences are biological errors,
then a homosexual orientation could, following the same
reasoning, be conceptualized as a developmental disorder.
But that conclusion need not follow from the evidence, he
says.
Because the issue of sexual identity is a philosophical rather
than narrowly scientific matter, LeVay says, people who
believe gay is "who they are" are free to consider thrir sexuality
a normal variant. Similarly, people who choose sexual-
reorientation therapy should have the right to choose
change--even though he himself considers their choice to
be misguided. As LeVay explains it:
"First, science itself cannot render judgments about
human worth or about what constitutes normality
or disease. These are value judgments that individuals
must make for themselves, while possibly taking
scientific findings into account.
"Second, I believe that we should as far as possible,
respect people's personal autonomy, even if that
includes what I would call misguided desires such
as the desire to change one's sexual orientation. (3)
Endnotes
(1) From a paper presented by Douglas Haldeman at a symposium
entitled "Gays, Ex-Gays, Ex-Ex-Gays--Examining Key Religious,
Ethical, and Diversity Issues," American Psychological
Association Annual Meeting, August 7th, 2000, Washington, D.C.
(2) Ibid.
(3) From "Sexual Orientation: The Science and its Social Impact," by
S. LeVay, to be published in Reverso, a gay and lesbian studies journal
in Spain. NIH website. (http://members.aol.com/_ht_a/slevay/page12.html)
Updated: 3 September 2008
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