Christian spin on 'ex-gay' study divides families and creates harm

A recent study “A longitudinal study of attempted religiously-mediated sexual orientation change.” published in The Journal of Sex and Marital Therapy has been hailed by conservative US Christians in publications and websites as a breakthrough. A Christian political group in Australia, the Salt Shakers, was quick to follow, announcing ‘Homosexuals Can Change’. A leading expert in the field of ‘ex-gay’ ministries in Australia has a different opinion; he says the study is misleading and the promotion of such creates mental health issues in individuals and breaks families apart.

The authors of the study, Stanton Jones and Mark Yarhouse, are both professors at conservative Christian universities. The study was taken over several years of 98 participants who were part of Exodus International ministries. Exodus International is an umbrella organisation of ‘ex-gay’ ministries worldwide which believe homosexuality is a sin and, as their slogan says, ‘change is possible’.

Anthony Venn-Brown has been working with ‘ex-gay’ survivors (gay and lesbian people who once tried these programs but eventually came to accept their same sex orientation) for over 10 years and is deeply concerned about the impact this false promotion can have.

According to the Salt Shakers website, more than half were reported as successful in the programs and 23 percent reported a complete change in orientation after six years. ”This is not just misleading, by ignoring the fact that 37 people (38%) left the programs, it’s downright dangerous” Venn-Brown said. “When you do a thorough analysis of Yarhouse and Jones findings you are lucky find 14% who had some degree of change. But of course we need to define what ‘change’ or ‘success’ is. According the study change is celibacy, a suppression of homosexual desires, rejection of a gay identity or having sex with a woman. This is not a change from a homosexual to a heterosexual orientation as Christian conservatives are boldly stating”, Venn-Brown added.

Venn-Brown’s claims are backed up by a statement on the researchers own website which says “change of homosexual orientation may be possible through involvement in Exodus ministries, either a) in the form of an embrace of chastity with a reduction in prominence of homosexual desire, or b) in the form of a diminishing of homosexual attraction and an increase in heterosexual attraction with resulting satisfactory heterosexual adjustment. These latter individuals regard themselves as having changed their sexual orientation; the former regard themselves as having re-established their sexual identities to be defined in some way other than by their homosexual attractions”.

Jones also clarified their findings by saying “A typical hetero male finds himself attracted to a wide range of females. But among the successful people who reported conversion the typical response was I’m very happy with my sexual responses to my wife, but I don’t experience much hetero attraction to other women. Also, when asked and pressed about whether they still find attraction to men, they will say: ‘Yes, if I let my mind go in that direction.’

Venn-Brown calls ‘ex-gays’ that get married and have a level of heterosexual functionality nothing more than ‘situational heterosexuals’. “Just like some heterosexuals might have same sex experiences in an environment like prison. This is not a change in orientation it is a behavioural change in a particular situation”. Venn-Brown asserts.

“The thing that concerns me the most about conservative Christian groups like the Salt Shakers making false claims that homosexuality can be cured is the impact this has on individuals and families. If you are in an anti-gay conservative Christian culture there is a dearth of ignorance about sexuality and enormous pressures to conform. When an individual is struggling to come to terms with their homosexuality this kind of irresponsible spin increases the likelihood of mental health issues, depression and suicidality. Also Christian parents are given ammunition saying ‘see, this study says you can change, it’s a choice’ and they put enormous pressure on their gay children to convert. They may even throw them out of the house when they accept being gay and come out. I know too many examples where all of these things have tragically occurred.” Venn-Brown said.

“In Australia, the most extreme cases I have come across, the parents have paid for prostitutes to try and convert them, flown them to the US for treatment or even beaten them. These have all occurred in Christian households.” Venn-Brown concluded.

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Anthony Venn-Brown

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Anthony Venn-Brown is the co-founder and former leader of Freedom 2 b[e], Australia’s largest network of LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender) people from Christian backgrounds. He is also an educator and consultant on LGBT/faith issues and leader in deconstructing the ‘ex-gay’ myth. Anthony’s autobiography 'A Life of Unlearning', details his journey from married, high profile preacher in Australia’s mega-churches to living as an openly gay man. Anthony has been twice voted ‘One of the 25 Most Influential Gay and Lesbian Australians’ (2007 & 2009) and this year was one of four finalists for the ACON Community Hero Award.

Study supporting gay conversion challenged

Study supporting gay conversion challenged
October 4th, 2011 from CNN Health

A study designed by professors from two religious universities says that some people can change their sexual orientation after undergoing years of a ministry program.

“Evidence from the study suggested that change of homosexual orientation appears possible for some and that psychological distress did not increase on average as a result of the involvement in the change process,” wrote the authors of a study published in The Journal of Sex and Marital Therapy.

The authors are both psychologists who work at religious universities. Stanton Jones is a psychology professor and provost at Wheaton College in Wheaton, Illinois, and Mark Yarhouse is a professor of mental health at Regent University, in Virginia Beach, which was founded by televangelist Pat Robertson.

Their study findings have been challenged by other researchers who say that the bulk of the existing evidence indicates that sexual orientation does not change. Gay advocacy blogs have also disputed the findings.

Jones and Yarhouse's study followed 65 participants over a course of six to seven years as they attended Exodus Ministries, a religious program for “individuals and families impacted by homosexuality.” The individuals who attend the program seek to achieve “freedom from homosexuality through the power of Jesus Christ,” according to Exodus.

“It’s a study for people who are highly religious who are distressed by the experience of attraction,” Yarhouse said. “They want to know, is it even possible? What might I experience if I go into religious-based ministry?”

Initially, the study enrolled 98 individuals, but 35 dropped out of the program. Some who quit the study said they had been “healed of all homosexual inclinations,” and one person had re-embraced his gay identity, according to the study.

The courses were offered in 16 locations around the United States and met in small groups, spending time in prayer and reading the Bible.

The study authors followed "the change process" of the participants by conducting annual interviews, asking the same questions about sexual attraction, emotional or romantic infatuation and sexual fantasies. They used scales devised by sex researcher Alfred Kinsey and another measure called Shively-DeCecco scale.

Jones and Yarhouse's hypothesis was that sexual orientation is changeable.

After following the participants for six to seven years of the religious program, they concluded that 23% of the remaining people in the study were successful in changing their sexual orientation toward heterosexuality. And 30% turned toward chastity, which Yarhouse said was “a reduction from homosexual attraction.”

Also, 23% did not respond to the ministry’s treatment, 20% embraced their gay sexual orientation and the remaining percent reported confusion.

“The findings of this study appear to contradict the commonly expressed view that sexual orientation is not changeable,” the authors wrote.

The American Psychological Association declared in 2005 that homosexuality was not changeable. The association had also stated that there was no evidence that conversion or reparative therapy aimed at changing sexual orientation was safe or effective.

“The APA was making pretty strong statements that orientation really doesn’t change and that attempts to do so would be harmful,” said Yarhouse. “They were presenting absolutist claims about this immutability of orientation and great risk of harm. They were ideal questions for research. Can people change? Or is it truly an immutable characteristic?”

Eli Coleman, professor and director of Human Sexuality at the University of Minnesota Medical School was skeptical about the findings.

“We’ve been through this over and over,” he said. “You can get behavioral changes, but that’s not orientation change. You can get short-term behavioral change. It’s not sustained.”

Yarhouse emphasized that his findings followed the participants for several years. He acknowledged that there are many in the LGBT community who find religious conversion programs “deeply offensive.” But he said there are gay people who wish to change and do not embrace the gay identity or the gay community.

“I’d like to see mental health organizations to show greater respect for diversity for how a person chooses to live their life and live this out,” Yarhouse said.

The study could be confusing sexual identity and sexual orientation, which are distinctly different, said Dr. Jack Drescher, an associate professor of psychiatry at New York Medical College.

Sexual orientation refers to whom a person is attracted to, and in most cases, does not change, he said. But sexual identity is how a person feels about his or her orientation and sexual feelings, Drescher said.

For example, a man may feel strong attraction to males, but he may not self-identify as gay. He could change the way he identifies himself, whether it’s gay or straight throughout his life. But his sexual orientation does not usually change.

"I don’t think we have anything really new here," said Coleman. "We have known for sometime that some people are able to shift their behavior and their perception of their sexual identity through these attempts at conversion."

Drescher said the majority of the existing scientific evidence doesn’t support the latest study's findings.

“I think the authors have a bias and I have a bias,” Drescher said. “Everybody has a bias. That’s why we have accumulation of data – and that doesn’t support their data.”

“There are peer-reviewed studies in the literature and the sum of all the literature does not indicate these treatments are effective,” he said. “If one study comes out that seems to contradict the bulk of the scientific research that proves that people can change - that’s interesting, can they replicate it?”

Drescher also said that the study doesn’t explore whether bisexuality played a role in the reported sexual orientation changes.

He disagreed with the findings that religious therapies do not harm people, saying he had several patients who blamed themselves after failing programs and fell into depression, anxiety and suicidal thoughts.

“They’re told it’s up to them if they don’t change,” Drescher said. “When it fails, as it fails in majority of cases, they feel like failures, after they’ve spent time and effort and money.

“Some of these people, on the advice of therapists, get married, then they have kids. Gay people have been getting married. When they get married, they don’t change. What do they do, stay married? It’s a complicated issue.”

Read my review of Homosexuality: The Use of Scientific Research in the Church's Moral Debate. Jones & Yarnhouse here