Homosexual activist pressure campaign drove Spitzer to disavow his own study on “ex-gay” therapy, but Archives of Sexual Behavior editor refused to retract it

Target of Homosexual Pressure Campaign: The late Dr. Robert Spitzer, above, reported in a landmark 2003 academic study that “there is evidence that change in sexual orientation following some form of reparative therapy does occur in some gay men and lesbians.” “Gay” activists barraged him with criticism, so much so that he later disavowed his own study–which, however, was NOT retracted. See the study HERE and the abstract of it below.

Folks, below is an excerpt of a critically important Crisis Magazine piece by Linda Ames Nicolosi, formerly the publications director of NARTH (and wife of Joe Nicolosi). Her subject, Robert Spitzer, played a tragic yet pivotal role in the normalization of homosexuality and the advancement of the homosexual political and cultural agenda. But, as Linda describes, for a time he also advanced the truth that people can indeed overcome unwanted homosexual attractions–by authoring a landmark 2003 study of 200 homosexual men and lesbians who self-reported a “change from homosexual to heterosexual orientation.” This seemingly most politically incorrect of all realities is anathema to homosexualist (“gay”) ideologues, who mercilessly hammered Spitzer–then an old man–ultimately manipulating him into disavowing his own research. Note that, despite his requests, the editor of Archives of Sexual Behavior, Kenneth Zucker, refused to retract Spitzer’s study because the data had not been falsified.

Remember: reports of homosexual people who tried to change but couldn’t are counter-balanced by the many people who have successfully left homosexual lifestyles behind. Of course, in line with the LGBT propaganda tactic that I call “Focus on the Failures,” the latter get far less media attention than the former. You can read the full Crisis article HERE. — Peter LaBarbera, AFTAH

Below is the abstract of the 2003 Spitzer study;

Position statements of the major mental health organizations in the United States state that there is no scientific evidence that a homosexual sexual orientation can be changed by psychotherapy, often referred to as “reparative therapy.” This study tested the hypothesis that some individuals whose sexual orientation is predominantly homosexual can, with some form of reparative therapy, become predominantly heterosexual. The participants were 200 self-selected individuals (143 males, 57 females) who reported at least some minimal change from homosexual to heterosexual orientation that lasted at least 5 years. They were interviewed by telephone, using a structured interview that assessed same sex attraction, fantasy, yearning, and overt homosexual behavior. On all measures, the year prior to the therapy was compared to the year before the interview. The majority of participants gave reports of change from a predominantly or exclusively homosexual orientation before therapy to a predominantly or exclusively heterosexual orientation in the past year. Reports of complete change were uncommon. Female participants reported significantly more change than did male participants. Either some gay men and lesbians, following reparative therapy, actually change their predominantly homosexual orientation to a predominantly heterosexual orientation or some gay men and women construct elaborate self-deceptive narratives (or even lie) in which they claim to have changed their sexual orientation, or both. For many reasons, it is concluded that the participants’ self-reports were, by-and-large, credible and that few elaborated self-deceptive narratives or lied. Thus, there is evidence that change in sexual orientation following some form of reparative therapy does occur in some gay men and lesbians.

____________________________________

The Bob Spitzer I Knew

By Linda Ames Nicolosi, in Crisis Magazine, January 11, 2016

When I opened the newspaper a couple of days after Christmas, I was surprised by a familiar face in the obituaries section: psychiatrist Robert Spitzer. The name brought back a flood of bittersweet personal memories. I had learned something about human nature from Bob Spitzer, and also about politics as they play out behind the scenes in the mental-health establishment.

About 15 years before, Spitzer had asked me to help him with a new research project he was working on—a study of people who had come out of a gay lifestyle. He needed help on his wording and the expression of concepts, and I was, at the time, publications director for NARTH (National Association for Research and Therapy of Homosexuality).

Fox News-enforced Political Correctness: Anchor Bret Baier [e-mail: special@foxnews.com] confirms that Fox News requested that he pull out of a Jan 28-29 conference for the Catholic group Legatus. Baier chided a Legatus writer for not being “loving” enough, and for calling homosexuality a “disorder.” Yet the Catholic Catechism teaches that both homosexual behavior and inclinations are “disordered.” Meanwhile, FOX News funds a “gay journalists” group that promotes sexual behavior condemned by the Catholic Church and the Bible. [See Peter LaBarbera’s in-depth report on Fox’s pro-homosexual bias and funding of an activist-minded homosexual journalists association HERE.]

• Anchor cites Pope Francis in agreeing with network decision to withdraw as speaker;

• Baier says Legatus writer not “loving” enough; criticizes calling homosexuality a “disorder” even though that is Catholic teaching;

• Gov. Mike Huckabee, Austin Ruse sign up as new Legatus speakers, defying “Gay Thought Police”

• Do Bret Baier, Gary Sinise and Pete Coors owe Legatus and Catholics an apology?

By Peter LaBarbera

The following e-mail note was sent Friday by Fox News’ “Special Report” anchor Bret Baier [E-mail: special@FOXNEWS.COM] in response to an AFTAH newsletter subscriber who wrote him expressing concern over Baier’s decision to pull out as a scheduled speaker from a conference later this month by the Catholic group Legatus. [See previous AFTAH story on Legatus HERE.]

As you can read below, as justification for abandoning his commitment to Legatus, Baier criticizes a Legatus writer who wrote about “same-sex attraction disorder” for not being “loving” and “accepting” enough–e.g., for referring to homosexuality as a “disorder.” However, Baier, who describes himself as a “lifelong mass attending Catholic,” might want to study up on his own Church’s moral teachings. The Catholic Church Catechism describes the homosexual “inclination” as “objectively disordered,” and same-sex acts as “intrinsically disordered.”

The good news is that Legatus has had no trouble filling the politically correct speakers’ void, with former GOP presidential contender Mike Huckabee–a former Fox News host himself–sending a powerful message by leading the pack of new speakers advertised for the January 28-29 summit. Joining Huckabee are Catholic pro-family activist Austin Ruse and ex-CEO and professor Harry Kraemer.

Also, as AFTAH reported, Louisana Gov. Bobby Jindal never buckled to “gay” activist pressure by remaining as a speaker [call Gov. Jindal at 225-342-7015], and New York Catholic Cardinal Timothy Dolan will say a Mass at the Legatus event.

Bottom Line: Fox News’ Values Upside-Down

Here is the bottom line of this controversy: Fox News directly finances and sponsors pro-“gay” media events that promote homosexual behavior and ideology–including same-sex “marriage”–condemned by the Catholic Church. They also recruit at these activist-oriented events: see their sponsorship of last year’s National Lesbian & Gay Journalists Association (NLGJA) conference in Chicago, attended by this writer, and my in-depth special report on Fox News pro-“gay” bias and ongoing funding of the NLGJA.

At the same time, Fox News apparently discourages its on-air talent from participating in wholesome, faith-based events that uphold traditional sexual morality, e.g., those espoused by longstanding Catholic Church teachings on sex and marriage.

What a shame. The good news is that more and more Americans despise the upside-down world of political correctness and the emerging “gay activist hecklers’ veto” that demonizes pro-family leaders and groups with the loaded accusation of being “anti-gay” and falsely smears them as being “hateful” merely because they uphold historic Judeo-Christian morality.

Fox Recruits at “Gay Journalist” Event: Fox News recruiting table at homosexual journalists (NLGJA) convention, held last year in Chicago. Photo: Peter LaBarbera, AFTAH; Click to enlarge.

Enough is enough. Thank you, Mike Huckabee and Austin Ruse (Center for Family and Human Rights) for defying the intolerant “Gay” Censors! [Contact Huckabee HERE and Ruse at (202)393-7002.]

Personally, I believe Fox News and Bret Baier–as well as actor Gary Sinise and businessman Pete Coors—owe an apology to Legatus and all faithful Catholics–and defenders of biblical morality everywhere. Here is Legatus’ gracious media statement on the speakers situation. AFTAH will have more on this story. Full contact information to reach Baier and the others can be found HERE.–Peter LaBarbera, AFTAH

PS. It is hard to reach Fox News’ higher-ups, but you can send a letter to Fox News President Roger Ailes here:

Fox News Channel
Attn: Roger Ailes
1211 Avenue of the Americas
New York, NY 10036

__________________________

Following is Baier’s note followed by the short note to him sent by an AFTAH reader:

From: Show -Special [special@FOXNEWS.COM]
Sent: Friday, January 16, 2015 2:37 PM
To: [xxxxxx]
Subject: RE: Legatus cancellation

LaBarbera allowed provisional entry into Canada for ‘Mischief’ trial Oct. 30 stemming from April protest at public university

Canada’s “Hate” Police: Above is an excerpt of the Border Services Agency  document issued against Peter LaBarbera when he was originally denied entry into Canada in April on the basis that he and AFTAH “incite hate” in violation of the nation’s Hate Propaganda” law. LaBarbera was subsequently allowed into the country, but later arrested at a peaceful pro-life/pro-family protest at the University of Regina. Click to enlarge.

By Peter LaBarbera

UPDATE from author: After a short meeting in Regina with a Border Services official this morning, I was allowed to travel and speak in Canada until the completion of my trial Thursday upon agreeing to these two provisions:

“While in Canada:

• “If I am on private property, and am asked to leave that property by the owner for any reason, I must leave the property immediately;
• “If I am issued a direction or command by a police officer or other person in authority, follow that direction immediately.”

REGINA, Saskatchewan, Canada–Customs agents detained this writer (AFTAH president Peter LaBarbera) and did an intense search of my phone, laptop and belongings–as I arrived at Calgary International Airport late last night on the first leg of a trip to Regina, Saskatchewan for my trial on “mischief” charges October 30.

The mischief charges were filed against me and Canadian pro-family activist Bill Whatcott after Whatcott, and then me, refused on free speech grounds to abandon a peaceful protest April 12 against abortion and sodomy at the University of Regina in Saskatchewan, a public university. [See AFTAH article HERE and LifeSiteNews article HERE on how I was almost refused entry into Canada on the basis of AFTAH’s alleged “hate.”]

The Calgary Border Services agents confiscated a DVD copy of a new Russian documentary called “Sodom” as potential “hate propaganda” in violation of Canadian law banning material or people who could potentially “incite hate” based on “sexual orientation.”

Ironically, “Sodom”–which I have yet to watch–is available and easily accessible in Canada (and worldwide) on YouTube. Whatcott told me that he had already shared the documentary with his network of Canadian supporters across the country. “Sodom” features an interview with American pro-family leader Scott Lively of Defend the Family International. Lively, who received AFTAH’s American Truth-Teller Award on 2011, is currently running for governor as an independent in Massachusetts.

If the Russian film is deemed “hate propaganda” by the government’s “Prohibited Importation Unit” in Ottawa, it will be destroyed, two border agents informed me. If “Sodom” does not meet that designation, it will be mailed back to my home in Illinois.

Either way, the seizure of the film would make it impossible for me to view and/or present it to others in Canada–were it not easily accessible to everybody with a web connection on YouTube. Such is the folly of state censorship in an Internet age.

Customs hearing today

Canadian pro-family activist Bill Whatcott and AFTAH’s Peter LaBarbera.

Despite my two-and-a-half hour detainment in Calgary, agents ordered me to attend another hearing today (Tuesday) with Immigration officials in Regina at 11:00 A.M.–for “further examination” on my “admissibility” into Canada. Nevertheless, Border Services agents told me that I would be able to attend my “Mischief” trial in Regina on Thursday and that I am “innocent until proven guilty” under Canadian law.

A border agent named Shane Paul (I called him “Paul” because that was on his uniform and I presumed that was his first name) asked me questions about a small speaking engagement I was to have with Whatcott and others this (Tuesday) evening. I was unsure of the location of the meeting, as the venue has been changed three times already–because skittish Canadians pulled out from hosting the event fearing leftist protests. You can read about one cancellation in the Regina Leader-Post HERE (Note: not included in the story is Whatcott’s assertion that the prospective host, Greg Kulak, was not telling the truth when he claimed NOT to know the nature of the event.) By the way, Whatcott distributed thousands of fliers advertising the event–which Kulak’s cowardly pullout rendered meaningless by abandoning the listed location for it.

As an American, let me say that it is remarkable how far official political correctness – enforced and encouraged by sometimes fanatical left-wing activists and abetted by an anti-conservative media – has not only shut down conservative speech in Canada but succeeded in punishing people who run afoul of various liberal ideologies—not limited to pro-homosexualism. For example, the Canadian owners of a conservative website, “Free Dominion,” shut it down after 13 years of operation in January after losing a defamation lawsuit to “human rights” legal activist Richard Warman. They were fined a total of $107,000 and ordered not to print anything negative about the leftist Warman—effectively censoring them as a public forum [See LifeSite article HERE].

In the two years that I have worked closely with Bill Whatcott, I have seen the extraordinary harassment and soft (and hard) tyranny he has had to endure in his quest to get out biblical truth and facts about homosexuality and abortion. Whatcott, who distributes tens of thousands of fliers door-to-door every year, was found guilty of Canada’s “Hate Propaganda” law by Canada’s highest court. Earlier this year, he was denied service by Aaron Rubin, a computer shop in Weybourn because the owner did not like Bill’s views; Whatcott sued under the “human rights” laws and won and–in a demonstration of Christian grace–did not push for a big financial judgment but instead asked Rubin to do volunteer service for a local pro-life group. Rubin opted not to do the service and paid a mere $200 to have it done.

Recently, Whatcott tried to submit a simple ad for his event tonight (where I am to speak) to the Regina Leader-Post newspaper. The ad’s innocuous headline was “Bringing the Light of Christ to Our Culture”–but that did not matter; it was refused anyway. He could have another “human rights” victory in store if he sues the liberal paper for anti-religious discrimination. (Canada’s Charter of Rights and Freedoms ostensibly protects religious freedom.) But even if the ad had run, Whatcott would have been chased out of the venue for the event.

With such relentless leftist pressure led by a few fanatics like Warman, it is only the rare, brave soul like Whatcott who fights on for Truth in Canada, while so many others fall away in fear. (Note that in the Chicago area, AFTAH, too, has been chased out of venues after the leftist activists with the Gay Liberation Network wielded their spurious “hate group” accusation against us.)

Searching my phone, laptop, books and papers–again

Anyway, I cooperated fully with the Border Services “investigation” of me at the Calgary airport, as I did in April at the Regina International Airport. Agent Paul and another Agent with the last name of Meehan went through—as in April—my:

• Phone
• Laptop
• Books (including Dr. Michael Brown’s “Can You Be Gay and Christian?”; his book, “Something Queer Happened to America”; Robert Reilly’s book, “Making Gay OK”; and Frank Turek’s “Correct, Not Politically Corrrect: How Same-Sex  Marriage Hurts Everyone”)
• Tracts: I brought a bunch of ex-“gay” Stephen Bennett’s tract “I WAS ‘Gay’”; and
• Papers

When Shane asked me about Westboro Baptist Church (with its “God Hates Fags” message), I told him that AFTAH has always condemned Westboro, as has every other pro-family group I have worked with. I told them that AFTAH has long condemned violence and genuine hatred against homosexuals or anyone, for that matter.

At one point in the search, Shane asked me if I had children and then I asked him if he had children. He asked me as if offended: “Why do you ask that?” and then said, “I’m gay.” I told him I meant nothing by it and that I ask a lot of people that question. I told him my five children are a tremendous blessing and he said he may want to adopt children some day.

Once Shane’s “gayness” was out in the open, it was almost easier to have a conversation about my work and the larger homosexual issue. I told him that disagreement with homosexuality does not equal “hate,” despite the best efforts of LGBT activists to conflate the two. He and Meehan laughed when I told them that I couldn’t be a “homophobe” because if I truly “feared” homosexuals, I could not do AFTAH’s work, which requires me to be around many homosexuals.

Despite the awkwardness of the situation, it helped this time, compared to my April airport search in Regina, that Shane and Meehan, the two fellows handling my entry at Calgary, were actually interested in my explanation of what I and AFTAH do. They appreciated my defense of civility in the “gay” debate and I think Shane was satisfied that I didn’t hate him or homosexuals in general. I thanked him for his professionalism.

Shane asked me if anything i would present on Wednesday could be construed as “hateful.” I told him no, but explained that they’re is a lively debate going on in the culture about what constitutes “hate” on this question. I explained, and he agreed, that we could have a civil discussion about homosexuality and yet agree to disagree.

Paul discovered in my belongings the Human Right Campaign report, “Exporting Hate,” with its highly unflattering graphics of me and Michael Brown, and Mat Staver. (Others are targeted in the “Hate” booklet, but I only taken copies of the pages with the shadowy images of myself, Brown and Staver.)

He asked me about this quotation accurately attributed to me by the HRC “Export of Hate” hit-piece:

“Kids would ‘be better off in a single-parent household [compared to a homosexual-led household]…because you’re not modeling homosexual behavior. When you have two men raising a young child, that child grows up learning, basically, dysfunction and a sexual perversion as normality.” (Alan Colmes Show, 1/7/14)

Shane seemed especially concerned about my use of the word “perversion” and suggested in so many words that there is no religious (biblical) case for that word. I explained that historically the word has been used in association with homosexuality and that we also make the case that Natural Law opposes homosexuality.

Stay tuned for updates. Please pray for my meeting with Immigration officials today, and for our meeting (if it happens) this evening—and lastly, for Bill’s and my trial Thursday in Regina on the ridiculous “Mischief” charge leveled against us for defending life and sexual morality at—of all places—a public university.

Former football star and TV announcer Craig James becomes the latest victim of intolerant, pro-homosexual liberal groupthink. In a 2012 GOP debate in Texas, James said America is in a moral crisis and that homosexuals will have to answer to God for practicing that sin.

TAKE ACTION: 1) Contact Fox Sports HERE about their firing of Craig James just because he voiced his Christian moral convictions during a GOP candidates debate. You can watch on YouTube what James said in 2012 HERE.; 2) Read the America’s Survival in-depth report by AFTAH’s Peter LaBarbera on Fox News’ growing pro-homosexual bias and urge Fox to include more social and moral conservatives in its reporting and commentary; contact Fox HERE.

The excerpt below is from a terrific column by our good friend Michael Brown (author of A Queer Thing Happened to America), which was published today in Charisma magazine’s website. Regarding Fox Sports’ shameful firing of Craig James, I sent out these tweets this morning:

Watch out, Christians (and moral-minded people): The (Pro-) ‘Gay’ Thought Police are EVERYWHERE, and they WILL find you! #CraigJames

Craig James gets fired for saying homosexuality is sin. Dan Savage gets new MTV show after “redefining” Rick [Santorum’s last name] as fecal matter.

Liberal intolerance is growing + it’s not good for America. Craig James joins list of #Christians PUNISHED for expressing their faith.

As America rapidly de-Christianizes, it becomes more and more intolerant of biblical speech. God help us if we continue down this road of sexual immorality that has brought about the downfall of other great civilizations. — Peter LaBarbera, AFTAH; on Twitter @PeterLaBarbera; “Like” and follow AFTAH on Facebook

____________________________________

Keith Olbermann, Craig James and the Shocking Example of Double Standards

By Michael Brown, CharismaNews.com

So this is what our society has come to. Within a 10-day period, sportscaster Craig James was fired by Fox Sports for comments he had made against homosexuality during a political campaign last year while Keith Olbermann was lauded for his 9-minute anti-Russia, pro-homosexuality rant on ESPN. The double standards are as glaring as they are shocking.

As reported on Advocate.com, a leading gay website, “Keith Olbermann opened his ESPN show last night with a scathing rant against Russia’s antigay laws and the International Olympic Committee’s response to calls for a boycott of the Winter Games in Sochi.

“Olbermann’s nine-minute tirade brilliantly pointed out the ridiculousness of recent comments by President Vladimir Putin—who has tried to claim Russia’s so-called gay propaganda law is not homophobic.”