Op-ed: NPR Should Apologize for Parroting “Ex-Gay” Propaganda

In a recent television show discussing "ex-gay" therapy,renowned author and psychiatrist Jack Drescher put the discredited practicein its proper perspective: "This is so far outside the mainstream it'spractically on Mars."

Unfortunately, the media keeps putting on its space suit andblasting off with "ex-gay" propaganda that places its debunked theories on parwith legitimate therapy backed by the American Psychiatric Association,American Psychological Association, American Medical Association, and AmericanAcademy of Pediatrics.

We've come to expect such farce from the Fox "News" Channel,run by the reprobate Rupert Murdoch. However, the elevation of "ex-gay" junkscience all too often occurs in the allegedly "liberal media." (Or is it LazyMedia?)

For example, NPR aired a segment this week that inexplicablyclaimed, "The debate about the value of conversion therapy, also known asreparative therapy, has been raging in psychological circles for more than adecade."

In reality, the debate began to ebb in 1973, when theAmerican Psychiatric Association removed homosexuality from its list of mentaldisorders. In 2009 the American Psychological Association conducted anexhaustive study on the efficacy of "ex-gay" therapy. The press release said itall: "No evidence that sexual orientation change efforts work, says APA," and"Practitioners should avoid telling clients that they can change from gay tostraight."

What about this vivid APA statement isn't clear to mediaoutlets like NPR?

There is absolutely no "debate about the value of conversiontherapy" taking place among real scientists. What we have on one hand aregenuine researchers who believe the issue has long been settled, and on theother hand a politically motivated marketing campaign by the "ex-gay" industrywith the goal of tricking news outlets into thinking a controversy is actuallyoccurring.

It is depressing that NPR, a top-notch news organization,was so easily hoodwinked and ended up parroting the antigay party line. I canonly imagine the exuberant high fives at the headquarters of the "ex-gay" groupPeople Can Change when they realized that NPR had bought their baloney.

The erosion of good journalism has much to do with the"Foxification" of news -- where the ethos of accuracy is superseded by thecorrosive value of balance. In this culture of news corruption, extremists withviewpoints from Mars are placed side by side with experts from Earth. To thecasual viewer, the media platform given to the inane creates a falseequivalency with the respected ideas of the sane. This pollutes the mainstreamand weakens our national identity, which relies on a general consensus regardingagreed-upon, scientifically valid facts.

The "science" used to bolster the "ex-gay" myth has alwaysbeen weak, but in recent years the entire house of cards has collapsed. First,there is the aforementioned 2009 APA study, which placed the entire weight ofthe mental health community squarely against "ex-gay" therapy.

Second, the revelation that the infamous Masters andJohnson's 1979 book Homosexuality in Perspective was a hoax badlyundermined "ex-gay" efforts. William H. Masters and Virginia E. Johnson, thehusband-and-wife sex research team, went on Meet the Press Sunday, April 22,1979, to discuss their findings that claimed they had convertedhomosexuals into heterosexuals. However, in his groundbreaking recent book, Mastersof Sex, author Thomas Maier documented through investigativereporting that the results of Masters and Johnson's study were entirelyfabricated. Virginia Johnson even acknowledged that the results were fake.

A third blow came with the findings in June by researcherJim Burroway and CNN's AC 360 that undermined one of the most significant"ex-gay" studies. Prior to getting caught with an escort from RentBoy.com, George Rekers was the "ex-gay" industry's most prominent therapist. Even afterthis tawdry scandal, Rekers's research touting the alleged sexual conversion of aboy named "Kraig" was still widely cited by "ex-gay" therapists. Burroway andCNN discovered, however, that "Kraig" had grown up to be a gay man and hisfamily believed the therapy with Rekers may have led to his suicide.

Anecdotal evidence also undermines the "ex-gay" myth. In1998, 15 antigay organizations backed a million-dollar campaign featuring"ex-gay" poster boys John Paulk and Michael Johnston. In 2000, I photographedPaulk in a Washington, D.C., gay bar. In 2003, Virginia attorney Michael Hamarand I revealed that Johnston was having intercourse with men he met men online.Prior to this, the founder of Homosexuals Anonymous, Colin Cook, had to stepdown after engaging in sexual acts with his clients. Two of ExodusInternational's cofounders, Michael Bussee and Gary Cooper, left their wivesto marry each other.

What we are left with are fantastical tales oftransformation from individuals like People Can Change's Rich Wyler, who runsthe profitable Journey Into Manhood (JIM), seminar. In this program, grownmen spend $650 for a weekend in the woods, blaming their parents for the fact that they are gay, and hugging and petting other closeted homosexuals in an allegedlynonsexual manner.

On the NPR segment, Wyler also made the specious andscientifically bankrupt claim that he turned gay because he wasn't close to hisfather. That defies logic and ignores the countless gay men, such as myself, who are close to their fathers. Why didn't NPR adequately challenge this phony cause-and-effect drivelspouted by Wyler?

The media outlet also did not question Wyler on his creepyform of hugging therapy that allegedly takes place in what journalist Ted Cox,who reported from inside JIM weekend, called the "Cuddle Room." Sadly, NPRreduced what should have been a serious investigation into the real harm causedby "ex-gay" therapy into a tit-for-tat and did virtually nothing to challengethe false claims made in the segment.

Substandard reporting on this topic is not unique to NPR.Earlier this year, the Oprah Winfrey Network's Our America With Lisa Ling produced what may have been the shallowest programon this issue in recent memory. She basically took what "ex-gay" activists saidat face value and did nothing to challenge their outrageous claims.

The news media used to be an ally in debunking the "ex-gay"myth. But these days journalists often don't do their homework, which inadvertentlyallows "ex-gay" activists to promote junk science. This phenomenon is difficultto stop because the media love a good freak show. and the spectacle of "ex-gays" is perfect for boosting ratings. Some talk show producers are so desperate tobook "ex-gays" that they unethically allow these activists to pick theiron-air opponents and blacklist others so they have an easier timedisseminating misinformation. For instance, I have learned that ExodusInternational's president, Alan Chambers, has told at least four different televisionproducers that if I were interviewed, no "ex-gays" would appear on their shows.

It is of great significance that the news media and talkshows get this issue right because hateful antigay propaganda creates ahostile climate and has consequences. A 2010 Intelligence Report by theSouthern Poverty Law Center puts the problem in perspective: Homosexuals or perceived homosexuals areby far the group most targeted in America for violent hate crimes, according toan Intelligence Report analysis of 14 years of federal hate-crime data. The bottom line: Gay people are morethan twice as likely to be attacked in a violent hate crime as Jews or blacks;more than four times as likely as Muslims; and 14 times as likely as Latinos.

It is incredibly disappointing that NPR exacerbated thesituation by allowing falsehoods to flower and fiction to obscure fact. Itowes LGBT people an apology for not adhering to its usually rigorousstandards. When we hear NPR, we don't expect it to mean Nonsensical Propagandafrom the Right.

Wayne Besen is the founder of Truth Wins Out, which fights the notion of conversion therapy.