I certainly agree about the need for context. Thanks for calling attention to the symposium…

I find that when I get into the back and forth with my liberal friends (and I count myself among them) they claim victory over me because of their certainty of some “fact.” I answer back that the fact alone doesn't do enough, doesn't address the whole truth of a human circumstance. I open myself up, then, to the kinds of criticism that I saw Scasta get.

I must say, though, that your clarification of the GCN article quotes sounds very clear to me. Did you send it to GCN and did they not at least print it in their letters?

The symposium, approved by the APA program committee 7 months ago, would have included a presentation of the sexual identity therapy framework and related issues which would have allowed for questions and discussion.

The GCN said I am an advocate for sexual identity therapy and described it this way:

“Sexual Identity Therapy,” which he [Throckmorton] says he has successfully applied to help patients “alter homosexual feelings or behaviors” and live their lives “heterosexually” with “only very few weak instances of homosexual attraction.”

This is false. The article attributes to me claims about SIT I have never made. In fact, the SIT framework says this:

Prior to outlining the recommendations, let us define what they are not. They are not sexual reorientation therapy protocols in disguise.

The SIT framework, first contemplated formally in 2005, does not advance any means to do what the GCN article references (”alter homosexual feelings or behavior”), nor do they provide any reference for their assertion. Putting these phrases in quotes makes it appear that I have been quoted in reference to SIT when in fact that is not true. The SIT framework provides an ethical set of guidelines for therapists and clients pursuing a variety of goals but does not prescribe any specific goals. Some clients may wish to alter their sexual behavior but SIT does not prescribe this end unless it is the objective of an individual client.

The article said that there is no research support for the SIT framework and while it is true that we have no outcome studies as yet. It is misleading to portray it as being without research foundation. A review of the SIT framework will demonstrate that we have taken into account current research regarding sexual orientation, sexual identity and specify that clients should be informed about the positions of professional associations regarding homosexuality. The framework has been endorsed by Robert Spitzer and Nicholas Cummings both pioneers in psychiatry and psychology respectively.

At he same time, the concept of hell and its terrors strikes me as a remnant from ancient mythologies that has no place in genuinely tolerant societies, whether it's directed at groups, other individuals or the self.