Columnists :: Holding The Center
A cure for what doesn’t ail me by Richard J. Rosendall
contributing writerWednesday Dec 5, 2007 Sharon Kass of Silver Spring, Maryland, though a stranger, is concerned for my welfare. She first emailed me in March 2006 with links to several "ex-gay" websites. In September 2006 she wrote, "When you heal your early emotional wounds, you will be able to assess present danger more realistically and respond to it more effectively." She knows nothing about my childhood; she merely recites the ex-gay dogma that homosexuality results from early childhood trauma.
When Kass learned of a D.C. community forum on civil marriage equality set for Dec. 6, she sent a message to several gay activists and city officials. She wrote that "marriage is an institution specifically dedicated to the relationship of man and woman," and that "homosexual and transgender feelings are symptoms of emotional disorders...." I replied as follows.
"Ms. Kass, I am sorry to see your continued obsession against gay people and transgenders, who mean you no harm and simply want equality under the law. Notwithstanding your expression of concern on our behalf, your many slanders, unfounded claims, and preposterous statements make it clear that if anyone is suffering from an emotional disorder it is yourself. Your residence in Maryland shows you to be just another meddling outsider. I am responding to you because I believe it is important not to let anti-gay lies go unanswered.
"First of all, homosexuality and transgenderism are two different things, but what they have in common is the harm caused by ignorant and intolerant people like you.
"Your claim that homosexuality is an emotional disorder is rejected by the American Academy of Pediatrics, the American Counseling Association, the American Psychiatric Association, the American Psychological Association, the National Association of School Psychologists, and the National Association of Social Workers. You state, ’The conditions of homosexuality and transgenderism indicate gender self-alienation stemming from unfavorable early life experiences.’ This reference to ’unfavorable early life experiences’ is an old slander that does not become true by endless repetition. The sources you cite, including NARTH and P-FOX, are notorious for their junk science. Their so-called ’cures’ are no more legitimate as therapy than the old ’water cure’ torture, now known as waterboarding.
"The fraud of ex-gay therapy is illustrated by so-called ex-gays like John Paulk whose homosexuality has reasserted itself despite being denied and repressed. You state that supporters of gay equality ’have undermined the American political process with false authority and coercion,’ yet it is you and your allies who routinely cite discredited authorities and who seek to coerce gay people into pretending to be something we are not.
"Your statement on marriage implicitly and ahistorically asserts that the institution is unchanging. The past fifty years show how false that claim is. Marriage is no more unchanging than language, and is no more threatened by the inclusion of same-sex couples than it was by the emancipation of women. To be sure, it has been challenged by social equality movements, but unlike you I believe it is up to those challenges.
"Your reference to ’the complementariness of the sexes’ brings to mind Plato’s Symposium, in which Aristophanes describes humans as searching for their ’lost halves,’ some same-sex and others opposite-sex. It is unclear why you find it necessary to ignore natural variations in human populations in favor of forcibly imposing a single standard on everyone; but it is clear that you see ’human nature’ not as something to observe but as something to impose by fiat. This is fundamentally unscientific, authoritarian, and inhumane.
"As for transgenders, there are many resources which you could easily find if you were interested in learning rather than lecturing. There is still much professional misunderstanding about transgenders, but my colleagues and I believe that understanding begins by letting transgenders speak for themselves. In this regard, I recommend that you visit http://www.genderpsychology.org/ to read ’the personal experiences of a transsexual psychologist and a scientific critique of the psychopathology of gender identity disorder.’ In one article, a male-to-female transsexual named Madeline writes to her parents, ’Perhaps the answer is that transitioning does not make me happy. Transitioning is what makes it possible for me to find happiness.’
"The following links provide additional resources for non-prejudicial information about gay and transgender people: APA Resolution on Appropriate Therapeutic Responses to Sexual Orientation, www.apa.org/pi/sexual.html; The Williams Institute, www.law.ucla.edu/williamsinstitute//home.html; Gay and Lesbian Medical Association, www.glma.org; National Coalition for LGBT Health, www.lgbthealth.net; National Center for Transgender Equality, www.nctequality.org/Resources/resources.html; Wayne Besen, Anything but Straight, www.anythingbutstraight.com/.
"You claim that ’the ex-gay movement is rising and will prevail. The 2008 presidential race may well occasion its decisive victory.’ To the contrary, your movement is increasingly discredited. As to the presidential race, it is unclear how an election could validate scientific and medical claims that professional experts have overwhelmingly rejected. If anything, the pathetic parade of exposed anti-gay closet cases like Sen. Larry Craig presents a cautionary tale of the misery caused by denying one’s true nature.
"Sincerely, Rick Rosendall"
I expect Ms. Kass is a lost cause, but many in her target audience are not. They are the reason we need to refute such lies.
Richard J. Rosendall is a writer and activist whose work has appeared on Salon.com and the Independent Gay Forum (www.indegayforum.com). He can be reached at rrosendall@starpower.net.
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