Rapidly rising, liberal, lesbian, former Rhodes Scholar, MSNBC commentator Rachel Maddow took on one of the "homosexual-healing" gurus over the role that his book and his organization are playing in the horrific bill before the Ugandan parliament that would impose the death penalty on homosexuals and mandate jail time for their friends and relatives who do not turn them in.
Richard Cohen is creator and head of The International Healing Foundation and the author of Coming Out Straight. He promotes the idea that homosexuality is a choice and that it can be changed -- and he has a method that he claims has helped "thousands" come out of the homosexual life style.
He has a master's degree in counseling, although he has been kicked out of the American Counseling Association, and he is not licensed to practice in any state. This is strange, since he supposedly has a degree that would ordinarily allow one to be licensed as a counselor. He claims to have overcome his own homosexual life and has now been happily married for 27 years with 3 children. He presents this personal story as his credential for helping others like himself.
In Cohen's defense, he has distanced himself from this proposed law in Uganda, although a member of his group did go there and spoke to parliament about how homosexuals could change and distributed copies of his book -- which, while not actually supporting the criminalization, gives them the supposedly authoritative rationale for holding people criminally liable for continuing to be homosexual.
In contrast to Cohen's claims, all of the major mental health organizations in the U.S. have warned against this approach of attempting to change people's sexual orientation -- and all of the scientific evidence suggests that their methods do more harm than good.
Rachel strongly challenged him on certain statements in his book, specifically his citing the thoroughly discredited Paul Cameron's pseudo-science claims that portray gay men as predatory child abusers. The methodology of that junk science is so flawed as to be laughable and has been dismissed by any serious psychologist. Paul Cameron is a psychologist who has been kicked out of both the American Psychological Association and the American Sociological Association for his unethical behavior; and his "studies" have appeared only in a journal that publishes for pay and without peer review.
Rachel also challenged Cohen on including "race" as one of the factors that can contribute to being homosexual. He had no answer when she asked him how race could make you gay, at first denying that he had written that until she read it to him from his book.
I know Richard Cohen. He and I were "expert witnesses" on opposite sides of the case in a Louisiana District Court in 1998. At that time, he made the same claims without any substantiation. When asked by the opposing lawyer about his results, he claimed to have helped "hundreds and hundreds" of homosexual men to change. When asked about follow up studies to determine whether those changes were lasting, he dismissively scoffed that he didn't have time for that. His whole demeanor was that of a showman and a huckster, not a professional clinician; he even brought along a clack of supporters who clapped loudly when he finished testifying -- an outburst that brought a stern rebuke from the judge.
The reparative therapy group at NARTH has distanced itself from Cohen; he's a little too flip and extreme, even for those proponents of "healing homosexuality."
Unfortunately, there is still this level of virulent homophobia in the world that makes this capital punishment bill in Uganda a serious possibility of becoming law. In a number of Muslim theocracies, gays can be, and are, executed -- although I believe this proposed bill, that would criminalize failure to inform on family members, is the most extreme.
We have come a long way in the U.S. in overcoming homophobia. There is still a long way to go worldwide. The Richard Cohens say they are only offering a service for people who don't want to be gay; but they should figure out some way to "first do no harm." Claiming that it's a choice and that people can change (refuted by all the major mental health organizations) gives ammunition for those whose hate-filled vehemence leads them to kill, or to pass laws to make it legal to kill, gay people.
Thank you, Rachel, for exposing this on national TV.
To watch the interview go to: http://tpmlivewire.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/12/maddow-debunks-cure-for-homosexuality.php?ref=mp
Ralph
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In writing this out, I realized that Richard Cohen's function in this proposed Ugandan capital punishment bill is exactly the same as his funtion in the New Orleans courtroom in 1998.
ReplyDeleteHis testimony there was the same: it is a choice, people can change if they want to. The state then used this argument to bolster its case that the sodomy law does not cause undue hardship or discrimination on gay people -- because they have a choice to avoid the behavior that would get them arrested.
And Cohen willingly lent his message for that known purpose. Well, he had to admit that he was paid rather well for his testimony. I gave my testimony for free.
So, in Uganda, he sends one of his team to preach his message to Parliament -- so they can then say they are justified in passing this law. People have a choice; they can avoid the penalty.
But then he refuses to take the consequences of his actions by disavowing any support for such a draconian law.
Slick operator; sells lots of books; rakes in the money.