Alternative view says homosexuals can change

Therapy finds an icon
They also herald the findings of Dr. Robert L. Spitzer of Columbia University, the odd man out in the circle of scholars most commonly quoted to support reorientation therapy. In 2001, Spitzer questioned 200 men and women who described themselves as former homosexuals and concluded that it was possible for a highly motivated gay man or lesbian to “achieve good heterosexual functioning.”

For advocates of reorientation therapy, Spitzer was a godsend. A self-described “atheistic Jew” who has long been known for his support of gay rights, Spitzer led the campaign to force the American Psychiatric Association to remove homosexuality from its list of mental disorders in 1973.

Spitzer’s study was embraced by both ex-gay ministries and secular proponents of gender-identification change as evidence that gay men and lesbians could alter their sexual orientation. He was also inoculation against critics’ characterization of their philosophy as cleverly disguised Bible-thumping.

But critics said Spitzer’s methodology was flawed, and Spitzer himself complained that his findings had been oversimplified.

“[T]o my horror, some of the media reported the study as an attempt to show that homosexuality is a choice, and that substantial change is possible for any homosexual who decides to make the effort,” he wrote in a Wall Street Journal commentary.

Can they meet in the middle?
The discussion over the nature of homosexuality is more complicated than you would be led to believe by the more vocal elements of conservative Christianity or the more confrontational gay and lesbian activists.

While they condemn the venomous diatribes of the Baptist minister Fred Phelps, proprietor of the tendentious Web site godhatesfags.com, nearly all American denominations also condemn homosexuality.

Likewise, several representatives of gay and lesbian activist groups consulted by MSNBC.com dismissed NARTH, Love Won Out and others as “hurtful,” “full of hate” and “anti-Christian.”

Along a spectrum in the middle are the minority of scientists who interpret research data as supporting the possibility that homosexuality is not immutable.

Then there are men and women of faith who read the Bible and see gays and lesbians as afflicted sinners who need God’s grace. But there are also men and women of faith who read the Bible and see gays and lesbians as children of God who should be accepted as such.

They are people like Bill Maier, who believes passionately that the church can make a fundamental difference in the lives of gays and lesbians but who is also chagrined by the “vile terms” that have characterized the church’s historic stance. “The church has often fallen short when it comes to the homosexual community,” he said.

Maier is a vocal leader of Focus on the Family’s campaign against same-sex marriage while stressing that violence against gays and lesbians is always wrong, and he has suggested that the extension of reciprocal benefits for same-sex couples may be an acceptable compromise as long as they are similarly extended to all other pairs who are not allowed to marry — that is, as long as they are not based on the couple’s sexuality.

“The church needs to repent of some of its past behavior,” Maier said.

And they are people like Harry Knox of the Human Rights Campaign, a gay man and former United Methodist minister who is also passionate in his faith.

“The assumption that we are immoral and that we are disordered is wrong, and if they are now being more ambiguous about their message, it’s because they and others among Christians in the country are wrestling with the ambiguity that comes from a faulty assumption,” Knox said.

“I’m glad they’re having to wrestle with it, and I’m certainly glad for anyone to say out loud that gay people should be protected,” he said.

“But I would just not trust the messenger. They have proven themselves to be disingenuous where gay people are concerned.”

MSNBC.com’s Robert Hood contributed to this report.

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