| Lamplighter |
05-19-2012 11:49 PM |
Today's news includes two significant items in the continuing fall out from repeal of DADT last Sept 19th.
Forbes
David DiSalvo
5/19/12
How One Flawed Study Spawned a Decade of Lies
Quote:
In 2001, Dr. Robert L. Spitzer, psychologist and professor emeritus of Columbia University,
presented a paper at a meeting of the American Psychiatric Association
about something called “reparative therapy” for gay men and women.
By undergoing reparative therapy, the paper claimed, gay men and women could change their sexual orientation.<snip>
Spitzer, now 79-years old, was no stranger to the controversy surrounding his chosen subject.
Thirty years earlier, he had played a leading role in removing
homosexuality from the list of mental disorders in the association’s diagnostic manual.
Clearly, his interest in the topic was more than a passing academic curiosity
– indeed, it wouldn’t be a stretch to say he seemed invested in demonstrating
that homosexuality was changeable, not unlike quitting smoking or giving up ice cream.
Fast forward to 2012, and Spitzer is of quite a different mind.
Last month he told a reporter with The American Prospect that he regretted the 2001 study
and the effect it had on the gay community, and that he owed the community an apology.
And this month he sent a letter to the Archives of Sexual Behavior,
which published his work in 2003, asking that the journal retract his paper.<snip>
The object lesson worth drawing from this story is that just one instance of bad science
given the blessing of recognized experts can lead to years of damaging lies that snowball out of control.
Spitzer cannot be held solely responsible for what happened after his paper was published,
but he’d probably agree now that the study should never have been presented in the first place.
At the very least, his example may help prevent future episodes of the same.
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And on a completely different level...
NY Times
MICHAEL BARBARO
May 19, 2012
In Largely Symbolic Move, N.A.A.C.P. Votes to Endorse Same-Sex Marriage
Quote:
The board of the N.A.A.C.P. voted to endorse same-sex marriage on Saturday,
putting the weight of the country’s most prominent civil rights group behind a cause
that has long divided some quarters of the black community.<snip>
All but two of the organization’s board members, who include many religious leaders,
backed a resolution supporting same-sex marriage, according to people told of the decision.
Borrowing a term used by gay rights advocates, the resolution stated,
“We support marriage equality consistent with equal protection under the law
provided under the Fourteenth Amendment of the United States Constitution.”
In a statement, Roslyn M. Brock, chairwoman of the 64-member board, said,
“We have and will oppose efforts to codify discrimination into law.”
Maxim Thorne, a former high-ranking official with the organization,
said that “for certain people, it was a very long evolution and a very long process
of reconciling their faith with this, and coming to a very civil rights understanding
of marriage equality versus a theological understanding of marriage.”
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