Beginning next week, a task force set up by the American Psychological Association (APA) will begin reviewing the organization's 10-year-old policy on homosexuality, which opposes counseling that treats same-sex attraction as a mental illness, but does not forbid various therapies that address unwanted same-sex attraction.
Focus on the Family has joined more than 250 pro-family organizations and individuals in urging the APA to recognize the religious beliefs of clients and to allow those who struggle with unwanted same-sex attraction to receive therapy. The letter is signed by the Southern Baptist Convention, Assemblies of God, Church of the Nazarene, the American Association of Christian Counselors, the National Board of Christian Clinical Therapists and more than 22 higher-education institutions.
"We believe that psychologists should assist clients to develop lives that they value, even if that means they decline to identify as homosexual," said the letter, which represents about 20 million Americans. It requests a meeting with APA leaders.
Warren Throckmorton, a psychology professor at Grove City College near Pittsburgh, was denied a seat on the task force.
"We work with clients to pursue their chosen values," he told The Associated Press. "If they are core, unwavering commitments to their religious belief, therapists should not try to persuade them differently under the guise of science."
Rhea Farberman, spokeswoman for the APA, told Family News in Focus, "There's a growing recognition amongst our membership and our governance that religion is important to many people and an important part of mental health for many people."
But Carrie Gordon Earll, senior director of issue analysis for Focus on the Family Action, said she believes the APA "is on a path to religious discrimination."
"Based on the charge to the task force," she said, "one possible outcome is that the APA will declare any therapy that does not affirm homosexuality as unethical — regardless of the client's goal. This would be a slap in the face to millions of Americans who hold religious and moral views on homosexuality.
"This resolution challenges the APA to be tolerant and open-minded in its views. The APA's track record on this is not good, but this is an opportunity for the APA to put the clinical goals of clients ahead of the political demands of homosexual activists."
