Posted on
Advocate.com August 01, 2011 06:00:00 PM ET
Might Conversion Therapy Work? NPR Says It's Debatable
By Lucas Grindley
http://www.advocate.com/News/Daily_News/2011/08/01/Might_Conversion_Therapy_Work__NPR_Says_It_s_Debatable/In a story this morning, NPR portrayed the merits of conversion therapy as still up for debate, and bloggers are reacting with outrage.
Reporter Alix Spiegel interviewed two men who had very different experiences of conversion therapy. The first man, Rich Wyler, said his "feelings for men shifted from fear and attraction to brotherhood and connection." The second said the so-called therapy was mentally damaging
[...]
Not only did Wyler's argument get equal footing, NPR also left out that he profits from insisting gay people can be cured. It will cost you hundreds of dollars to attend one of Wyler's Journey Into Manhood weekends, which are run by People Can Change, a group Wyler founded and that makes money off this notion in a number of ways.
-------
August 1, 2011
9:07AM
NPR Report on "Ex-Gay" Therapy Omits Crucial Details of Source's "Journey Into Manhood"
Post by Warren Throckmorton
http://www.religiondispatches.org/dispatches/guest_bloggers/4948/npr_report_on_%E2%80%9Cex-gay%E2%80%9D_therapy_omits_crucial_details_of_source%E2%80%99s_%E2%80%9Cjourney_into_manhood%E2%80%9D/Rich Wyler was featured in a National Public Radio segment today as an example of someone who had changed from gay to straight. Oddly, the report omitted mention of the gay change group Wyler co-founded, People Can Change. The main outreach of PCC is the Journey into Manhood weekend. JIM promotes the usual reparative therapy concept that men are gay because they do not have a secure sense of masculinity, most often because they were too close to their mothers and did not bond well with father. The NPR report notes Wyler's self-diagnosis but obscures the methods he uses to treat himself. Rather than a cerebral discussion of family dynamics as portrayed by NPR, JIM promotes skin-to-skin therapy, where men retreat for a weekend with other same-sex attracted men to hold each other for the purpose of establishing closeness to other men. They believe such activity establishes a more platonic bond with men which helps extinguish homosexual attractions.
