Straight Talk

The debate over whether sexual orientation is a choice was reignited this week with the release of two new-and opposing-studies on the outcome of "reparative" therapies, which purport to convert gays and lesbians into heterosexuals. Both papers were released in New Orleans on Wednesday at the annual meeting of the American Psychiatric Association, the group that ruled in 1973 that homosexuality is not a mental disorder that requires treatment. Neither study has been peer-reviewed or published.

In the first study, Columbia University psychiatrist Dr. Robert Spitzer interviewed 145 gay men and 57 lesbians who had been referred to him by groups doing "conversion therapy." Sixty-six percent of them said that through the therapy, they had achieved satisfying heterosexual relationships, although some said they continued to have some homosexual fantasies or feelings. Forty-four percent of the 57 lesbians in the study also said they had been successfully converted. Spitzer described his subjects as very religious and highly motivated to change. Spitzer sat on the committee that set the APA policy in 1973.

However, a similar study-conducted by Columbia psychologist Ariel Shidlo and Michael Schroeder, a psychologist in private practice in Manhattan-studied 202 participants and found 178 failures. In fact, only six said they had successfully completed a "heterosexual shift"; another 18 described themselves as currently asexual or confused about their orientation. For this study, the doctors also wanted participants who had gone through conversion therapy-but this time they looked for them randomly, via the Internet, newspaper ads and groups offering reparative counseling. The interviews were 90 minutes long, twice the length of Spitzer's. NEWSWEEK's Pat Wingert talked to Shidlo and Schroeder after their APA presentation.

NEWSWEEK: Based on the results of these two studies, is it possible for a gay man or a lesbian to change their sexual orientation through therapy?

Schroeder: Of the 202 individuals we interviewed, only six people-or 3 percent-achieved what you and I would think of as a successful shift. They were functioning heterosexuals, they were happy, content, had little difficulty with fleeting homosexual desire.... That tells me that this kind of heterosexual shift is difficult and extremely rare.

Shidlo: And I should add, five of those six made their living as conversion counselors and do a lot of speaking on this topic.