Friday is the Day of Silence. Thousands of people will stay silent throughout the day to raise awareness of the hateful and discriminatory treatment that LGBT receive every day … Even as LGBT use silence to raise awareness of hate and discrimination, the APA has done its best to silence those who oppose their political agenda regarding homosexuality, namely those who endorse, practice, and support reparative therapy. Currently, the APA claims reparative therapy lacks sufficient scientific research, and has strong potential to harm its patients along with reinforcing negative stereotypes. These statements are simply not true. The National Association for Research and Therapy of Homosexuality has compiled a booklet documenting the extensive research and practice of reparative therapy. In 2006, a Guttman analysis was performed by a LGBT supporter on the reparative therapy research and found that there is strong statistical evidence that reparative therapy is effective. Furthermore, no study has revealed any systematic negative effects for its patients. On the contrary, even failed attempts have been associated with positive effects for the patient. The APA is now holding a double standard when dealing with homosexuality. It decries the supposed lack of research on reparative therapy, but fully endorses gay-affirming therapeutic techniques, which have even less supporting scientific research than reparative therapy … We help no one by replacing one hate and discrimination with another.

Nathan Ruark

GVSU student