Gay men attempting to change their sexual orientation participate in a trust-building exercise during a ‘Journey Into Manhood’ retreat weekend. (Photo courtesy of Rich Wyler)
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CHRIS JOHNSON
Friday, February 22, 2008
A Virginia-based organization that hosts weekend retreats aimed at helping gay men reduce unwanted same-sex attractions published a survey this month touting the effectiveness of its program in “changing” sexual orientation.
But critics dismissed the survey as absurd and scientifically naive and even some in the “ex-gay” movement question the group’s claims.
The report, published by the group People Can Change on Feb. 5, surveyed individuals who participated in the organization’s weekend retreats, which are called “Journey Into Manhood” and are available only to gay men. People Can Change argues that its program is effective in changing sexual orientation despite criticism from psychologists and other skeptics.
The organization compiled the statistics from responders who had participated in a “Journey Into Manhood” weekend:
- 79 percent of responders reported a decrease in the frequency or intensity of homosexual feelings.
- 58 percent of responders reported an increase in heterosexual attraction.
- 90 percent of responders reported feeling better about themselves.
- Of the 39 percent of responders who said they were married before participating in the weekend, 73 percent reported that their marriage had improved.
- Of the 61 percent of responders who were single before participating in the weekend, 6 percent have since married or become engaged.
But those findings were criticized by experts.
Doug Haldeman, a gay psychologist based in Seattle and board member of the American Psychological Association, said the survey is “not worth the paper it’s printed on, or whatever the electronic equivalent of that would be.”
“This is not a study, first of all, it’s a customer satisfaction survey,” he said. “To say that it’s a study gives it some sort of scientific legitimacy that it doesn’t have.”
Haldeman said the name of the retreat, “Journey Into Manhood,” has an inherent bias presupposing that “anyone who is struggling with feelings of same-sex attraction is not a man.” Haldeman also criticized the survey for failing to identify why participants wanted to change their sexual orientation.
“Most of those groups use convenient sample surveys like that and try and call it research,” he said. “What they really are … just amounts to testimonials of people that I believe are pressured, either externally and internally, into something as difficult as trying to change your sexual orientation.”
Rich Wyler, founder and executive director of People Can Change, said his organization’s survey “affirms again, as other studies have done … that change is possible for at least some people and those who want to experience change.”
The People Can Change web site states that Wyler “had personally experienced enormous transformation from unwanted homosexual attractions.” Wyler founded People Can Change in 2000 and helped develop the “Journey Into Manhood” weekends in 2002.
Wayne Besen, executive director of Truth Wins Out, an organization geared toward countering “ex-gay” organizations, said the People Can Change survey is “just an infomercial for them to make more money.”
Besen took issue with how the survey asks about increases and decreases in sexual attraction.
“You’re either attracted or you’re not,” he said. “What does it mean? You had a three-quarter erection before the camp and now you have half an erection?”
Besen said the most disappointing statistics were the ones related to marriage because they demonstrate that gay men are “dragging other individuals into a mess.”
“They’re not creating marriage — they’re creating divorces,” he said.
The decision of these men to marry “shows so little respect particularly for women,” Besen said.
Wyler bills the “Journey Into Manhood” weekend retreat as a non-religious program, but said there was a “spiritual emphasis.”
“We recognize and affirm anyone’s individual spirituality,” he said. “We have Christians and Jews and Muslims and others going through as well who have no religious affiliation.”
Wyler estimates that between half and three-fourths of weekend participants are Christian. Between one and five out of 30 participants tend to be Jewish, he said. Wyler said few weekend participants in the United States are Muslim and a greater number of Muslims participate in the Journey Into Manhood weekends in Great Britain.
According to Wyler, gay men participate in the retreat because they feel that a gay life does not fit with their personal values, they expect unhappiness with a gay life and because they feel like their sexual orientation stems from past emotional pain.
Chandler Duncan, a 35-year-old urban planning consultant from Salt Lake City, Utah, said he participated in an August 2006 “Manhood” weekend because he felt like his feelings of homosexuality were diminishing and he wanted to see if other individuals had experienced the same change.
“I had noticed just over a number of years just sort of that I wasn’t really attracted to guys as I was in my early 20s and that bothered me a little bit,” he said.
Duncan said he did not tell friends or family he was enrolling. He went partly out of curiosity and partly “to see what other people were experiencing,” he said.
Duncan claims he has had no more same-sex fantasies after participating in the weekend. While he said he has not had a girlfriend since participating in the weekend, he said he is interested in some women and has had “maybe some wannabe relationships.”
Duncan identifies as a Christian and said he has been exploring various denominations. He said he participated in additional “Journey Into Manhood” weekends as recommended by the program.
Haldeman said sexual orientation does have some fluidity, especially for people “who are basically bisexually oriented and especially for people who have, for whatever reason, some pressure internalized on themselves.”
Haldeman said determining the truthfulness of people who say they changed their sexual orientation is difficult because sexual response can’t be measured. Some “ex-gay” groups have rejected pornography response tests claiming moral objections to adult material.
“We can’t get inside their heads and figure out what they’re fantasizing about, but we do know that for whatever reason they experience strong motivation to identify as heterosexual,” he said.
Wyler said the weekend includes a self-discovery process, journaling, visualization and “talking about and releasing some of the emotions of past pain or rejection that they may have experienced.”
“It’s not a seminar with just teaching — it’s much more of a hands-on process where you take part in processes to explore your feelings,” he said.
Wyler said the teaching component of the program involves understanding beliefs, such as how and when people make judgments about others, and the effect that has on their self-image.
There is also a “surrender visualization” in which participants identify what in their life they need to release or surrender to a higher power. Participants then imagine what it would be like to no longer have this aspect of their lives.
Duncan said the weekends involve trust- and team-building exercises. Participants confront questions about identity, participate in bonfire chats and are challenged to get out of their comfort zone, he said. Physical components of the weekend include touching, sports activities and relay races, he said.
Duncan said he would recommend the weekend even for gay men who did not want to change in their sexual orientation. He said some friends who attended but eventually maintained their gay identity claimed to find value in the exercises.
Besen ridiculed the effectiveness of the weekend activities in changing sexual attraction and found the exercises absurd.
“The very methods that they’re using are bizarre and are scientifically without foundation,” he said.
Besen also challenged the notion that sexual orientation could be altered over the course of one weekend. He noted that the idea is at odds with the beliefs of Exodus International, one of the largest ex-gay organizations.
Alan Chambers, president of Exodus International and self-identified former homosexual, said he was not familiar with People Can Change, but said that his experience of altering his sexual orientation was “a very long process, years even, dealing with core identity issues.”
“Change for me didn’t occur quite so quickly,” he said.
Besen also criticized People Can Change for charging $650 to participate in the weekends.
“You charge $650 a person so some gay guys can throw around a football for a weekend,” he said. “I don’t blame them for doing this. I think it’s a great business model. It certainly isn’t science.”
Wyler said the $650 pays for lodging and meals. Wyler and others receive payment for their services. Wyler said People Can Change had to host weekends for several years before anyone involved started earning compensation.
“We’re pretty much on a shoe-string,” he said.
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