Why Reveal the Dark Side of the Gay Movement? (Refs)

This study no doubt is intended to fill the void that has heretofore existed regarding research on adolescents who have undergone sexual orientation change efforts (SOCE). The 2009 APA Task Force’s report acknowledged that there was no empirical literature to evaluate adolescent change efforts, which always should have been somewhat of an embarrassment to proponents of therapy bans for minors. Hence, the Ryan et al. study was enthusiastically welcomed by ban proponents and quickly adopted in the legislative efforts to prohibit SOCE among minors, including minors who have a self-determined goal to explore their sexual attraction and behavior fluidity. Because this research has clear political advocacy aims, great caution should have been taken by the authors to exercise restraint in order to not overstate the scientific implications of their work. Unfortunately, there are some worrisome signs that such caution has not been sufficiently exercised.