Stanton L. Jones

Some people can change their sexual orientation with the help of therapy. So said Robert Spitzer—“considered by some to be the father of modern psychiatry,” in the New York Times’ description—in his (in)famous 2003 study in the Archives of Sexual Behavior, appropriately . . . . Continue Reading »

Many religious and social conservatives believe that homosexuality is a mental illness caused exclusively by psychological or spiritual factors and that all homosexual persons could change their orientation if they simply tried hard enough. This view is widely pilloried (and rightly so) as both . . . . Continue Reading »

Perhaps the fact checkers were on vacation or simply dozing on the job. Whatever the reason, thanks to the venerable  New York Times , I can now add another illustration to my argument in ” Same-Sex Science ” ( First Things , February, 2012) that science is often misrepresented in . . . . Continue Reading »

Dr. Evelyn Hooker is arguably history’s most revered gay-affirming activist scientist, and so it is that, at a time when social science is frequently abused in public discussions of same-sex issues, Hooker should be remembered and praised for her clearheaded allegiance to proper scientific standards. No single piece of research contributed more to the demise of the idea that homosexuality is a mental illness than Hooker’s 1957 study… . Continue Reading »