Psychology

A new study tries to show that the kids of gay and lesbian parents are worse off than the kids of straight parents. We’ll take a look at all of the problems with that study, and there’s a lot of them. Montana Democrats endorse marriage equality, while Montana Republicans call for throwing gay couples in jail.

Last week, extremists in the Michigan Legislature made passage of House Bill 5040, or what I like to call the “First Do Harm” bill, a major priority before breaking for the summer. The bill would prohibit public colleges and universities from disciplining students participating in counseling, social work and psychology programs who refuse treatment to a patient based on the patient’s sexual orientation or gender identity, if it is motivated by a “sincerely held religious belief.”

Reparative therapy, which seeks to “cure” homosexuality, is a destructive form of consumer fraud, where avaricious practitioners try to profit off their victims by instilling a deep sense of shame and guilt. There is not one shard of evidence supporting such efforts, while there is a long trail of blood and tears from the human casualties who bought into the lie that they were abnormal and needed to be converted into heterosexuals…

Homophobia is more pronounced in individuals who harbor unacknowledged attraction towards the same sex, and who grew up in authoritarian households where parents forbade such desires, according to a new series of psychology studies.

The American Psychological Association declared Wednesday that mental health professionals should not tell gay clients they can become straight through therapy or other treatments.