Wednesday, the American Psychological Association released a study saying that there is insufficient evidence that "conversion therapy", which tells gay people they can be made straight, can work.

Conversion therapy has been a long-contested issue and, unsurprisingly, this report inspired further discussion on the issue. Let's count down the interesting ones.

Parental Guidance

In his Parental Guidance blog at the New Jersey Star-Ledger, Joel Schwartzberg used the study to argue that children should be taught about gay people and that there's not enough "normalization" (to use anti-gay groups' use of the word) of gays in schools:

I'm sympathetic to those who make the point that such teaching can be an affront to deeply-held beliefs, but the same can be said about the study of basic biology, psychology, and art. Customizing curriculum to appease every cultural sensitivity would make important lesson plans look like redacted CIA documents. As a rule of thumb, I believe educational decisions should be guided more by fact than by fear, as was the APA's announcement.

Cheers to Schwartzberg for seeing how the study is relevant to a parenting column. After all, considering recent stories of gays disappearing and presumably forced to attend conversion therapy, understanding how much harm these therapies cause is important for parents of GLBT youth to know.

Gay blogs

Fulfilling their "we read the hateful anti-gay sites so you don't have to" service Pam's House Blend, Good As You and the Box Turtle Bulletin have been quick to counter claims from groups like Exodus International and Focus on the Family. While Exodus disingenuously tries to claim partial vindication in the APA study, the Focus on the Family chides the APA for starting out with the outrageous idea that GLBT people are normal. So, they're looking to revisit a battle that the APA settled in 1973? That explains so much.

The Huffington Post

One person who has been battling the anti-gay groups for a while is Wayne Besen of Truth Wins Out and at the Huffington Post, he spells out what conversion therapy means, giving some added depth to the APA's report by explaining what kind of techniques the APA is discouraging.

The Wall Street Journal

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And then I find the stories that seem to turn things upside down. While most reports start out the same way the APA's press release does -- with the organization's opposition to conversion therapy, the Wall Street Journal's Stephanie Simon thinks the main point of the APA's study is to say that it's now okay "for counselors to help some clients reject gay or lesbian attractions".

Simon does ask Wayne Besen (of Truth Wins Out) to comment, but the way his short comment is presented, it sounds like he finds the APA's study "misguided", which is pretty different from what Besen says at the Truth Wins Out Blog. If this is a representative sample of what the WSJ puts out, I don't think we'll be missing much when News Corp's newspapers become available only to subscribers.

Jezebel

Once again, Jezebel manages to put together a solid overview of the issue, noting that "it's surprising that the APA is even still talking about this issue" considering that it's been 36 years since the group took homosexuality off its list of disorders. Then again, considering that respected pundits like Slate's William Saletan have written in support of the idea that gays can change their sexual orientation as recently as last April, I guess the APA will have to keep studying the matter as long as people think their personal anecdotes trump the work of authorities in the field.

Did you find any takes on the story that was especially insightful or especially awful?