Richard A. Cohen

Richard Cohen (born 1952) is a writer and conversion therapist, who assists men and womencite web
url=http://www.newstatesman.com/200707200001
title=Born gay? No way!
accessdate=2007-08-27
last=Cohen
first=Richard
date=2007-07-20
work=New Statesman] with unwanted same-sex attractions. He has been called one of America's leading practitioners of conversion therapy. [ [http://www.abc.net.au/foreign/content/2006/s1732241.htm Transcript of "USA - Gay Conversion] , ABC TV Foreign Correspondent, 08-22-2006. Retrieved 04-07-2007.] Cohen gives lectures and runs seminars and workshops where he sells his books. cite web
url=http://www.amazon.com/dp/0830834370/
title=Gay Children, Straight Parents: A Plan for Family Healing: Books: Richard Cohen
accessdate=2007-10-22
publisher=Amazon.com] Cohen's theories differ from mainstream medical views of sexual orientation. [http://www.apa.org/pi/lgbc/publications/justthefacts.html Just the Facts About Sexual Orientation & Youth: A Primer for Principals, Educators and School Personnel] , American Psychological Association, et al., 1999. Retrieved on 2007-02-23.] The National Association for Research and Therapy of Homosexuality (NARTH) strongly opposes the use of holding techniques. [ [http://www.narth.com/docs/holding.html "Holding Therapy" as a Therapeutic Approach: NARTH Official Position Statement] , NARTH, 06-05-2006. Retrieved on 04-07-2007.]

Cohen lives in Washington, D.C. with his family. His foundation offers commercial teleconferencing classes on topics such as the causes of same-sex attractions and the process of healing. [cite web
url=http://www.gaytostraight.org/teleconferencing.htm
title=Teleconferencing Classes
accessdate=2008-08-03
publisher=International Healing Foundation] He also travels on a lecture circuit discussing similar topics. [ [http://www.gaytostraight.org/calendar.htm Calendar (from Cohen's website)] . Retrieved on 04-11-2007.]

Biography

A family friend repeatedly molested Cohen when he was 6 years old. Cohen said that this provided the affection he craved from his father, and that he repressed the memories of molestation until he was 30 and in therapy. He was openly and actively gay while attending Boston University as an undergraduate, but spent years in intensive psychiatric treatment trying to change his sexual orientation, beginning psychotherapy twice weekly with a traditional Freudian psychoanalyst. [cite web|url=http://www.peoplecanchange.com/About_Us_Cohen.htm|title=Richard Cohen's story: "Coming Out Straight"|accessdate=2007-07-27|last=Cohen|first=Richard excerpt from the book, "Coming Out Straight: Understanding and Healing Homosexuality" by Richard Cohen]

For 20 years Cohen was a member of the Unification Church, which has very negative views on homosexual behavior: [ [http://www.religioustolerance.org/hom_uni.htm THE UNIFICATION CHURCH AND HOMOSEXUALITY] B.A. Robinson, Ontario Consultants on Religious Tolerance 2005] Cohen married a woman of the same religion in 1982. He left the Unification Church in 1995, [http://www.gaytostraight.org/meetrichard.htm Meet Richard Cohen (from Cohen's website)] . Retrieved on 04-07-2007.] and has said that "If someone wants to live a gay life, that needs to be respected. If someone wants to change and come out straight, that too needs to be respected. Let us practice true tolerance, real diversity, and equality for all."

After two of his three children were born, Cohen began an affair with a man in New York whom he described as his "boyfriend" and whom he frequently traveled to see. The affair lasted three years.cite web
url=http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/08/15/AR2005081501063.html
title=A conversion therapist's unusual odyssey
accessdate=2007-08-30
last=Boodman
first=Sandra G.
date=2005-08-16
work=Washington Post
pages=HE04] Cohen references this time as a period of turmoil that led him to pursue healing from his past. [Cohen, R. [http://www.peoplecanchange.com/About_Us_Cohen.htm Coming Out Straight] . Retrieved on 04-07-2007.] He states that he changed his sexual orientation from gay to straight and cites his own experiences as proof that a person's sexual orientation can change and that gay people are not born that way but rather become so through complex life experiences.Fact|date=August 2008

Education

Cohen earned a Bachelor of Arts from Boston University, and a Master of Arts degree in counseling psychology from Antioch University.Fact|date=August 2008

Work

Before practicing conversion therapy, Cohen worked in child abuse treatment services, family reconciliation services, and as an HIV/AIDS educator for the American Red Cross.

According to Cohen he works under the auspices of the International Healing Foundation, a nonprofit and tax-exempt organization founded by him in 1990 to treat same-sex attraction.

He is not licensed as a therapist, because he said he "didn't want to jump through the hoops and deal with the heterophobia and anti-ex-gay attitudes." Cohen avoids State licensing requirements by asking for donations to his foundations instead of payment.

Permanent expulsion from the American Counseling Association

In 2002 Cohen was permanently expelled from the American Counseling Association for six violations of its ethics code, which bars members from actions which "seek to meet their personal needs at the expense of clients, those that exploit the trust and dependency of clients, and for soliciting testimonials or promoting products in a deceptive manner." [ [http://web.archive.org/web/20070103080104/http://www.rawprint.com/besen/012504_aca_letter.php Notification of Results Letter] , American Counseling Association. Retrieved 04-07-2007.]

Cohen said he believes the expulsion was for his efforts in the ex-gay movement, specifically for the book "Coming Out Straight", and for one complaint. He did not appeal, calling the ACA "a biased organization"cite web
url=http://www.washblade.com/2005/3-4/news/localnews/activist.cfm
title=Activist calls ex-gay leader "dishonest". Besen criticizes PFOX president for not disclosing past
accessdate=2007-08-30
last=Najafi
first=Yusef
date=2005-03-04
work=Washington Blade
publisher=Window Media] and "gay-affirming club."

Media appearances

Cohen debated Wayne Besen, a gay rights advocate, on television in 2005. Cohen later advanced his theories on Penn and Teller's show "Bullshit!", [ [http://www.sho.com/site/ptbs/prevepisodes.do?episodeid=s3/fv Showtime website] . Retrieved on 04-07-2007.] on shock jock Howard Stern's radio program, [ [http://www.exgaywatch.com/wp/2005/09/exgay-richard-c/ Exgay Richard Cohen + Howard Stern = Tawdry Circus (blog entry)] , Ex-Gay Watch, 08-16-2005. Retrieved on 04-07-2007.] and on Paula Zahn's CNN program (see image). Following his appearance on Paula Zahn, NARTH issued a statement opposing "holding therapy" as a therapeutic approach. [http://www.narth.com/docs/holding.html NARTH website, "'Holding Therapy' as a Therapeutic Approach"] . Retrieved 2007-02-23.]

Cohen was then interviewed by Jason Jones on the March 19, 2007 episode of "The Daily Show." Cohen was, for a time, the president of PFOX. [ [http://www.exgaywatch.com/wp/2006/04/richard-cohens/ "Richard Cohen’s Vanishing Act… Well Sort Of"] . Retrieved on 04-11-2007.]

Beliefs about sexual orientation

Cohen's 2001 book "Coming Out Straight" calls homosexuality a "same-sex attachment disorder" and details his methods of sexual reorientation therapy, including his theory of the causes of same-sex attraction, his methods of changing sexual orientation, and stories of people who have undergone his therapies.

Cohen describes the "hidden meanings" of same-sex attraction as:
#need for same-sex parent's love
#need for gender identification
#fear of intimacy with the opposite sex [ [http://www.gaytostraight.org/resources.htm Audio Tapes and CDs (order page from Richard Cohen's website)] . Retrieved on 04-07-2007.]

Cohen claims several root causes of same-sex attraction including heredity; temperament; family dynamics; "wounds" from a parent or sibling; social, peer, or cultural "wounds"; body image "wounds"; and sexual abuse. Cohen employs as many as 22 techniques including family systems therapy, cognitive therapy, meditation and affirmations, "inner child healing," and journaling.

Cohen uses a technique called bioenergetics, which involves physical exercises that is purported to facilitate the resurgence of repressed feelings. The International Institute for Bioenergetic Analysis states that this activity allows the client to confront and process these feelings, working towards forgiveness and reconciliation. [Cf. [http://www.bioenergetic-therapy.com/iibamain/about/1frm_about.htm] What is Bioenergetic Analysis?] , The International Institute for Bioenergetic Analysis. Retrieved on 04-11-2007.] He demonstrated this by smashing a tennis racket into a pillow while screaming "Mom! Why did you do that to me?". Cohen also uses holding therapy, which involves cuddling and repeating affirming words to attempt to establish healthy, non-sexual male bonding that may have been absent during childhood.Brown, J. [http://headlines.agapepress.org/archive/6/202006a.asp Experts Split Over 'Bizarre' Sexual Orientation Therapy Techniques] , Agape Press, 06-20-2006. Retrieved on 04-07-2007.]

Books written

*Cohen, R. "Alfie's Home" (1993) ISBN 0-9637058-0-6, self-published.
*Cohen, R. "Coming Out Straight" (2001) ISBN 1-886939-41-1, Oakhill Press, equity publisher .
*Cohen, R. "Gay Children, Straight Parents: A Plan for Family Healing" (2007) ISBN 978-0830834372, Inter-Varsity Press.

Further reading

See generally Besen, W. "Anything but Straight: Unmasking the Scandals and Lies behind the Ex-Gay Myth", Harrington Park Press. ISBN 1-56023-445-8

References

External links

* [http://www.gaytostraight.org International Healing Foundation] - An organization Richard Cohen founded