Richard A. Cohen

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Richard A. Cohen
Born1952 (age 71–72)
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA
Alma mater Boston University
Antioch University
SpouseJae Sook Cohen (1980–present)
Children3

Richard A. Cohen (born 1952) is a Christian psychotherapist and author associated with the ex-gay movement. He is a co-founder of Positive Approaches to Healthy Sexuality (previously Positive Alternatives to Homosexuality) [1] which offers discredited conversion therapy practices purporting to change a person from homosexual to heterosexual. [2] [3] [4] In 2002, Cohen was expelled from the American Counseling Association for multiple violations. [5] [6]

Contents

He is author of Alfie's Home, a children's book which depicts homosexuality as a reversible condition. [7] He gained media attention after demonstrating his ex-gay touch therapy on The Daily Show , which included cuddling with men and beating a pillow. [8] [9]

Biography

Cohen was born into a Jewish family in Philadelphia. During adolescence, Cohen reportedly spent "years in intensive psychiatric treatment unsuccessfully trying to become straight". [2]

Cohen identified as gay during his undergraduate years at Boston University. He sought counseling for his unwanted same-sex attractions. He became an evangelical Christian, and later joined the Unification Church. [2]

In 1980, Cohen married Jae Sook, a South Korean woman, and in 1995, Cohen and his family left the Unification Church. [2] [9] Cohen had affairs with men, often leaving his wife and children for long periods of time. [4]

According to The Washington Post, Cohen he "overcame homosexuality" in 1987 through an "intense but platonic relationship" with a straight man who "gave me the warmth of my daddy's love." [2]

Cohen received a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from Boston University and a Master of Arts degree in Counseling Psychology from Antioch University. [2]

He is author of Alfie's Home, a children's book which depicts homosexuality as a reversible condition. [7] He served as the president of Parents and Friends of Ex-Gays and Gays (PFOX), a group which promoted reparative therapy. [6]

Expulsion from the ACA

In 2002, Cohen was expelled from the American Counseling Association (ACA) for violating its policies on advertising, engaging in dual relationships involving clients and counselors, and compromising client welfare. [5] [6] He did not appeal the ACA decision. [2]

Media appearances

Cohen was interviewed by Jason Jones on the March 19, 2007, episode of The Daily Show. [10] He gained media attention for demonstrating cuddling with men and hitting pillows as a method for curing homosexuality. [10] [8] After the appearance, PFOX scrubbed mention of Cohen's name from its website. [6]

Cohen was on Jimmy Kimmel Live! on June 28, 2006, was interviewed on The Rachel Maddow Show on December 8, 2009, [11] and was on The Michelangelo Signorile Show on the Sirius radio network on April 17, 2010.

Selected works

  1. Coming Out Straight, Oakhill Press, Winchester, VA, 2000, ISBN   978-1-886939-41-7 *
  2. Gay Children, Straight Parents, 2007, InterVarsity Press, ISBN   978-0-8308-3437-2 *
  3. Being Gay: Nature, Nurture or Both? PATH Press, 2020, ISBN   978-1-7338469-2-9 *
  4. Understanding Our LGBTQ+ Loved Ones, 2022, PATH Press, ISBN   978-1-7338469-8-1 *
  5. Healing Humanity: Time, Touch & Talk, 2018, TTT Press, USA, ISBN   978-1-7338469-6-7 *
  6. A Therapist’s Guide: Assisting Our LGBTQ+ Loved Ones, 2024, PATH Press, ISBN   979-8987026090

* Published and reviewed in multiple languages

Related Research Articles

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The Alliance for Therapeutic Choice and Scientific Integrity (ATCSI), which until 2014 was known as the National Association for Research & Therapy of Homosexuality (NARTH), also known as the NARTH Institute, is a US organization that promotes conversion therapy, a pseudoscientific practice used in attempts to change the sexual orientation of people with same-sex attraction. NARTH was founded in 1992 by Joseph Nicolosi, Benjamin Kaufman, and Charles Socarides. Its headquarters were in Encino, California, at its Thomas Aquinas Psychological Clinic. NARTH has not been recognized by any major United States–based professional association.

The ex-gay movement consists of people and organizations that encourage people to refrain from entering or pursuing same-sex relationships, to eliminate homosexual desires and to develop heterosexual desires, or to enter into a heterosexual relationship. Beginning with the founding of Love In Action and Exodus International in the mid-1970s, the movement saw rapid growth in the 1980s and 1990s before declining in the 2000s.

Wayne Besen is an American LGBT rights advocate. He is a former investigative journalist for WABI-TV, a former spokesman for the Human Rights Campaign, and the founder of Truth Wins Out. Besen came out to his parents before starting his Truth Wins Out Organization. After coming out to his parents, they bought him an ex-gay DVD that could supposedly hypnotize people and turn them straight. It was that and the invitation by President George W. Bush of ex-gay leader Alan Chambers to the White House that led him to start the Truth Wins Out organization.

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Joseph Nicolosi</span> American clinical psychologist (1947–2017)

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sexual orientation change efforts and the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints</span>

Because of its ban against same-sex sexual activity and same-sex marriage the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has a long history of teaching that its adherents who are attracted to the same sex can and should attempt to alter their feelings through righteous striving and sexual orientation change efforts. Reparative therapy is the pseudoscientific practice of attempting to change an individual's sexual orientation from homosexual or bisexual to heterosexual, or their gender identity from transgender to cisgender using psychological, physical, or spiritual interventions. There is no reliable evidence that such practices can alter sexual orientation or gender identity, and many medical institutions warn that conversion therapy is ineffective and potentially harmful.

The history of conversion therapy can be divided broadly into three periods: an early Freudian period; a period of mainstream approval of conversion therapy, when the mental health establishment became the "primary superintendent" of sexuality; and a post-Stonewall period where the mainstream medical profession disavowed conversion therapy.

References

  1. ↑ "PATH". March 2, 2015. Archived from the original on March 2, 2015. Retrieved August 10, 2023.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Boodman, Sandra G. (August 16, 2005). "A Conversion Therapist's Unusual Odyssey". The Washington Post . ISSN   0190-8286 . Retrieved August 5, 2020.
  3. ↑ "Richard Cohen's Cynical Makeover". Falls Church News-Press . April 17, 2013. Retrieved September 18, 2020.
  4. 1 2 Besen, Wayne R. (2003). Anything But Straight: Unmasking the Scandals and Lies Behind the Ex-gay Myth. Psychology Press. pp. 164–167. ISBN   978-1-56023-446-3.
  5. 1 2 "Notification of Results Letter". Archived from the original on January 3, 2007. Retrieved January 3, 2007., American Counseling Association. Retrieved July 4, 2007.
  6. 1 2 3 4 Potok, Mark (2016). "Quacks: 'Conversion Therapists,' the Anti-LGBT Right, and the Demonization of Homosexuality" (PDF). Southern Poverty Law Center . pp. 40–41.
  7. 1 2 Blue, Miranda (February 1, 2013). "Will the Supreme Court read the most horrific children's book of all time?". LGBTQ Nation . Retrieved September 28, 2020.
  8. 1 2 "Cuddling the gay away". Salon.com . August 2, 2011. Retrieved August 9, 2023.
  9. 1 2 "Richard Cohen". GLAAD . July 28, 2014. Retrieved March 28, 2019.
  10. 1 2 "The Daily Show with Trevor Noah". March 19, 2007.
  11. ↑ "'The Rachel Maddow Show' for Tuesday, December 8, 2009". NBC News. December 9, 2009. Retrieved December 31, 2023.
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