Dr Robert Spizer, the psychiatrist who was instrumental in the removal of homosexuality in the diagnostic manual of psychiatric disorders in 1973 has publicly renounced his later research work that appeared to confirm successful outcomes were possible for ex-gay therapy with ‘highly motivated’ individuals.
In a now widely circulated letter sent to Dr Ken Zucker, Spizer wrote that the impossibility of obtaining verification of data meant that the study was fatally flawed. Spizer went on to say;
‘I believe I owe the gay community an apology for my study making unproven claims of the efficacy of reparative therapy. I also apologize to any gay person who wasted time and energy undergoing some form of reparative therapy because they believed that I had proven that reparative therapy works with some “highly motivated” individuals.’
