In other news on the state of the union's hate groups released by the SPLC today, the National Association for Research and Therapy of Homosexuality (NARTH) seems to have become the main source for anti-gay "junk science" in arguments posited by leading homophobes. 

A feature published today on SPLC's website exposes the foundation of the modern day anti-gay movement's playbook:

Billing itself as the counterweight to the two most prominent mental health authorities — the American Psychiatric Association and the American Psychological Association — NARTH pushes the idea, with the zeal of a religious movement, that no one is born gay and that a person’s sexual orientation can be changed through what is known as “reparative” or “conversion” therapy, also commonly called “ex-gay” therapy. At the heart of this argument is the belief that homosexuality is an unnatural deviation from normal sexual development, a form of mental disorder.

With these views, NARTH has emerged as the preeminent source of what many regard as “junk science” for the religious right — psychology that underpins the anti-gay movement’s fervent opposition to equal rights and stigmatizes LGBT people as mentally sick.

Without the research NARTH provides, there are few avenues remaining for the religious right to condemn homosexuality, at a time when the American public is growing more accepting of LGBT people and more open to extending equal rights to same-sex couples. “There’s no other play in the playbook except going back to the fire and brimstone,” argues Wayne Besen, executive director of Truth Wins Out, one of several watchdog groups monitoring the reparative therapy industry.

As SPLC reminds us, however, modern science and medical fields continue to discredit NARTH's practices and spread of misinformation but prove them dangerous. In 2006, the American Psychological Association decided that “There is simply no sufficiently scientifically sound evidence that sexual orientation can be changed. Our further concern is that the positions espoused by NARTH and Focus on the Family create an environment in which prejudice and discrimination can flourish.”

But don't expect that to stop these groups. 

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