Prominent FAIR-Featured LDS SSA Therapist now identifies as gay and dating men

[Daniel2]

David Matheson was married to a woman,  was my own therapist for several months while I was living on the East Coast in 2004, and is featured in the following FAIR podcast (which is still an active link on the FAIR website):

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FAIR Examination 7: Therapy and same-sex attraction–David Matheson

January 11, 2012 by SteveDensleyJr

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David Matheson is a licensed professional counselor at the Center for Gender Wholeness in Salt Lake City, Utah. His practice focuses on helping people with unwanted same-sex attraction.  David received his Masters of Science degree in Counseling and Guidance from Brigham Young University in 1996. Afterwards, he practiced for seven years as a psychological assistant under Dr. Joseph Nicolosi.  During his tenure, he co-created the “Journey into Manhood” experiential weekend with Ben Newman and began serving on the board of directors of People Can Change.

He is an active member of the Church and shares how the gospel of Jesus Christ has influenced his desire to serve men with same-sex attraction.  He talks about some modern approaches and how these approaches fit within the stances of major medical institutions and the relationship with the Church.  He shares stories of success as well as some potential for harm associated with therapy.  He clarifies some common misconceptions around therapy and the need to make this therapy available for those seeking it.  He talks about how family, friends and leaders can help people with same-sex attraction and how that fits in with their duty to bear one another’s burdens.

Here's the update from Truth Wins Out:

 

TWO Reveals Leading Mormon Conversion Therapist Is Now Seeking to Date Men

David Matheson Co-Wrote Journey into Manhood Program; Published Notorious ‘Ex-Gay’ book, ‘Becoming a Whole Man’

WASHINGTON – The nation’s most notorious conversion therapist, David Matheson, has quit the “ex-gay” movement and has announced he is seeking to date men. Matheson is the author and creator of several infamous “ex-gay” programs and bogus studies, as well as director for the Center for Gender Wholeness. Matheson has been featured in ABC News and The New York Times.

Journey into Manhood’s director, Rich Wyler, revealed the news in a post to a private Facebook group obtained by Truth Wins Out. “David…says that living a single, celibate life ‘just isn’t feasible for him, so he’s seeking a male partner,” according to Wyler’s statement. “He has gone from bisexuality to exclusively gay.” TWO contacted Matheson on Sunday evening and he provided a statement that was surprisingly unrepentant and failed to apologize for the grave harm he has caused many of his clients.

“My time in a straight marriage and in the “ex-gay” world was genuine and sincere and a rich blessing to me. I remember most of it with fondness and gratitude for the joy and growth it caused in me and many others. But I had stopped growing and was starting to die. So I’ve embarked on a new life-giving path that has already started a whole new growth process. I wasn’t faking it all those years. I’m not renouncing my past work or my LDS faith. And I’m not condemning mixed-orientation marriages. I continue to support the rights of individuals to choose how they will respond to their sexual attractions and identity. With that freedom, I am now choosing to pursue life as a gay man.”

While the latest news on Matheson further dishonors the already discredited “ex-gay” industry, some people harmed by his programs have greeted his announcement with mixed feelings.

“While I am pleased for Mr. Matheson that he has found a path forward for his life, I can’t help but think of the hundreds if not thousands of people who are still stuck in the closet, a closet that was created in part by Mr. Matheson himself. I hope that Mr. Matheson will do whatever he can to rectify the harm that he’s inflicted on many people in the LGBTQ community, myself included,” said Chaim Levin, who was psychologically harmed by attending Journey into Manhood, and was later a key plaintiff in the landmark Southern Poverty Law Center lawsuit that shut down Jews Offering New Alternatives to Homosexuality (JONAH). Matheson was also tied to JONAH.

TWO says that Matheson is living proof that these programs don’t even work for its most vociferous advocates.

“If conversion therapy does not work for authors like David Matheson who write books on the discredited practice, it is naïve to expect it to work for those reading such deceptive publications,” said Truth Wins Out Executive Director Wayne Besen. “Conversion therapy employs guilt and shame to browbeat desperate and vulnerable people into renouncing their humanity. This is the latest evidence that conversion therapy is consumer fraud and ought to be outlawed in all 50 states.”

A protégé of the late Joseph Nicolosi, the infamous therapist from the now defunct National Association for Research and Therapy of Homosexuality (NARTH), Matheson also co-wrote the program for Journey into Manhood, an absurd “ex-gay” program where gay men go into the forest to engage in “manly” activities in a fruitless effort to modify their sexual orientation. Matheson is the author of “Becoming a Whole Man,” which according to Amazon “is the result of a six-year quest to understand and respond to the most difficult challenges facing men with unwanted homosexuality.”

I understand Utah legislature is currently considering a bill  banning conversion/reparative therapy for minors, which is currently outlawed in 15 states.

Edited January 21, 2019 by Daniel2

[Daniel2]

I can't get the quote feature to work properly, so here's the update from Truth Wins Out:

Quote

TWO Reveals Leading Mormon Conversion Therapist Is Now Seeking to Date Men

David Matheson Co-Wrote Journey into Manhood Program; Published Notorious ‘Ex-Gay’ book, ‘Becoming a Whole Man’

January 20, 2019

WASHINGTON – The nation’s most notorious conversion therapist, David Matheson, has quit the “ex-gay” movement and has announced he is seeking to date men. Matheson is the author and creator of several infamous “ex-gay” programs and bogus studies, as well as director for the Center for Gender Wholeness. Matheson has been featured in ABC News and The New York Times.

Journey into Manhood’s director, Rich Wyler, revealed the news in a post to a private Facebook group obtained by Truth Wins Out. “David…says that living a single, celibate life ‘just isn’t feasible for him, so he’s seeking a male partner,” according to Wyler’s statement. “He has gone from bisexuality to exclusively gay.” TWO contacted Matheson on Sunday evening and he provided a statement that was surprisingly unrepentant and failed to apologize for the grave harm he has caused many of his clients.

“My time in a straight marriage and in the “ex-gay” world was genuine and sincere and a rich blessing to me. I remember most of it with fondness and gratitude for the joy and growth it caused in me and many others. But I had stopped growing and was starting to die. So I’ve embarked on a new life-giving path that has already started a whole new growth process. I wasn’t faking it all those years. I’m not renouncing my past work or my LDS faith. And I’m not condemning mixed-orientation marriages. I continue to support the rights of individuals to choose how they will respond to their sexual attractions and identity. With that freedom, I am now choosing to pursue life as a gay man.”

While the latest news on Matheson further dishonors the already discredited “ex-gay” industry, some people harmed by his programs have greeted his announcement with mixed feelings.

“While I am pleased for Mr. Matheson that he has found a path forward for his life, I can’t help but think of the hundreds if not thousands of people who are still stuck in the closet, a closet that was created in part by Mr. Matheson himself. I hope that Mr. Matheson will do whatever he can to rectify the harm that he’s inflicted on many people in the LGBTQ community, myself included,” said Chaim Levin, who was psychologically harmed by attending Journey into Manhood, and was later a key plaintiff in the landmark Southern Poverty Law Center lawsuit that shut down Jews Offering New Alternatives to Homosexuality (JONAH). Matheson was also tied to JONAH.

TWO says that Matheson is living proof that these programs don’t even work for its most vociferous advocates.

“If conversion therapy does not work for authors like David Matheson who write books on the discredited practice, it is naïve to expect it to work for those reading such deceptive publications,” said Truth Wins Out Executive Director Wayne Besen. “Conversion therapy employs guilt and shame to browbeat desperate and vulnerable people into renouncing their humanity. This is the latest evidence that conversion therapy is consumer fraud and ought to be outlawed in all 50 states.”

A protégé of the late Joseph Nicolosi, the infamous therapist from the now defunct National Association for Research and Therapy of Homosexuality (NARTH), Matheson also co-wrote the program for Journey into Manhood, an absurd “ex-gay” program where gay men go into the forest to engage in “manly” activities in a fruitless effort to modify their sexual orientation. Matheson is the author of “Becoming a Whole Man,” which according to Amazon “is the result of a six-year quest to understand and respond to the most difficult challenges facing men with unwanted homosexuality.”

 

Edited January 21, 2019 by Daniel2

[Tacenda]

Wow, even more evidence that the therapy to try to reverse homosexuality, is bogus

[SouthernMo]

2 minutes ago, Tacenda said:

Wow, even more evidence that the therapy to try to reverse homosexuality, is bogus

I dislike the idea that anyone who identifies as gay can, and needs to be changed.  However, I am sure there are some who experience SSA, who wish they did not.  On the one hand, I want to accept an individual's desire to 'change' or live a lifestyle different from their inborn desires and work with whatever help they find to live the life they want.  On the other hand, one should to accept the evidence of the efficacy of any tool used to make changes.

Can homosexuality ever be 'reversed' for those who want to be 'straight' (let's leave aside whether or not it should be)?  I don't know.  But, I don't know of an effective 'conversion therapy' or any other treatment that has shown evidence of success.

[The Nehor]

Wait, there was an actual serious program to get a bunch of gay guys to go out into the woods together and do “manly” activities to “cure” them?

[Daniel2]

4 minutes ago, The Nehor said:

Wait, there was an actual serious program to get a bunch of gay guys to go out into the woods together and do “manly” activities to “cure” them?

It's even weirder than it sounds.... sessions to "overcome" SSA included cuddle therapy together with another man or groups of men (clothed, naked, and/or partially unclothed), nude Native American sweat lodges, and beating punching bags with baseball bats while screming "DAD!! DAD!! DAD!!" to release alleged latent anger directed at one's absent father.  His therapies made me so uncomfortable I couldn't continue them in good conscience.  Sadly, while it sounds comical, it contributed to a lot of emotional, spiritual, and psychological damage for thousands of men, including several friends of mine and the man I once dated who ultimately took his life.

Edited January 21, 2019 by Daniel2

[hope_for_things]

So sad on many levels.  Maybe the timing of this can help in efforts to get legislation passed in Utah to ban these kinds of conversion therapy practices.  

[Bernard Gui]

Such an odd world in which we live.

[The Nehor]

2 hours ago, Daniel2 said:

It's even weirder than it sounds.... sessions to "overcome" SSA included cuddle therapy together with another man or groups of men (clothed, naked, and/or partially unclothed), nude Native American sweat lodges, and beating punching bags with baseball bats while screming "DAD!! DAD!! DAD!!" to release alleged latent anger directed at one's absent father.  His therapies made me so uncomfortable I couldn't continue them in good conscience.  Sadly, while it sounds comical, it contributed to a lot of emotional, spiritual, and psychological damage for thousands of men, including several friends of mine and the man I once dated who ultimately took his life.

My laughter was not intended to diminish those who were damaged by the therapy, just at the absurdity of it. Sorry about your friend.  

It is a sad truth that this kind of “pioneering” therapy is almost always led by the insane and not the conscientious. We are still seeing ludicrous therapy in substance abuse treatment because there is money to be made.

Edited January 21, 2019 by The Nehor

[kllindley]

Congrats, Daniel! I'm sure this has got to be a happy day for you. You're no better than Wayne Besen. Disgusting!

[kllindley]

16 minutes ago, The Nehor said:

My laughter was not intended to diminish those who were damaged by tithe therapy, just at the absurdity of it. Sorry about your friend.  

It is a sad truth that this kind of “pioneering” therapy is almost always led by the insane and not the conscientious. We are still seeing ludicrous therapy in substance abuse treatment because there is money to be made.

It also helped hundreds of men, including me, preserve our faith and families. It enabled us to find joy living the way our personal faith dictated. 

 

[Daniel2]

16 minutes ago, kllindley said:

Congrats, Daniel! I'm sure this has got to be a happy day for you. You're no better than Wayne Besen. Disgusting!

When comparing the not-so-latent sarcastic and aggressive tone of your post above with the lack of such emotion in my posts reporting the events in this thread, it strikes me that your post above says a lot more about you than it does about me.

I wish you and your family well, even as I feel it’s vitally important to hold those who’ve perpetrated dangerous “therapies” accountable for what’s both healthy and actually possible.  

Best to you.

Edited January 21, 2019 by Daniel2

[Daniel2]

13 minutes ago, kllindley said:

It also helped hundreds of men, including me, preserve our faith and families. It enabled us to find joy living the way our personal faith dictated. 

 

So, you’re saying you support the therapeutic methodologies David Matheson practiced and advocated for, as mentioned in this thread...?

Edited January 21, 2019 by Daniel2

[Calm]

2 hours ago, Daniel2 said:

David Matheson was married to a woman,  was my own therapist for several months while I was living on the East Coast in 2004, and is featured in the following FAIR podcast (which is still an active link on the FAIR website):

You are seriously turning his personal experience into a thing about FairMormon?

Presenting or being referenced or even being a member of FairMormon doesn’t prevent one from making choices inconsistent with the Gospel. 

[sjdawg]

24 minutes ago, kllindley said:

Congrats, Daniel! I'm sure this has got to be a happy day for you. You're no better than Wayne Besen. Disgusting!

I'm so confused by this message.  Why the dig at Daniel?  He has been a patient and fair contributor to the board for a long time.

Edited January 21, 2019 by sjdawg

[Robert F. Smith]

2 hours ago, SouthernMo said:

....................... I want to accept an individual's desire to 'change' or live a lifestyle different from their inborn desires and work with whatever help they find to live the life they want.  .......................................

Milo Yiannopoulos, who is himself gay, states that not all SSA is "inborn," but can be learnt, and can result from socialization.  Indeed, he considers being gay as an aberrant lifestyle choice.

2 hours ago, SouthernMo said:

Can homosexuality ever be 'reversed' for those who want to be 'straight' (let's leave aside whether or not it should be)?  I don't know.  But, I don't know of an effective 'conversion therapy' or any other treatment that has shown evidence of success.

Can being gay be unlearnt?  If so, how?  David Matheson's experience might rather indicate the fluidity of gender attraction and the failure of his own conversion therapy.  All the more reason for men of faith to recommend restraint from wild experimentation among youth and young adults.  It seems all to easy to get hooked on something which may prove to be a bad idea in retrospect.  Among the bad habits which one may pick up: booze, nicotine, marijuana, cocaine, meth, opioids, ecstasy, homosexuality, bisexuality, etc.  Personal self-restraint may seem boring, but it is much more satisfying in the long run.

[Robert F. Smith]

2 hours ago, Daniel2 said:

It's even weirder than it sounds.... sessions to "overcome" SSA included cuddle therapy together with another man or groups of men (clothed, naked, and/or partially unclothed), nude Native American sweat lodges, and beating punching bags with baseball bats while screming "DAD!! DAD!! DAD!!" to release alleged latent anger directed at one's absent father.  His therapies made me so uncomfortable I couldn't continue them in good conscience.  Sadly, while it sounds comical, it contributed to a lot of emotional, spiritual, and psychological damage for thousands of men, including several friends of mine and the man I once dated who ultimately took his life.

I agree with both you and the Nehor:  These therapies seem so absurd and unprofessional that it is almost unbelievable.  Are most gay conversion therapies like this?

[SouthernMo]

11 minutes ago, Robert F. Smith said:

Milo Yiannopoulos, who is himself gay, states that not all SSA is "inborn," but can be learnt, and can result from socialization.  Indeed, he considers being gay as an aberrant lifestyle choice.

While I generally do not like to attack ideas ad hominem - my perception and understanding of Milo’s views are that he likes to shock people. I’m not sure I trust him as an unbiased student of homosexuality and conversion therapy - despite the fact that he characterizes himself as gay.  I’m not in a position where I can take his word for it, and accept it as fact.

[rockpond]

13 minutes ago, Robert F. Smith said:

Milo Yiannopoulos, who is himself gay, states that not all SSA is "inborn," but can be learnt, and can result from socialization.  Indeed, he considers being gay as an aberrant lifestyle choice.

Can being gay be unlearnt?  If so, how?  David Matheson's experience might rather indicate the fluidity of gender attraction and the failure of his own conversion therapy.  All the more reason for men of faith to recommend restraint from wild experimentation among youth and young adults.  It seems all to easy to get hooked on something which may prove to be a bad idea in retrospect.  Among the bad habits which one may pick up: booze, nicotine, marijuana, cocaine, meth, opioids, ecstasy, homosexuality, bisexuality, etc.  Personal self-restraint may seem boring, but it is much more satisfying in the long run.

Homosexuality is not a "bad habit".

[Daniel2]

31 minutes ago, Calm said:

You are seriously turning his personal experience into a thing about FairMormon?

Presenting or being referenced or even being a member of FairMormon doesn’t prevent one from making choices inconsistent with the Gospel. 

Hey, Calm, 

i didn’t mean to imply I was attempting to  “turn his personal experience into a thing about FairMormon”—just pointing out how giving an update on him is relevant in that he was a guest speaker. The Church of Jesus Christ of Lattet-Day Saints has recently disavowed these types of “reparative” therapies, which I’m grateful for. The other lingering question I think is relevant to FAIR itself is whether or not it’s worthwhile/valuable/necessary/advisable/preferable to reference Matheson’s personal changes when archiving his past profession and changed personal life choices.

[Daniel2]

11 minutes ago, Robert F. Smith said:

I agree with both you and the Nehor:  These therapies seem so absurd and unprofessional that it is almost unbelievable.  Are most gay conversion therapies like this?

No, not all therapists practice as Matheson did, and from what I’ve seen, a lot have evolved (in good ways, IMO) in the sense of helping men experiencing same-sex attraction shift their focus and control their behaviors rather than trying to change/destroy their innate attractions.

[Tacenda]

11 minutes ago, Daniel2 said:

No, not all therapists practice as Matheson did, and from what I’ve seen, a lot have evolved (in good ways, IMO) in the sense of helping men experiencing same-sex attraction shift their focus and control their behaviors rather than trying to change/destroy their innate attractions.

I heard a while ago, that some of these men in these programs would get together secretly after these meetings, I wonder if this dude did as well, and it was all just a front.

[Jeanne]

1 hour ago, kllindley said:

Congrats, Daniel! I'm sure this has got to be a happy day for you. You're no better than Wayne Besen. Disgusting!

Huh???

[Calm]

On 1/21/2019 at 1:59 PM, Daniel2 said:

Hey, Calm, 

i didn’t mean to imply I was attempting to  “turn his personal experience into a thing about FairMormon”—just pointing out how giving an update on him is relevant in that he was a guest speaker. The Church of Jesus Christ of Lattet-Day Saints has recently disavowed these types of “reparative” therapies, which I’m grateful for. The other lingering question I think is relevant to FAIR itself is whether or not it’s worthwhile/valuable/necessary/advisable/preferable to reference Matheson’s personal changes when archiving his past profession and changed personal life choices.

You should have contacted FairMormon if you thought it relevant to them. It sounds more like a shock technique given it is the first thing you list associated with him. 

Edited January 23, 2019 by Calm

[carbon dioxide]

2 hours ago, hope_for_things said:

So sad on many levels.  Maybe the timing of this can help in efforts to get legislation passed in Utah to ban these kinds of conversion therapy practices.  

If the people do it on a volunteer basis, why should it be banned.  Its amazing that in America which is supposed to be the land of the free to have so many laws and so many things banned. 

Edited January 21, 2019 by carbon dioxide