Richard Cohen Profiled in The Post

We'd heard a rumor that the Washington Post was planning to do a story on Richard Cohen, the President of PFOX. PFOX was one of the two groups that sued the Montgomery County School District this spring, and Cohen himself recently addressed the school board in public comments.

OK, he's articulate and engaging, The Post says, and then that's out of the way.

Cohen has a master's degree in counseling psychology from a satellite campus of Antioch College in Yellow Springs, Ohio. He conducts individual therapy at a cost of $150 for an hour-long session, as well as telephone classes for "strugglers" and their relatives. He also runs seminars and workshops, at which he sells his books, two of them self-published and one for children who think they might be gay, as well as tapes and CDs. All of his work, he said, is conducted under the auspices of the International Healing Foundation, a nonprofit, tax-exempt organization he founded in 1990 to treat what he calls unwanted SSA -- same-sex attraction.

Note that "SSA" or "same-sex attraction" is not a medical term or one used by psychiatrists or clinical psychologists. It's one of those code-words used by people who want to say that homosexuality is a disease -- they like to talk about Same Sex Attraction Disorder, or "SSAD." Isn't that clever?

He is not licensed as a therapist, he explained, because he "didn't want to jump through the hoops and deal with the heterophobia and anti-ex-gay attitudes." He circumvents the licensing requirement by asking for donations to his foundation. "I am not doing therapy per se," he said. "I'm coaching."

In 2002, Cohen was permanently expelled from the American Counseling Association (ACA) for multiple ethical violations.

Permanent expulsion is a rarely used sanction, according to David Kaplan, chief professional officer of the Alexandria-based organization. Kaplan said Cohen was found to have violated six sections of the ACA's ethics code, which bars members from actions that "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.

Cohen was found in violation of the following ACA code sections A.1.a; A.1.b; A.5.a; A.6.a; C.3.b, C.3.f. You can read what these are in The American Counseling Association Code of Ethics.

Here's what he told The Post:

Cohen said his expulsion was based on a complaint by a client who told the ACA he felt forced to attend Cohen's classes, buy his books, volunteer to work for his foundation and talk about his personal experiences.

Cohen said he did not contest his expulsion. "Why would I want to be in a totally gay-affirming club?" he asked during a nearly three-hour interview in his office.

Mmm hmmm, yes, thank you.

Look, I learned many years ago -- never believe anyone's explanation for why they went to jail. Or got fired ... or divorced ... or expelled from a professional organization ...

The Post goes on:

His therapy, much of which is derived from his own experience, is outlined in the 273-page book he wrote in 2000 entitled "Coming Out Straight," the foreword of which is written by radio personality Laura Schlessinger, who has called gays "deviants" and "biological errors."

(HERE is an interesting article about Laura Schlessinger's nude photos, which are all over the web.)

Finally, The Post goes into a little bit of description of how Cohen treats homosexuals who want to become straight.

As part of his treatment, Cohen advises patients to pray, exercise regularly and undergo "behavioral and gesture reeducation" in which they practice acting more conventionally masculine. He also endorses a technique using "bioenergetics" in which a client releases pent-up anger by smashing a tennis racket against a mound of pillows while repeatedly screaming "Dad" -- or the name of the person about whom the client has unresolved feelings. This, Cohen said, is how he recovered his repressed memories of sexual abuse.

Touch plays a central role in his therapy, said Cohen, who does not treat women. He recommends that clients develop intimate friendships with heterosexual mentors who will cuddle them in a parental, nonerotic way, making up for the love they did not get from their fathers.

"You've got to feel it to heal it," he said.

Wow.

<sarcasm>It is really hard to see how he was ever accused of any ethics violations.</sarcasm>

We thank The Post for this. Richard Cohen is trying to insert himself into the controversy over the Montgomery County sex education curriculum. I think -- I hope! -- that readers of this article will understand that this weirdness is not what we need here.