I am appalled by the duplicity inherent in the response of Joseph Nicolosi, Ph.D., to Jack Drescher, M.D., in the February 4 issue. Nicolosi protests that he and his group at the National Association for Research and Therapy of Homosexuality (NARTH) are not against the civil rights of homosexuals inasmuch as they do "not believe that homosexual practice should be criminalized."

What he and his colleagues are blatantly ignoring is the fact that the issue of civil rights goes far beyond that of criminalization. Having civil rights means receiving equal protection under the law from being discriminated against in employment, housing, public accommodations, and so on—rights that are guaranteed to all other citizens of our nation. According such rights to homosexuals does not mean they are being "singled out as a protected class of citizens" (Nicolosi’s words). That is "doublespeak" for the charge that they are seeking "special privileges," a term that members of the far right have been using in efforts to deny civil-rights protections to homosexuals.

The prejudice (and ignorance) implicit in Nicolosi’s remarks is further indicated by his assertion that allowing gay or lesbian couples to adopt and raise children would lead to children "encouraged to assume gay identities," thus ignoring repeated research studies over the years that have demonstrated unequivocally that children raised by gay or lesbian couples are not more likely to become homosexual than children raised by heterosexual couples.

Thus, in spite of his pious protests, the antihomosexual bias of Nicolosi and his colleagues in NARTH stands out flagrantly in what he has written and strongly reaffirms Drescher’s charge that they are practicing a form of sexual politics that opposes basic civil rights for homosexuals.

I am deeply saddened that more than 25 years after APA’s historic affirmation that "homosexuality in and of itself implies no impairment in judgment, stability, reliability, or vocational capacities," a group of psychotherapists claiming to be interested in the mental health of homosexuals continues to entertain such regressive views.

Judd Marmor, M.D.

Los Angeles, Calif.