Skip to main content

Lovaas and Anti-Gay H8

Did you realize several Lovaas Institute employees fund every anti-gay rights group they can? Some employees still claim homosexuality is a mental health disorder? Lavender Liberal has been doing research on the origins of money to fight gay rights. It turns out, according to NoH8, Lovaas staff (at least four) are using the money they earn from ABA training programs to register websites like this:

PROTECTMARRIAGE.COM
Registered to:
{name removed}
Lovaas Institute
6540 Lusk Blvd #C157
San Diego, CA 92121

"Treatment for children diagnosed with autism or a related disorder."

If you know the history of ABA, you know it was created to "cure" feminine boys. Now, as more and more states consider mandating ABA therapy coverage within insurance policies, you know more Lovaas staff and executives will earn money. And that money will be spent on such nice things as promoting discrimination.

But, hey, everyone knows Lovaas' original project to cure homosexuality has nothing to do with ABA and autism. I'm sure there's no connection at all. Just some money donated to a pro-family group. Who doesn't support families?

Maybe it is just some rogue employees. I have no idea, but this raises a lot of questions considering the history of ABA. I'd sure love to know the official Lovaas Institute position on these donations and website registrations.

Comments

  1. I dare say you'll probably never get to know the Lovaas Institute's true position on this matter but, given that (as you say) ABA was originally developed to modify the effeminate behaviour of homosexual boys, you can probably bet on them being happy to have their staff to donate to something that looks like being an organisation that may be aiming to stop gay people being afforded the same rights as heterosexual people, with regard to things like marriage.

    I'll comment on behaviour analytic stuff on the other thread when I get chance.

    ReplyDelete
  2. I'm wondering if this is unique to the Lovaas movement in California, where I grew up during the 1970s. Dr. Lovaas is idolized, still, by many SoCal educators and therapists whom he and his wife influenced so deeply. It is a movement, too, which people trained elsewhere and in other traditions might not appreciate.

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Comments violating the policies of this blog will not be approved for posting. Language and content should be appropriate for all readers and maintain a polite tone. Thank you.

Popular posts from this blog

Autistic Burnout

Summer demands a lot of social energy, especially for parents. For autistics, the never-ending social calendar of summer can cause serious autistic burnout. Host C. S. Wyatt discusses his need to find a balance between social demands and self-care. Check out this episode!

ABA and NARTH

There must be something better out there. I'm not sure what, but the more I interview functional adults with autism who received ABA-based or similar therapies, the more I know there must be a better approach. The problem is, I have no idea what that "better approach" is. I'm not a psychologist. I'm a language arts and autism specialist. My research is on how autistic students learn to master written communication (which doesn't really mean "written" in all cases). I am not a therapist. I am not a counselor. But there has to be a better way to help students and young children. I am not suggesting all ABA-based therapies in use today are bad. I sincerely believe ABA must be revised, researched, and ideally all connections to anything Lovaas did forgotten to history. I'd even like to see whatever evolution occurs to have a name other than "ABA-based therapy." The history and associations are that troubling. So, understand I'm ca...

More on Autism Puzzle Piece Logos, Symbols, Ribbons

I joined Twitter on the first day of 2011 ( @autisticme ). I also joined a Twibe (seriously?) and registered with WeFollow.com to learn more about what autism-related Twitter feeds might exist. Within a few days, I was already observing a familiar debate. In fact, it the debate I described in the single most-viewed blog entry of The Autistic Me, which dates back to 2008 (see " Logos, Symbols, and Ribbons "). Various "Aspie Advocates" are still protesting the puzzle piece. I'm sure they will be protesting the puzzle piece next year, in five years, and a decade from now. The "neurodiverstiy" (ND) movement doesn't like the puzzle piece. (Everyone's brain is different: neurological diversity is a fact of life.) Honestly, I don't care for the puzzle piece either. I've written and said that I find it personally off-putting. If I am a puzzle, I'm not more or less of a puzzle than most human beings. I'm told, "Oh, no, it is autism ...