Journey Into Manhood is a $650-per-person, ex-gay weekend boot camp for men who mistakenly believe that homosexuality is caused by inadequate masculinity. The retreat is operated by an ex-gay advocacy group called People Can Change.
In response to criticism by a pro-exgay pundit of the retreat’s controversial pro-gay origins and secret practices, PCC recently released a rigged customer-satisfaction survey which claimed overwhelming success — by excluding most of the retreat’s dissatisfied participants from the survey.
According to The Washington Blade, Doug Haldeman — a gay psychologist based in Seattle and a board member of the American Psychological Association — has joined public criticism of the survey. Haldeman said the name of the retreat, “Journey Into Manhood,” has an inherent bias presupposing that “anyone who is struggling with feelings of same-sex attraction is not a man.” Haldeman also criticized the survey for failing to identify why participants wanted to change their sexual orientation.
“Most of those groups use convenient sample surveys like that and try and call it research,” he said. “What they really are … just amounts to testimonials of people that I believe are pressured, either externally and internally, into something as difficult as trying to change your sexual orientation.”
