Charles Socarides, a psychiatrist famous for insisting that homosexuality was a treatable illness, died this week of heart failure at a hospital near his Manhattan home.
He was 83 and died on Dec. 25. A funeral mass was held in his memory Friday.
The Brockton, Mass. native and Ivy League-trained psychoanalyst claimed to have “cured” hundreds of people of homosexuality by the 1990s, and waged an unsuccessful battle to reverse the American Psychiatric Association’s 1973 decision to remove homosexuality from its list of mental disorders. He brushed off frequent condemnations by colleagues who considered his views hurtful.
“Gays ascribe their condition to God, but he should not have to take that rap, any more than he should be blamed for the existence of other manmade maladies - like war,” he wrote in the Catholic weekly magazine America in 1995.
Socarides persisted in his views after having a gay son, Richard, who grew up to be an adviser to President Clinton on gay and lesbian affairs.
In the 1990s, he was among the founders of the National Association for Research and Therapy of Homosexuality, a nonprofit group based in Encino, Calif., “dedicated to affirming a complementary, male-female model of gender and sexuality.”
Socarides decided he wanted to become a psychoanalyst at age 13 after reading a book on the life of Sigmund Freud. He graduated from Harvard College, earned his medical degree at New York Medical College, and got a certificate in psychoanalytic medicine at Columbia University. He went on to teach at The Albert Einstein College of Medicine.
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April 8th, 2007 at 10:26 am
Charles Socarides was a genius and I agree with him that homosexuality is a treatable illness. Even Sigmund Freud would have agreed too.
I think homosexuality is more of a sickness than an illness though.
All gays should should thank God for the work of Charles Socarides.
May his soul rest in peace.
God bless.
April 8th, 2007 at 6:06 pm
People who think gays and lesbians are mentally ill are morons. That’s like saying people with autism chose that lifestyle.
All that matters in life is that we’re happy and healthy. Being gay doesn’t make someone less of a person or any less important to society. It’s NOT A BIG DEAL!
Too bad Socarides is gonna miss out on future indisputable findings that human sexuality has a genetic component.
Nature and nurture baby, that’s what life is about!
April 9th, 2007 at 8:39 am
Thank God that Charles Socarides was not a moron and he was still quite intelligent in old age.
Cheers and God bless.
April 27th, 2007 at 2:29 pm
I cannot understand the arrogance society seems to have over this ‘issue’. Those who argue that homosexuality is not ‘natural’ should take a closer look at just how ‘natural’ the human race has become. is wearing clothes and driving cars ‘natural’? it depneds on how the term is defined. But no, homosexulaity is not an illness, sickness, or wahtever any bigot wishes to call it. It is merley a stage in the evolution of the human mind- those unwilling to admit this are infact in the iferior- people who are homophobic are frightned of what we are, who we have become. the mjority of peole have homosexual feelings in their lives- and it frightnes me to thik that scientist are actually attempting to prove a ‘gay gene’ exists- becasue once we go down the route- sciety will crumble around us in a tumult of hatred and persecution.
April 27th, 2007 at 10:48 pm
I date a morman man. I never ever tell him what to choose. He knows his beliefs and I know mine. I was in church since I could remember. I grew up in the poorest of poor neighborhoods surrounded by blacks and I stand up for the negro community though I am not black. I am a proud gay man, I do not prance but and I do not posess a rainbow. I am here and I am queer. I do not suffer from an illnesss or a genetic flaw. I suffer from life like all people. We are all punished and put down by our beliefs. I do not pray to be normal but I do pray all people will be one. Maybe I am more of a christian than most christians. And by the way you can judge me by telling me my life is a sin and wrong but that’s not up to you. You read what you want from the bible but not all. Go on and judge but remember he without sin shall cast the first stone oh and also learn about the bible most of the homophobic quotes are not words of god (where does it mention god in those quotes??) but rsather they are rules set by communities who had their own beliefs. Read the bible and see where it mentions god. Its not in those quotes. And may god have mercy on your souls for hating and judging. I pray for you!
July 19th, 2007 at 2:26 pm
We see evidence of same-sex partnering in other animals as well as humans. Somehow the same people who would like to rid the world of gay humans seem not to fear same-sex behavior in other creatures and offer no explanation of why God would make creatures who bond by sheer instinct “gay”. There are plausible natural explanations that also may apply to our human condition and our place in nature.
Those who wish to seek some sort of corrective therapy should be encouraged to do what will make them happy. A good therapist of any persuasion practices the art of holding up a mirror allowing the patient to see himself/herself in an objective light and empower them to change that image from within to reach a feeling of fulfillment.
Those who wish to partner with one of the same sex should be allowed to do so and protected and affirmed by law in their relationship.
One piece of practical advice for all is that same-sex partnering has always been around and always will be around. Get used to it and we can get on to more important issues.
September 21st, 2007 at 5:06 pm
I don’t think that being gay is something we should seek to “cure” Are we going to cure blue eyes next? I’m in love with a wonderful woman and I don’t believe that just because I am a woman myself that my love is any less real and I would never wish to be without the love she gives me. I feel sorry for anyone who hide themselves to make other people think they’re “normal”