University of Minnesota researcher Gary Remafedi penned a column for the UK Guardian about an anti-gay iPhone app that Apple recently pulled from its App Store in part because the app falsified Remafedi’s work. He not only talks about the misrepresentation of his work, but also the shaky First Amendment grounds on which reparative or “ex-gay” therapy finds itself due to the harm it poses to youth.

Here’s an excerpt:

In my opinion, efforts to promote and provide so-called reparative therapy cross the boundaries of protected speech under the first amendment at this time in history, especially when it comes to children and minors. From a medical and scientific perspective, homosexuality is not a medical or mental health condition. Based on the findings of multiple investigators from various disciples over decades of research, a powerful case can be made that claims to cure or change sexual orientation are patently false. The American Medical Association, the American Psychiatric Association, the American Academic of Pediatrics, the American Counseling Association and other professional organisations have found such practices to be unwarranted, ineffective, unethical and harmful, and have opposed them in no uncertain terms.

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Under the guise of the first amendment, groups like Exodus International can be expected to promote so-called reparative therapy and misconstrue research that exposes its fallacious premises. This is not likely to stop until injured parties come forward to claim relief for the harms they have incurred. Until then, this investigator will continue doing what he can to assure that scientific finding are translated to general audiences with fidelity and integrity.