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Author of Coming Out Straight Richard Cohen appears as
a guest on The Rachel Maddow Show on Dec 8, 2009

Rachel Maddow, the openly lesbian news and opinion TV show host, quotes and thrashes the arguments made by Richard Cohen, author of Coming Out Straight. His “arguments” and book have been used by Ugandan lawmakers who have proposed legislation that punishes “aggravated” homosexuality with the death penalty. The law also proposes incarceration for those who know about a gay relationship but fail to report it to authorities within 24 hours. 

"I realise I was taking the risk of helping promote you and the way that you think about these things by putting you on the air," Maddow told viewers. "But I do think that you've actually got blood on your hands." 

"Just in case this gets heard in Uganda," she added. "Richard Cohen is not licensed by any American or any other licensing body whatsoever."

When grilled about having the appropriate license to practise as a therapist, he insisted that he practiced psychotherapy "under the requirements of every state that he had practiced in" and has helped thousands of men and women "come out of homosexuality" before conceding that he didn't have the relevant credentials or qualifications to do so.

When Maddow mentioned that he was kicked out of the American Counseling Association in 2002 or 2003 due to ethical concerns, he attempted to paint himself as a "victim of a hate crime" and that the organisation was being intolerant of his views. To which Maddow replied, "I will say that the ACA kicked you out because of ethical concerns about your financial relationship with your clients and using them to promote yourself ... not because that you‘re anti-gay."

This is MUST-SEE TV.

The following is an extract of the transcript of Rachel Maddow's recent interview with controversial "ex-gay" therapist Richard Cohen on MSNBC. 

Maddow: Let me try to make more comprehensible to you. The legislator who sponsored the bill told the Associated Press today, that he insists these strict measures, which I know you abhor -

Cohen: Yes.

Maddow: But these strict measure they‘re proposing, including execution, are necessary in their country to prevent homosexuals from recruiting school children.

Cohen: Yes.

Maddow: Let me ask - I‘ll just read from your book, OK? Page 49, “Homosexuals are at least 12 times more likely to molest children than heterosexuals. Homosexual teachers are at least seven times more likely to molest a pupil. Homosexual teachers are estimated to have committed at least 25 percent of pupil molestation; 40 percent of molestation assaults were made by those who engage in homosexuality.”

This is the claim that you make in your book that exactly feeds these folks who want to execute people for being gay, what they need in order to justify that. Do you stand by what you said in your book?

Cohen: Actually, you know, that one particular quote, when I do republish it, reprint it, we will extract that from it, because we don‘t want such things to be used against homosexual persons.

Maddow: That quote is cited - you cite somebody named Paul Cameron as the source of that book.

Cohen: Yes.

Maddow: Paul Cameron has been kicked out of the American Psychological Association, the Nebraska Psychological Association, and the Canadian Psychological Association.

Cohen: Yes. Right.

Maddow: Then, he tried to make himself a sociologist. He got kicked out of the American Sociological Association. This is - I know you say you‘re not going to include it in edition three. I‘m reading from the second edition here.

Cohen: Right.

Maddow: But this is made-up information, fake authoritative stuff that, in other countries, is being taken as science and used to justify quite literally killing gay people. Do you see now why you‘re being used in a political context here? 

A full transcript can be read here.