The National Black Justice Coalition (NBJC) also wrote a letter to Dr. Nicolosi this afternoon, calling on his organization to apologize for posting the article. NBJC is a national civil rights organization of black lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgendered people that fosters equality by fighting racism and homophobia.

"In the name of propriety, respect, common decency and professional integrity, the National Black Justice Coalition strongly urges NARTH to issue a public apology on the front page of its website for publishing such an outrageous and offensive article," wrote H. Alexander Robinson CEO/Executive Director in the group's letter. "We also hope that you reevaluate your relationship with Dr. Schoenewolf whose peculiar views have no place in civilized discourse."

The column causing the uproar was penned in 2005 by Gerald Schoenewolf, Ph.D., a member of NARTH's "Scientific Advisory Committee," and re-posted last week by Timothy Kincaid on the website Ex-Gay Watch. According to Schoenwolf:

"With all due respect, there is another way, or other ways, to look at the race issue in America. It could be pointed out, for example, that Africa at the time of slavery was still primarily a jungle, as yet uncivilized or industrialized. Life there was savage, as savage as the jungle for most people, and that it was the Africans themselves who first enslaved their own people. They sold their own people to other countries, and those brought to Europe, South America, America, and other countries, were in many ways better off than they had been in Africa. But if one even begins to say these things one is quickly shouted down as though one were a complete madman."

The NARTH endorsed comments were discovered only days before Dr. Nicolosi was scheduled to be the keynote speaker at Focus on the Family's Sept. 23 "Love Won Out" conference in Palm Springs. Love Won Out is a traveling road show that purports to teach gay people how to become heterosexual through prayer and therapy.

"This column rips away the veneer of respectability that NARTH has worked to cultivate and has exposed its extremism," said Truth Wins Out's Executive Director Wayne Besen. "In light of this divisive article, we can't fathom why Focus on the Family would still allow Dr. Nicolosi to speak unless the group sympathizes with the sentiments expressed by NARTH's leader."

TWO is a non-profit think tank and educational organization that debunks the ex-gay myth, counters right wing disinformation campaigns, and provides accurate information about the lives of gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender people.

 http://www.nbjcoalition.org/