spitzer. that would be the same dr. robert l. spitzer who had been so instrumental in delisting homosexuality as a mental disorder in 1973. in 2001, 28 years after dr. spitzer told the country that being gay doesn't make you sick, he published this, this study, which says he studied a couple hundred patients and he found that you could, in some instances, pray away the gay! you could get rid of your homosexuality through therapy or something. he said some gay people, essentially, could be turned straight. the anti-gay groups, the being gay is a choice people, the you can be cured of your homosexuality folks, they were over the moon. look at this press release from a pray away the gay group called narth, the national association for research and therapy of homosexuality. their press release, prominent psychiatrist announces new study results. some gays can change! ever since this study came out in 2001, 11 years ago, dr. robert spitzer's work has been cited as proof that if you want it enough, you can turn yourself from gay to str

the editor says it will not formal retract the study but will publish this letter from dr. spitzer. thanks to truth wins out for being the first to publish it. it is kind of astonishing. he writes there is no way to determine if the people in his study who said they turned ex-gay were credible when they said it. no way to determine if they were credible when they said they had been cured of the gay. he also goes on to apologize. quote i believe i owe the gay community an apology for my study making unproven claims of the efficacy of repairtive therapy and apologize to any gay person who wasted time and energy undergoing some form of repairtive therapy because i believed i had proven that repairtive therapy works. if the next gay rights civil rights case hinges on the idea you can change being gay if you want to and if the basis for that claim just evaporated in a puff of, i'm sorry, from dr. spitzer, what does that do to the law as civil rights in the country. joining us is chief justice earl warren professor of constitutional law. thanks for being here. >> thanks for having me. >>

spitzer. realizing that dr. spitteder reached out very recently and said oops my bad. let me give you his quote: >> all right. now the person he reached out to tell that story to is gabriel, the web editor of the american prospect. and joins us right now. great to have you here. tell me what hand here with dr. spitzer. >> so i went to visit him in princeton, where he lives now. he is retired, and i was doing a more general piece about ex-gay therapy, and i was curious about what lead him to pursue the 2001 study, and whether his views had changed. he went into the history of psychiatrist, because in 1973 he lead the charge to declassify homosexuality as a mental illness, which ingratiated him to the gay community, and then in 2001 he angered the gay community by coming without this study saying that at least some highly motivated gay people could change their sexual orientation. and when i spoke to him, he expressed a lot of regret for how the study had been used. his intention was not -- was not -- he did not want to suggest that people should pursue this therapy, but

spitzer. realizing that dr. spitteder reached out very recently and said oops my bad. let me give you his quote: >> all right. now the person he reached out to tell that story to is gabriel, the web editor of the american prospect. and joins us right now. great to have you here. tell me what hand here with dr. spitzer. >> so i went to visit him in princeton, where he lives now. he is retired, and i was doing a more general piece about ex-gay therapy, and i was curious about what lead him to pursue the 2001 study, and whether his views had changed. he went into the history of psychiatrist, because in 1973 he lead the charge to declassify homosexuality as a mental illness, which ingratiated him to the gay community, and then in 2001, he angered the gay community by coming without this study saying that at least some highly motivated gay people could change their sexual orientation. and when i spoke to him, he expressed a lot of regret for how the study had been used. his intention was not -- was not -- he did not want to suggest that people should pursue this therapy, bu

the editor says it will not formal retract the study but will publish this letter from dr. spitzer. thanks to truth wins out for being the first to publish it. it is kind of astonishing. he writes there is no way to determine if the people in his study who said they turned ex-gay were credible when they said it. no way to determine if they were credible when they said they had been cured of the gay. he also goes on to apologize. quote i believe i owe the gay community an apology for my study making unproven claims of the efficacy of repairtive therapy and apologize to any gay person who wasted time and energy undergoing some form of repa repairtive therapy because i believed i had proven that repairtive therapy works. if the next gay rights civil rights case hinges on the idea you can change being gay if you want to and if the basis for that claim just evaporated in a puff of, i'm sorry, from dr. spitzer, what does that do to the law as civil rights in the country. joining us is chief justice earl warren professor of constitutional law. thanks for being here. >> thanks for having me

. >> in his interview with american prospect magazine dr. spitzer specifically refers to the group focus on the family. he says the group's use of his research makes him uncomfortable. >> okay. >>> i got to move on and work on the 7:00 news. >> we'll see you then. still ahead in this half hour of 9 news now four counties, four wildfires, the latest on all that's burning in virginia. >> we'll take you out with the numbers today, about average but a beautiful derek 57 the high, low this morning in the 40s, low at dulles 34, average 56 and 46, record's 90 and 26. we'll come back, talk about the weekend. going to feel like may, then june, but is there any rain on the horizon? >> up next what's in a name, a lot when it's associated with a hurricane. you'll find out what name is being retired from the list up next. >>> the world meteorological organization's hurricane committee will no longer name any storm irene. hurricane irene last year killed 49 people and caused billions of dollars in damage. the meteorological organization retires any name l