Benjamin Kaufman vs. transgender people

Benjamin Kaufman is an American psychiatrist who co-founded conversion therapy activist group National Association for Research and Therapy of Homosexuality (NARTH) in 1992. Kaufman is a prominent critic of the American Psychiatric Association’s 1973 decision to depathologize homosexuality.

In 2014, NARTH rebranded as Alliance for Therapeutic Choice and Scientific Integrity (ATSCI). Kaufman has not been listed as involved in ATCSI.

Background

Benjamin R. Kaufman was born on June 16, 1935. According to a profile, Kaufman earned a medical degree from the University of California San Francisco School of Medicine in 1962 and was granted a California medical license in 1963. Kaufman then completed a psychiatry internship and a residency at Los Angeles County–USC Medical Center. Kaufman was certified by the American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology and certified by the American Psychoanalytic Association.

Kaufman established the private practice Benjamin Kaufman, MD, Inc. in 1969. Kaufman practiced psychoanalysis for adults, adolescents, and children.

Kaufman’s original NARTH profile listed Kaufman as a Clinical Professor of Psychiatry at University of California at Davis. Kaufman reportedly served on the boards of UC Davis’ MIND Institute and organ transplant program. In 2008, Kaufman’s NARTH profile was updated to say “former clinical professor.”

Kaufman married sociologist Veronica Kaufman.

Anti-gay activism

According to a 1999 article on the NARTH website, Kaufman got involved in anti-gay activism after having to get tested for HIV in the 1980s. Kaufman and spouse came upon a motorcycle crash near Truckee, California. Kaufman performed mouth-to-mouth resuscitation on a severely injured motorcyclist for about 45 minutes, coming into direct contact with the motorcyclist’s blood. After the motorcyclist died, the ER physician declined to run an HIV test on the motorcyclist because the law required written consent. Kaufman then got tested through an anonymous process, which Kaufman reportedly found awkward and medically unjustified.

Kaufman then chaired an AIDS policy task force for the Sierra Sacramento Valley Medical Society. Kaufman pushed for broader HIV testing without required consent but claims two gay task force members opposed this. The task force’s final report did not include any of Kaufman’s recommendations. From this, Kaufman concluded that an organization free from activist pressure was needed.

In a 2002 article, Kaufman described the American Psychiatric Association’s 1973 removal of homosexuality from the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders as “the first step in undermining the scientific integrity of the mental health profession,” adding:

“Because of their claim to victimhood–as victims of both social discrimination and a health crisis–gay activism has made tremendous strides through the ravages of the AIDS epidemic. Activists have been able to win support for measures that overhaul school curricula, housing laws, employment, and even religious doctrine.

[…] I saw that I could not turn to the American Psychiatric Association, or any other such professional organizations. All had totally stifled the scientific inquiry that would be necessary to stimulate such a discussion. It remains very politically incorrect–very marginalizing–to even make the suggestion of a dialogue that opens up the question of the normality of homosexuality.”

In a 2019 interview, Kaufman described introducing Joseph Nicolosi to Charles Socarides after reading about Nicolosi’s activism around anti-gay conversion therapy.

In a posthumous 2006 tribute to Socarides published on the NARTH site, Kaufman stated the group emerged “during the December 1991 Meeting of The American Psychoanalytic Association. We were surprised that 25 people showed up including Dean Byrd, the late Harold Voth, and Toby Beiber. Our committee created NARTH.”

Kaufman, Socarides, and Nicolosi then formally founded NARTH in March 1992. It was positioned as a secular alternative to faith-based anti-gay groups. Kaufman served as board chair.

NARTH began facing significant troubles in the 2000s. Around 2011, NARTH stopped providing continuing-education credits to therapists in California. In 2012, they lost tax-exempt status, and California banned conversion therapy. NARTH member David Pickup challenged the state ban but lost in court in 2014. NARTH rebranded to ATCSI after the loss.

Kaufman, who was engaged by the State of California to perform employee evaluations, also began facing legal challenges.

In October 2013, air pollution specialist Nicholas Berger filed a complaint regarding Kaufman and the California Air Resources Board (CARB). According to a report on the complaint, CARB’s human resources department subjected Berger “to a ‘fit for duty’ examination because he is gay.” In 2012, Kaufman cleared Berger for work after a session, but Berger claimed the work environment remained hostile. Berger was ordered to have a second evaluation with Kaufmen:

“This time, Kaufman found Berger mentally unfit to perform his job, according to the complaint. Berger says the opinion stemmed from the fact that he is gay. Kaufman allegedly opined that Berger required psychotropic medication and psychiatric care. Berger says CARB ‘ignored Dr. Kaufman’s publically known association with NARTH and biases against homosexual individuals and adopted Dr. Kaufman’s analysis that Mr. Berger was mentally unfit to perform the essential functions of his job with the intent to humiliate and discriminate against Mr. Berger because of his sexual orientation.’”

In April 2015, attorney Calvin Chang filed a complaint against Kaufman and the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation after being referred to Kaufman for evaluation following Chang’s discrimination complaint against the department. According to a report:

“Chang says Kaufman told him that he (the doctor) ‘was a “conservative Republican,” and thus he knows discrimination (implying that conservative Republicans are the real victims of discrimination-not gay men).’ (Parentheses in complaint.) Chang says in the lawsuit that Kaufman is ‘a nationally recognized and outspoken critic of gay men, whom he views as having a mental disorder[;] he describes as “the homosexual condition” as a “self-destructive behavior,” a “sexual deviation,” deeply disturbing and a threat.”

[…] “Chang claims Kaufman disclosed private information to the prisons department, including false allegations that Chang was a threat to specific law enforcement officials, and that these lies cost him his job. He claims that the prisons department fired him just after his fourth and last session with Kaufman.”

[…] Chang says Kaufman subjected him to ‘reparative therapy’ without his consent and threatened to have him fired if he didn’t accept the prisons department’s offer of demotion. He says Kaufman subjected him to discriminatory and threatening behavior because of his sexual orientation. Among other things, he says, he ‘was subjected to confinement in a room with a large dog under compelled coercion and behind numerous locked doors.’”

According to a report by Southern Poverty Law Center, Kaufman’s medical license was surrendered to the California Medical Board on October 7, 2015 after the disciplinary board charged Kaufman with gross negligence under Business and Professions Code § 2234(b) in the care of a patient identified as “L.S.”

According to the accusation, Kaufman began treating L.S. around June 2005. Starting in 2008, L.S.’s family told Kaufman that L.S. suffered from alcoholism, but Kaufman kept treating L.S. without properly diagnosing or managing it. From September 2010 to September 9, 2011, Kaufman stopped in-person visits. During that time, Kaufman kept routinely prescribing Schedule III medications and mood stabilizers by phone, despite knowing L.S. was alcoholic, severely depressed, and had attempted suicide before. On September 9, 2011, L.S. fell into a coma and was left permanently disabled with Wernicke-Korsakoff syndrome, severe peripheral neuropathy, and ataxia. The accusation called Kaufman’s actions an “extreme departure from the standard of care.”

Kaufman’s stipulation and agreement to surrender the license states:

“Respondent wishes to retire from the practice of medicine. For the purpose of resolving the Accusation without the expense and uncertainty of further proceedings, Respondent agrees that, at a hearing, Complainant could establish a factual basis for the charges in the Accusation and that those charges constitute cause for discipline. Respondent hereby gives up his right to contest that cause for discipline exists based on those charges.”

The order also closed two other pending matters against Kaufman, which appear to the the Berger and Chang complaints (800-2014-009069 and 800-2015-011264). Kaufman appears to have retired from conversion therapy activism around the same time.

References

Potok, Mark (May 25, 2016). QUACKS: ‘Conversion Therapists,’ the Anti-LGBT Right, and the Demonization of Homosexuality. Southern Poverty Law Center https://www.splcenter.org/resources/reports/quacks-conversion-therapists-anti-lgbt-right-and-demonization-homosexuality/

In the Matter of the Accusation Against Benjamin Kaufman, M.D., Case No. 800-2015-013550 (Med. Bd. of Cal., Dep’t of Consumer Affairs, Sept. 30, 2015) (decision adopting stipulated surrender of license, effective Oct. 7, 2015). https://www2.mbc.ca.gov/BreezePDL/document.aspx?path=%5cDIDOCS%5c20150930%5cDMRAAAFC17%5c&did=AAAFC150930222238271.DID

Cahill, Nick (April 17, 2015). Fired Lawyer Blames ‘Gay Conversion’ Therapy. Courthouse News https://www.courthousenews.com/fired-lawyer-blames-gay-conversion-therapy/

Warmerdam, Elizabeth (October 9, 2013). Gay Worker’s Evaluation Was Biased, He Says. Courthouse News https://courthousenews.com/gay-workers-evaluation-was-biased-he-says/

Anti-trans coverage

Staff report (updated April 29, 2003). Regent University Law Review Challenges Mainstream Gay-Rights Perspective. NARTH http://www.narth.com/docs/regent.html [archive]

Selected writing by Kaufman

Kaufman, Benjamin (February 28, 2006). Dr. Charles Socarides, Lover Of Humanity. NARTH http://www.narth.com/docs/soctribute2.html [archive]

Kaufman, Benjamin (2002). Why NARTH? The American Psychiatric Association’s destructive and blind pursuit of political correctness. Regent University Law Review, 14(2), 423–442. https://www.regent.edu/acad/schlaw/student_life/studentorgs/lawreview/docs/issues/v14n2/Vol.%2014,%20No.%202,%207%20Kaufman.pdf

Kaufman, Benjamin (August 5, 1999). In Defense of the Need for Honest Dialogue. NARTH http://www.narth.com/docs/indefense.html [archive]

Media

Voices of the Silenced with Mike Davidson and Benjamin Kaufman (July 12, 2019). Joseph Nicolosi: a True Friend. https://youtu.be/71F-Kf9cL5Q?si=wuM-1SaNXh0LpM95&t=409

Resources

Wikipedia (de.wikipedia.org)

• Benjamin Kaufman [German]
• note: as of 2026, this profile misstated Kaufman’s date of birth

Doctor.com (doctor.com)

• Dr. Benjamin Kaufman, MD
• doctor.com/Dr-Benjamin-Kaufman

US HHS NPI Registry (npiregistry.cms.hhs.gov)

• Benjamin Kaufman: NPI 1669690988
• npiregistry.cms.hhs.gov/provider-view/1669690988