Alternative view says homosexuals can change

A ‘homosexual problem’
The other camp is made up of psychologists and researchers who call their approach “reorientation” or “differentiation” therapy, terms notable for their neutrality. Seeing homosexuality as a treatable condition, they are an admittedly small minority in the psychological world, and they complain that they are marginalized by a professional establishment held hostage by pro-gay theorists.

All people are essentially born biologically heterosexual, proponents contend; some develop a homosexual problem. “Gay,” by contrast, is a social and political identity, Dr. Joseph Nicolosi, president of the National Association for Research and Therapy of Homosexuality, or NARTH, said during the conference.

Opponents, who accuse it of gay-bashing, sometimes mischaracterize NARTH as rejecting any predisposition to homosexuality. In fact, it does not contend that homosexuality is solely a sociological or psychological condition, tracking research that supports the supposition that biological factors can play at least a part, especially in the brains of male fetuses.

NARTH says it values diversity and agrees that “people who want to live their lives as ‘gay’ are free to do so.” In a 2000 scholarly paper, Nicolosi and two co-authors counseled that “conversion therapy is not appropriate for all clients,” warning that some who “wish to affirm a gay identity could feel shamed and emotionally hurt if therapists attempted to impose conversion therapy on them.”

By the same token, however, people who want to shed their “unwanted homosexuality” should be encouraged to seek treatment, Nicolosi said in an interview. “It’s not about sex,” he said. “It’s about a sense of self.”

Christian ties to the science
Christian-based reparative therapists draw extensively on the research of the scientific faction. Many psychological reorientation therapists say the two approaches are independent but may have some common cause.

Routinely, Nicolosi said, “reporters confuse ex-gay ministry” with reorientation or differentiation therapy. He said clients who bring a deep faith to treatment do have an advantage, though, because they are highly motivated and have a built-in support system.

NARTH is a secular organization, but it is only one of a number of exponents of homosexual reorientation. If you look more deeply at the wider field, you find a consistent religious strain to much of the literature.

One of the foremost authorities on sexual-identity change is Dr. Warren Throckmorton of Grove City College in Pennsylvania, former president of the American Mental Health Counselors Association. He is a leading proponent of the theory that sexual feelings are acquired through a variety of life experiences and can be flexible for many people. He believes counseling to bring sexual feelings in line with personal beliefs is an ethical alternative for people who are distressed by same-sex attractions, but he stresses that the pursuit of such counseling is solely an individual decision and should not be coerced.

Throckmorton is also co-chairman of the Sexual Orientation Task Force of the American Association of Christian Counselors and producer of a documentary, “I Do Exist,” that is distributed to religious institutions. A viewers’ guide that accompanies “I Do Exist” includes a brochure from Exodus International that says: “Therapy compliments one’s relationship with a local church, and is a part of the universal Church.”

Another widely cited source is the team of Dr. Stanton Jones and Dr. Mark Yarhouse, co-authors of papers and a book arguing that the prevalence of homosexuality is grossly overstated and that family and psychological factors are more important to its development than genetics.

Jones is provost of Wheaton College, the Christian institution in Illinois that boasts Billy Graham among its alumni, while Yarhouse is director of the Institute for the Study of Sexual Identity at Regent University, the Virginia college founded by the Rev. Pat Robertson. They identify themselves as evangelicals who are troubled by pressure on the church to depart from the Bible’s teachings on homosexuality.

Secular proponents of reorientation therapy, including NARTH, frequently cite the work of Throckmorton, Jones and Yarhouse, often divorced from their religious underpinnings.

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