Mental health therapists gathered at a conference in Irving this weekend are trying to chart a middle course between commonly heard views about homosexuality.
The National Association for Research and Therapy of Homosexuality, which claims 800 members, holds the official position that people who are gay or lesbian and want to change can be helped by counseling.
Leaders of the group say that nobody is born gay or lesbian. But they also say that nobody chooses a sexual orientation.
Yeah right. What this organization is about is revealed just a little further down:
"For some people, it [homosexuality] is a satisfactory adaptation. And for others, it is an unsatisfactory adaptation," said Dr. Joseph Nicolosi, president and co-founder of the group.
Others in the organization suggest that gays and lesbians generally benefit from counseling if they seek it. "Behind every homosexual is heterosexuality that wants to come out," said Dr. Benjamin Kaufman, another co-founder of the group that formed in 1992.
Sigh...yes, more people who think that homosexual people can choose not to be gay, no matter what the science really says. It's just ridiculous.
2 comments:
You would think people with a little medical training would be inclined to accept the results of medical research, but I guess not.
Dr. Nocolosi has done much research (controversial)on this subject and always comes to this conclusion, gays can change. He is quoted exclusively by Parents and Friends of Ex-Gays, an international organization that consists primarily of fundamentalist Christians. Orthodox Jews are susceptible to thinking in this way, as well, despite the predominant positions of all of the secular (not faith-based) mental health research and ethics watchdogs in the U.S.
The American Psychological Association, the American Psychiatric Association, the National Association of Social Workers, all support findings that contradict Nicolosi's.
Post a Comment