It is possible for people with unwanted same-sex attractions to change, say three psychiatrists in London for a two-day Judaeo-Christian conference on sexual issues.
The Sex and the City Conference, hosted by Care and Anglican Mainstream, aims to help clergy, rabbis and psychologists among others to address issues like therapeutic approaches to same-sex attractions, mentoring the sexually broken, the sexualisation of culture, and sex and the Bible.
“We want to convey the message that change is possible,” said Joseph Nicolosi, founder of the US-based therapeutic organisation NARTH, ahead of the conference.
“Many people who have same-sex attractions are told you can’t change, it’s biologically predetermined, it’s genetically based, and that’s not true.
“After 30 or 40 years of trying to find the gay gene it has not been discovered and many people, especially young people, are being told that they don’t have a choice and that’s really tragic.
“Basically they are resigning themselves to a gay lifestyle not knowing that there are options for them.”
Nicolosi said young people were at risk of developing “self-defeating, self-destructive, maladaptive behaviours” because they were not being told of the emotional dangers of entering into homosexual relationships. He said research, including studies from within the gay community, had found that people in homosexual relationships suffer more from depression, anxiety and failed relationships than people in heterosexual relationships.
Psychiatrist and fellow conference speaker Arthur Goldberg said the school systems in the US and UK had excluded the message of choice.
“Part of the problem is the abominable message that is now being taught in the school systems,” he said. “You now have in kindergartens, elementary schools and high schools a total agenda of viewpoint discrimination.
“And England of all places is supposed to be a country that believes in civil rights and civil liberties – we got our Bill of Rights from you guys – and yet there seems to be a totalitarianism of the left here.”
Nicolosi said he wanted others in the psychotherapy community to acknowledge that clients distressed about their same-sex attractions should be told that there is a choice.
