Topic: WorldNetDaily
Rachel Alexander uncritically repeated in her Oct. 11 WorldNetDaily column:
It's no longer considered politically correct to discuss changing physical attraction from one gender to the other, but some are forging ahead to explore it anyway. The left preaches that people should be able to determine their own sexuality, but hypocritically doesn't defend the freedom to change from same-sex attraction to opposite-sex attraction.
A new study published in the the Journal of Human Sexuality examined 75 adult males who reported same-sex attractions and wanted to explore their sexual-attraction fluidity. Therapists skilled in reintegrative therapy worked with the men to seek and resolve past traumatic memories. The focus was on resolving this emotional pain, not actually changing attraction, which can occur naturally as a result of this therapy. One participant explained, "My therapist never tried to get me to change my sexuality, or who I was attracted to, but instead helped me to process traumatic memories from my past that had brought me shame and fear."
[...]
While there is a movement to get rid of so-called "conversion therapy," which in the past has involved aversion techniques like shame, pain or coercion to try to force people to change their gender attraction, reintegrative therapy is nothing like it. In reintegrative therapy, the patient drives the treatment; it's his choice. For whatever reason, the patients have chosen to change their sexual attraction. People on both sides are finally starting to understand that sexuality is fluid, that it's not just something that can be boiled down to either, "Are people born gay, or is it a choice?" And so far no one has discovered a "gay gene" either.
Its proponents honestly admit it doesn't work for everyone. Dr. Joseph Nicolosi Jr. is following in the footsteps of his father, who pioneered the therapy. His father readily admitted that about one-third of his clients did not change their sexual attraction. However, the therapy helped them in other areas, such as improving family and peer relationships.
Alexander didn't mention that Nicolosi is the son of Joseph Nicolosi, one of the biggest promoters of conversion therapy. She also didn't mention that the Journal of Human Sexuality is the journal of the Alliance for Therapeutic Choice and Scientific Integrity, which is the current name of the notorious anti-LGBT group Nicolosi Sr. co-founded, the National Association for Research and Therapy of Homosexuality.
Alexander then worked to whitwash the image of anti-LGBT "therapists like Nicolosi Sr. (though she never refers to him by name) and burnish Nicolosi Jr.'s rebrand:
The battle of gay rights is essentially over. Gays can marry and have children, and students are taught to be proud of being gay. So why can't gays who want to explore changing their sexuality consider becoming straight of their own volition? Wasn't the whole gay rights movement about letting gays decide what they want to do sexually?
Reintegrative therapy isn't about religion. It's about individualism, people making choices for themselves. This is why so many gays and transgenders are emerging on the right. They realize the left only allows one viewpoint about LGBT issues, and at the same time they see through the left's lies that the right is their enemy.
Meanwhile, Nicolosi Jr. is upset whenever anyone reminds people of the legacy of his family and his therapy. Bob Unruh wrote in a Nov. 7 article:
The Reintegrative Therapy Association and its California-based founder, Dr. Joseph Nicolosi, are suing two researchers who used their so-called scientific paper to lash out at "Reintegrative Therapy," which they claimed was a piece of the "conversion therapy" movement.
The action was filed in U.S. District Court in the southern district in California by the Thomas More Society and its supporting attorneys.
The California organization, which owns the name Reintegrative Therapy as a registered trademark, explains it is a "specific form of psychotherapy that treats traumas."
It has been known to "trigger spontaneous sexuality changes as a byproduct," the legal team explained, but it is "dangerous health misinformation by LGBT political activists" to characterize it as "conversion therapy."
However, Unruh didn't mention Nicolosi's father or the fact that his "reintegrative therapy" -- Unruh's article is such a copy-and-paste job that several references to the term still have the trademark symbol that was attached in the Thomas More Society press release -- has its roots in conversion therapy.He also couldn't be botyhered to try to add journalistic balance to his article by seeking a response from the researchers Nicolosi is suing.
Meanwhile, the lie was further put to Nicolosi Jr.'s lawsuit by the website trying to keep Nicolosi Sr.'s legacy alive. A pop-up window (screenshot above) on the site's front page links to a press release about the study promoted in Alexander's column with this text:
VINDICATED: Landmark study, just published, demonstrates sexuality change.
FAST FACTS:
• Significant decrease in same-sex attraction experiences
• Significant increase in heterosexual attraction experiences
• Significant change in self-identity toward a heterosexual identity
• Significant increases in well-being, and decreases in psychological distress
Does that sound like a program that's not about conversion? Further, a video touting reintegrative therapy on Nicolosi Jr.'s website is titled, "This changed my sexuality."
Meanwhile, an observer noted that Nicolosi Jr.'s doctorate came from a school (the Chicago School of Professional Psychology) that wasn't accredited by the American Psychological Association at the time he received it, and that the Journal of Human Sexuality isn't exactly know for its peer review process.
