Wayne Besen - Author, Activist, Columnist, Public Speaker

Tuesday, May 30, 2006

In Anderew Sullivan's blog, a former client of Dr. Joseph Nicolosi says that neither he nor any of the 'patients' treated by the leading reparative therapist were "cured." In other words, the quack has a 100 percent failure rate.

"I spent two years of hard work, determination and money to become straight with Nicolosi.(The trick according to reparative therapy is to first find out how your dad mistreated you sometime in early childhood and try to heal and make peace with dad, next develop as many same-gender non-sexual friendships as possible, then get in touch with your masculine side by working out, playing sports and going to a gym! Add lots of pray and church and bang you will be straight!)Needless to say, neither I nor any of the other ten guys in group therapy turned straight."

Nicolosi is such a loser. Here is a storefront psychologist that had nothing going for him. So, he jumped on this issue and formed a cottage quack industry. It is only a matter of time, in my opinion, before his former clients team up and sue him for wasting their time and money. Has he ever helped a single person long-term? In my book, Nicolosi is the lowest of the low.

25 Comments:

So what are you waiting for, sue the bastard for malpractice!!! Ask Lamda Legal or any other gay rights group for advice. Tie him up in court, make him pay back some of the money he bilked from you and the others.
posted by Anonymous, at 5/30/2006 9:22 AM

Nicolosi is the same nutcase who advocated little boys shower with their fathers and be allowed to touch and stare at their father's penis. Why aren't this man's credentials revoked????
posted by Anonymous, at 5/30/2006 12:46 PM

I agree. This cuckoo needs to be defrocked by his state branch of the American Psychological Association. Every group of mental health professionals has already denounced "reparative" or other "conversion" therapy as irresponsible nonsense. Time for them to suit actions to words.
posted by Anonymous, at 5/30/2006 1:26 PM

I think the "showering with Daddy" thing was Dobson. So many quacks, it's hard to keep them straight. Nicolosi did tell Newsweek that he'd worked his "cure" on "homosexuals" as young as three.

-Tara
posted by Anonymous, at 5/30/2006 11:27 PM

Supposing a little boy did see his father's penis. So what? Why do you think this would be harmful?
posted by Anonymous, at 5/31/2006 5:06 AM

i think if the old man let the kid touch his shvantz in the shower, DYFS might have a problem with it; especially if daddy started to get a woody. And why do they always zero in on boys--if they think their daughter's a dyke are they supposed to let her poke mommy's woo-woo in the shower? Seems like this would be defeating the purpose.
posted by Anonymous, at 5/31/2006 9:24 AM

As I've noted elsewhere, these nutbars don't seem to pitch such a fit about lesbians, although they think that lesbians spend their time strangling their young'uns and casting magic spells.

They regard lesbianism as "the choice of a lesser for a lesser" as a feminist put it.
posted by Anonymous, at 5/31/2006 11:36 AM

Oh yes indeedy.

Is there one single truly "ex-gay" person ANYWHERE? One SINGLE person whose desire has really changed through "reparative therapy"? I don't think so.

The guy in the blog also says:
"I consider Nicolosi and the ex-gay leaders con-men and hucksters. They know the truth, but push ahead deceiving and hurting so many. This is just another example of "Quack Science," "

Yes. In any other branch of medicine, there would need to be proper, repeated clinical trials, with results published in reputable journals, before a treatment would be approved for sale. But in psychology, it seems, people as still allowed to sell good old-fashioned Snake Oil.
It should be stopped.
posted by Anonymous, at 5/31/2006 3:22 PM

One argument people often use to try to show that no one can go from gay to straight is that one person demonstrably failed to do this. It's obviously not a very good argument, but that doesn't stop people using it.

This latest story is just one more example.
posted by Anonymous, at 5/31/2006 5:04 PM

"One argument people often use to try to show that no one can go from gay to straight is that one person demonstrably failed to do this. It's obviously not a very good argument, but that doesn't stop people using it."

--The real problem here is that these "ex-gay" groups do no follow-up and do not even define what they mean by "change". Do they mean that someone is no longer attracted to the same sex? That someone develops an attraction for the opposite sex? Or do they just mean that someone's same-sex orientation remains unchanged but that they just pretend (to themselves as much as anybody else) that they are not gay?

Social scientists looking into these groups usually get the runaround because no evidence for these claims exists. On the rare occasions when enough evidence does exist, the conclusion is usually that the fabulous claims of "change" are false. (See the book: Shidlo (ed.), et al; "Sexual Conversion Therapy: Ethical, Clinical, and Research Perspectives".)

There are always debatable cases on the margin: bisexuals, people who are basically heterosexual but fantasize that they are gay, self-deceiving types who say what the group wants to hear (but later get picked up by the cops having gay sex in public), etc.

I suspect that for every gay who turns out to be straight there are probably ten more who turn out to be gay. This doesn't prevent "ex-gay" groups from parading the one person around while claiming that this is the usual result. It's obviously not a very good argument, but that doesn't stop people using it.
posted by Anonymous, at 6/01/2006 1:32 PM

"The trick according to reparative therapy is to...then get in touch with your masculine side by working out, playing sports and going to a gym!"

This is the funniest thing I've heard all day!!

Has Nicolosi ever been to a gym? There sure are a lot of gay men there and none of them seem to be going ex-gay.

Timothy
posted by Anonymous, at 6/01/2006 4:29 PM

Ya know, in the old days the guy selling snake oil tried to get out of town before the locals realized he's a huckster.

Now they go on TV and run websites.

Timothy
posted by Anonymous, at 6/01/2006 4:31 PM

"Anonymous", you say
"One argument people often use to try to show that no one can go from gay to straight is that one person demonstrably failed to do this. It's obviously not a very good argument, but that doesn't stop people using it".

Anonymous, I have been looking very hard for the one person who has demonstrably SUCCEEDED in going from gay to straight in orientation through reparative therapy. I've looked and looked and I can't find him.

If you know him or her, would you please ask him to get in touch with me as I would be most interested to discuss the whole topic with him or her. You can follow the link from my name. Thanks.

Phil.
posted by Anonymous, at 6/01/2006 5:01 PM

I have a question for you Phil: why, if not from idle curiosity, do you want a person who has gone from gay to straight through therapy?
posted by Anonymous, at 6/01/2006 5:36 PM

Anonymous, currently I believe there are NO such persons. I believe no-one has changed orientation through "reparative therapy".

I believe that because, having looked, I have never found one. My request, above, was simply an extension of that seeking process. I do not believe that there are any such.

If you say "I have green martians in my cellar", I say "Produce one!". It is not up to me to prove that you don't have them - it's up to you to prove that you do.

If Joseph Nicolosi says "I have made ex-gays", I say "Produce one!". It is such an extraordinary claim to make, that his proof had better be strong. It isn't. It's zero. Yet still he takes people's money.
posted by Anonymous, at 6/01/2006 8:30 PM

Anonymous, I am sorry, I did not quite answer your question. My interest is not from idle curiosity. It is a personal one.
posted by Anonymous, at 6/01/2006 8:32 PM

Phil, I suspect that if you are trying to prove that ex-gays don't exist, it is not likely that ex-gays would cooperate with you.
posted by Anonymous, at 6/01/2006 9:16 PM

Anonymous, I am emphatically not "trying to prove ex-gays don't exist".

I am entirely open to evidence that they do, and I have looked quite hard for such evidence for quite a time now.

By "ex-gay" I am referring to someone whose sexual desire or orientation has changed through "reparative therapy" - not simply persons whose desire is unchanged but who have gone from sexually active to celibate.

If you know of any person who has changed orientation through reparative therapy, I would be interested to correspond with that person.
posted by Anonymous, at 6/03/2006 8:20 AM

I am waiting......
posted by Anonymous, at 6/03/2006 9:24 PM

Here, Phil, this man can probably help you: http://www.randythomas.org
posted by Anonymous, at 6/05/2006 7:58 PM

Anonymous, I don't think so, really.

On that website link, I find "Randy Thomas is the Membership Director for Exodus International headquartered in Orlando, Florida".

That means he makes a living from "Reparative Therapy". I understand that I can read about his experience if I buy a book, to which there is a link on the site.

I have not yet found on the site an email address where I might correspond with him privately, but I will keep looking.

Do you know him personally? Do you know if he no longer desires men and now desires women, through "Reparative Therapy"?

I am really looking for a private individual who made the change through "Reparative Therapy" and now just gets on with life, and DOES NOT MAKE A LIVING FROM SELLING THERAPY.

Do you know of anyone in that position who would be willing to correspond with me?
posted by Anonymous, at 6/06/2006 4:11 PM

Anonymous, I have not been able to find an email address for Mr Thomas on his site.

Why did you recomment him to me? Do you know him personally? If so, and you know that his orientation changed through "Reparative Therapy", could you very kindly ask him to write to me? Thank you.

I would also be ESPECIALLY interested to hear from anyone you know who changed sexual desire through "Reparative Therapy" and who has been ALWAYS CELIBATE BOTH BEFORE AND AFTER THAT PROCESS.
posted by Anonymous, at 6/07/2006 8:47 PM

nothing?
posted by Anonymous, at 6/10/2006 3:01 PM

Hey you all.
I'm Chris. Bolivian, just turned 27.
I considered myself stragiht 'till i was eighteen, then a a series of events lead me to fall in love with a guy and tw years later i accepted mi homosexuality. I lived that way for almost 9 years, enjoying every minute and evry guy i slept with. But since January, I started checking out girls again, first only when drunk, but now I happen to really like one. What's more last night I tried to have sex with a guy and it was quite frustrating.
So yes. I think you can go back from gay to straight. No therapy needed. My conclussion is that you fall in love with the being, no matter the sex. And you can also desire sexually either one. Choosing or prefering one or the other it's just a matter of choice.
My email and messegner is christopherhobbes@hotmail.com if you wanna talk about the topic.
posted by Anonymous, at 7/24/2007 10:54 AM

i read some posts here, most of them ( maybe all ) are against the therapies....

Well me being 23, living in Pakistan , i cant even get a chance to get therapy, and morever i saw Lance Correll in a movie going to love in action,,,, the rules made by them i agree to them!!

If parents are forcing their chidlren to these places like these... they are doing wrong...agreed!! BUT its not workign because they are not making their children understand why are they have homosexuals thinnking!! its easy.....

I would say i want to have a sex with a guy....but wait...thats me...OLd....i have new thinking...new persoanlity...manly masculine!!

i read .... that a person lived a gay life for 9 yrs.....slept with a lot oof guys,,,,mTELL ME one thing...is sleeping with guys the onli purpose of ur life?? even str8 guys too...is sleeping with girls the onli purpose???

everytype of people are there!!

i am getting healing just through an online group...mencanchange!!

u guys are lucky...All u need to do is be serious and believe!!

i am here to say therapy is effective!!

any comment write here

iambravest1112000@yahoo.com

Take care!!

and better mind ur Language!!

Telling bad...is it considered good in gay lifestyle? i dont think so...try become good gay... :) No harsh feelings!! i love you all
posted by Anonymous, at 12/28/2007 4:29 PM