Apparently, Dr. Joseph Nicolosi, co-founder of NARTH, will speak to a faith-based group in London in June. His presentation is titled Time for Truth – Is Gay Real? and the plan is that he will “take a scientific rather than an explicitly Christian approach.”
I just wonder whether he
- Will seem angry, or struggle for composure;
- Mention that there is no such thing as a gay Catholic;
- Solicit professional clients for his case supervision service;
- Explain how not being a neutral therapist meshes with his scientific approach.
- Describe how he works with openly gay clients while asking publicly, “Is Gay Real?”
The bit about working with gay clients has been discussed at Dr. Warren Throckmorton’s site, where he noted that Nicolosi had said:
A few gay-identified clients do decide to stay with us. Out of respect for diversity and autonomy, I affirm them in their right to define themselves as they wish, and I accept them in their gay self-label.
Here is how I summed up my experience of hearing Dr. Nicolosi speak a year ago:
I know that Dr. Nicolosi wasn’t soliciting the crowd to expand his client base, but I thought the conference organizers would have wanted folks to leave his talk inspired to embark on a therapeutic journey with someone like him.
Instead, I walked away believing that such therapy would be a long (months or years), arduous (digging, digging, digging into childhood years) and high-risk (only a third emerge as ex-gay, most of them still having same-sex attractions) journey with an angry guy who thought my masculinity was counterfeit and misogyny was funny.
Other folks taking notice so far include:
- The Ginger Beer message board in the UK: Know Your Enemy
- Gay.com in the UK: Anti-Gay Quack Comes to London
- GayTwoGether, which notes the Gay.com coverage.
Update: Timothy Kincaid at Box Turtle Bulletin wonders if he will do his “better brain-damaged than gay” joke.
2 comments
Christian says:
25-Jun-2007 at 7:57 am (UTC -6)
I went to that meeting. None of the above. He was nothing but respectful towards homosexuals. He didn’t seem at all angry. He didn’t do any jokes about brain damage.
Bose says:
28-Jun-2007 at 2:48 pm (UTC -6)
Hey Christian…
Sorry to be so slow approving your comment, but I appreciate hearing your observations.
Your experience points to something that confuses me — that Dr. Nicolosi apparently does project a professional demeanor in some environments, yet also seems to be speaking from the heart and from his professional experience when describing gay people as incomplete and damaged.
You and I are both speaking from first-hand experience of him, after all.
Take care…