The Journals
Volume 13 -2022
Feature Articles:
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Walter R. Schumm, James E. Phelan & Christopher H. Rosik – A Comprehensive Critical Review of the “2021 [American Psychological Association] APA Resolution on Sexual Orientation Change Efforts”
This is a comprehensive version of a shorter report by the same authors (Phelan et al., in press). We have examined the “APA [American Psychological Association] Resolution on Sexual Orientation Change Efforts” (APA, 2021) and while doing so have noted several problems. The APA (2021) Resolution report is largely flawed in terms of theory, logic, and science. The APA’s position features several examples of non-sequiturs for which we respond. It relies almost exclusively on sexual minority theory when many other theories might be useful. It relies upon seriously flawed logic, treating SOCE as unchanged and unimproved over the past six decades. In addition, it relies upon very weak and limited science, overlooking recent reports on SOCE outcomes, not considering effect sizes for SOCE treatments, treating correlational results as causal, and often overlooking ways of testing more complex models of SOCE. The same limitations apply to much of the material reported in APA’s book edited by Haldeman (2022a), therefore not deserving a separate review. As such, we concluded that readers of the APA (2021) resolution report or Haldeman (2022a) for that matter, would walk away with unequivocal, one-sided, and misguided information about the topic of SOCE, and therefore a fact-checked critical analysis is presented. We address the report’s main sections, respond to non-sequiturs, and we present summary results from several more recent SOCE studies.
Christopher H. Rosik – Assessing the Legal Landscape Regarding Therapy Bans: Three Perspectives from Three Experts from Three Continents
The legal environment regarding sexual attraction fluidity exploration in therapy (SAFE-T), often described less accurately as sexual orientation change efforts (SOCE), is rapidly evolving. How do the proponents of therapy bans view their cause and what is their ultimate aim? Are politicians supporting these bans out of conviction or fear? Is the faith community waking up to how such bans can impact them? Where is the legal landscape heading for therapists and religious counselors who engage in SAFE-T? To answer these and other questions, I interviewed three well known attorneys from three different continents who are deeply involved in challenging legal efforts to prohibit SAFE-T in their countries. John Steenhof is the Principal Lawyer with the Human Rights Law Alliance, a not-for-profit law firm based in Canberra, Australia, that specializes in religious liberty and freedom of speech, thought, and conscience. Andrea Minichiello Williams qualified as a barrister in 1988. She is founder and Chief Executive of Christian Concern and the Christian Legal Centre in London, England. Mat Staver is the Founder and Chairman of Liberty Counsel and the Chairman of Liberty Counsel Action. Liberty Counsel is an international nonprofit litigation, education, and policy organization, dedicated to advancing religious freedom, the sanctity of life, and the family since 1989 by providing pro bono assistance and representation on these and related topics. It maintains offices in Central Florida, Virginia and Washington, D.C
Christopher H. Rosik – Ideological Gatekeeping or Quality Control? One Author’s Experience with Peer Review at the American Psychologist
In this article I utilize my recent experience with the peer review process at the American Psychological Association’s flagship journal, the American Psychologist, to provider readers with an opportunity to evaluate for themselves the integrity of this practice. My colleague, Paul Sullins, Ph.D, and I submitted a short comment to the journal challenging the global characterization of sexual orientation change efforts (SOCE) as invariably harmful in a published summary of the APA’s Guidelines for Psychological Practice with Sexual Minority Persons. We cited emerging research as the basis for rethinking this conventional wisdom. Here I present in full both the comment we submitted and the responses received from the reviewers that formed the basis for rejection of the comment. These are followed by a second rendering of the reviewers’ feedback, but this time interspersed with my observations. Readers are encouraged to come to their own conclusions as to whether the basis given for the rejection best represents considerations aligning with either ideological gatekeeping or objective quality control.
Robert Schwartz & Christopher H. Rosik – The Right to Try Versus Closing of the Sexual Mind
This article contains a novel and much needed perspective regarding the growing restrictions on treating same-sex attraction. Legally prohibiting therapists from helping people, who for personal or religious reasons, want to modify their sexual attraction deprives them of their civil rights and violates the ethical principle of personal autonomy to define one’s treatment goals. These restrictions are allegedly based on scientific “proof” that such therapy is ineffective at best or harmful at worst. But are the “facts” firmly established enough to warrant this unprecedented, draconian social policy that creates a new, distressed sexuality minority deprived of their right to try? We review recent research that refutes the received opinion of “born that way, can’t change,” methodological flaws in existing research marshalled to support this conclusion, and polemical biases that influenced professional organizations to support bans on therapy, leaving those who wish to explore change without professional help.
Richard N. Williams, Edwin E. Gantt, Madeline R. Garrett & Jacob D. Tubbs – Agentic Sexuality: On Rescuing Humanity from the Tyranny of the Invisible
This paper refutes the common, non-agentic view that human sexuality and sexual activity is caused by any number of powerful constructs or forces acting upon them. The paper also briefly refutes traditional “free choice” theories of sexual and other human activities. Furthermore, the paper develops an alternative, essentially hermeneutic-phenomenological view of human sexuality, one which holds that human beings are, by virtue of their very ontology (i.e., their most essential being or nature), agentic in a fundamental and comprehensive way. Human agency, as it is defined and developed in this essay, is conceived as the constant “taking up” and “giving ourselves over to” various meanings, feelings, and possibilities as they are present and available to us in our own active being-in-the-world. The paper applies this understanding of agency to the question of human “sexuality” and sexual activity, articulating an alternative view in which human sexuality is seen as inherently agentic and, thus, free from the causal power of material of other hypothetical abstractions and constructs. Our account seeks thereby to preserve the intrinsic meaningfulness of human sexual desire and action. Finally, the paper briefly addresses some of the ways in which this view of sexuality as agentic could impact research and clinical practice.
Book Reviews
Shirley E. Cox – Review of Evans and Evans’ Gender Dysphoria: A Therapeutic Model for Working with Children, Adolescents, and Young Adults
Christopher H. Rosik – Review of Douglas C. Haldeman’s (Ed.) The Case Against Conversion “Therapy”: Evidence, Ethics, and Alternatives
Volume 12 - 2021 Click Here
Feature Articles
Peter S. Sprigg – Searching for Evidence of Harm: 79 Key Studies Do Not Demonstrate That Sexual Orientation Change Efforts (SOCE) Are More Harmful Than Other Counseling - CLICK TO ACCESS
Flavio Krzyzanowski Junior – Nature and Nurture: Proposing a Reconciliation - CLICK TO ACCESS
Christopher H. Rosik – Researching Against the Cultural Tide: An Interview with Walter R. Schumm and D. Paul Sullins - CLICK TO ACCESS
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Original Research
Carolyn Pela & Philip Sutton – Sexual Attraction Fluidity and Well-Being in Men: A Therapeutic Outcome Study - CLICK TO ACCESS
Gary Bondy – Subjective Experiences in Sexual Orientation Change Efforts: A Mixed-Method Analysis - CLICK TO ACCESS
Walter R. Schumm & Duane W. Crawford – Sexual Orientation Differences Between Children of Same-Sex Parents and Children of Heterosexual Parents: A Brief Report Using a Meta-Analysis - CLICK TO ACCESS
Walter R. Schumm & Duane W. Crawford – Differences Between Acceptance of Sexual Diversity and Nonheterosexual Sexual Orientation Among Children of Same-Sex Parents - CLICK TO ACCESS
Sheri L. Golden – The Relationship Between Father Involvement and Father-Role Confidence for Fathers of Gay Sons - CLICK TO ACCESS
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Book and Movie Reviews
Keith Vennum – A Brief Review of Homosexuality, Aids, and the CDC By The Millennium First Initiative - CLICK TO ACCESS
Sheri Golden – Review of Maria Keffler’s Desist, Detrans, & Detox: Getting Your Child Out of the Gender - CLICK TO ACCESS
Anne Paulk – A Review of the Documentary Pray Away - CLICK TO ACCESS
Volume 11 - 2020 Click Here
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Special Section II: Religious and Spiritual Issues among Clients with Unwanted SSA
Shirley Cox & David Pruden – Working with Members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints Who Struggle with Unwanted Same-Sex Attractions and Behaviors - CLICK TO ACCESS
Phillip Sutton – Serving Clients with Unwanted Same-Sex Attraction and Behavior as Catholics: A Qualitative Study - CLICK TO ACCESS
Articles and Research Reviews
E. Freedman – Critique of the Report of the American Psychological Association Task Force on Appropriate Therapeutic Responses to Sexual Orientation (2009) - CLICK TO ACCESS
Christopher H. Rosik – Reflections on the life and legacy of Joseph Nicolosi, Sr.: An Interview with Linda Nicolosi - CLICK TO ACCESS
Christopher H. Rosik – The Creation and Inflation of Prevalence Statistics: The Case of “Conversion Therapy” - CLICK TO ACCESS
Christopher H. Rosik – A Critical Review of 2020 Research on Harms from Efforts to Change Sexual Attractions and Behaviors: Minimal Advancement of Science, Maximal Advancement of Agendas - CLICK TO ACCESS
Book Reviews
Dermot O’Callaghan – A Review of Douglas Murray’s (2019) The Madness of Crowds: Gender, Race and Identity _ CLICK TO ASCCESS
Sheri Golden – Review of Abigail Shrier’s (2020) Irreversible Damage: The Transgender Craze Seducing Our Daughters - CLICK TO ACCESS
Christopher H. Rosik – Review of Mark A. Yarhouse’s (2019) Sexual Identity & Faith: Helping Clients Find Congruence - CLICK TO ACCESS
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Volume 10- 2019 Click Here
Special Section: Religious and Spiritual Issues among Clients with Unwanted SSA
Julie H. Hamilton & Philip J. Henry, Working with Evangelical Christian Clients Who Have Unwanted Same-Sex Attractions - CLICK TO ACCESS
Philip M. Sutton, Serving Persons with (Unwanted) Same-Sex Attraction and Behavior (SSA) from the Roman Catholic Tradition - CLICK TO ACCESS
Papers and Research Reviews
Joanna SzydÅ‚owska & Jozef SzopiÅ„ski, The Man’s Contribution in Forming His Own Sexual Identity - CLICK TO ACCESS
Christopher H. Rosik, Perspectives from the Front Lines of Therapy Ban Conflicts: An Interview with Peter Sprigg and Greg Burt - CLICK TO ACCESS
Neil E. Whitehead, Publication and Retraction of the Santero, Whitehead, Ballesteros (2018) Study: A First-Hand Account - CLICK TO ACCESS
Christopher H. Rosik, A Research Review of Ryan et al.’s Parent-initiated Sex Orientation Change Efforts with LGBT Adolescents: Implications for Young Adult Mental Health and Adjustment - CLICK TO ACCESS
Christopher H, Rosik, A Research Review of Gartrell et al.’s Sex Attraction, Sexual Identity, and Same-Sex Experiences of Adult Offspring in U.S. National Longitudinal Lesbian Family Study - CLICK TO ACCESS
Book Reviews:
Keith Vennum, A Review of The Un-affirmed Core: Understanding the Factors behind and around Homosexuality - CLICK TO ACCESS
Keith Vennum, A Summary and Analysis of The War on Psychotherapy: When Sexual Politics, Gender Ideology, and Mental Health Collide - CLICK TO ACCESS
Walter R. Schumm, A Review of Same-Sex Marriage and Children: A Tale of History, Social Science, and Law -CLICK TO ACCESS
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Volume 9 - 2018 Click Here
Practice Guidelines
Guidelines for the Practice of Sexual Attraction Fluidity Exploration in Therapy - CLICK TO ACCESS
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Papers:
Joseph Nicolosi, Jr., Resolving Trauma and Addiction: The Reintegrative Protocol - CLICK TO ACCESS
Andrew Rodriquez, Surviving Gay Activism in Graduate School: A First-Person Account - CLICK TO ACCESS
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Research Reviews:
Christopher H. Rosik, Preparing the Foundation for the Curtailment of Religious Liberty: New Research Targets Conservative Religious Beliefs on Same-sex Sexuality - CLICK TO ACCESS
Christopher H. Rosik, Recently Published Research Counters Claims of Widespread Harm and Ineffectiveness of Sexual Attraction Fluidity Exploration in Therapy (SAFE-T) - CLICK TO ACCESS
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Book Reviews:
Philip M. Sutton & Michelle Cretella, A Review and Summary of Walter Schumm's Same-sex Parenting Research: A Critical Assessment - CLICK TO ACCESS
Philip M. Sutton, A Review and Analysis of Understanding Gender Dysphoria: Navigating Transgender Issues in a Changing Culture by Mark A. Yarhouse - CLICK TO ACCESS
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Volume 8 - 2017 Click Here
Alliance Statement on SAFE-T - CLICK TO ACCESS
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Papers:
Christopher H. Rosik, A Tale of Two Task Forces: Evidence of a Growing Diversity Problem within Psychology? - CLICK TO ACCESS
Nathan A. Solomon, Joanne: Psychoanalytic Psychotherapy with a Homosexual Woman - CLICK TO ACCESS
Józef Szopinski, Family Determinants of Homosexuality: A Case Study - CLICK TO ACCESS
Christopher H. Rosik, In Their Own Words: Therapists Who Support a Client’s Right to Explore Sexual Attraction Fluidity Respond to Questions Posed by Lesbian, Gay, and Bisexual Therapists - CLICK TO ACCESS
Book Review:
Keith Vennum, How Did He Do It? A Review of Overcoming Homosexuality by Robert Kronemeyer - CLICK TO ACCESS
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Film Review:
Silke Edelmann, A Review and Summary of the Documentary: Voices of the Silenced: Experts, Evidences and Ideology (Directed by Michael R. Davidson) - CLICK TO ACCESS
Volume 7 - 2015 and 2016 Click Here
Research Review:
Christopher H. Rosik, The Quiet Death of Sexual Orientation Immutability: How Science Loses When Political Advocacy Wins
Papers:
Joseph Nicolosi, What Freud Really Said about Homosexuality and Why - CLICK TO ACCESS
Ivan Poljaković and Goran Dodig, Gender Theory Flaws - CLICK TO ACCESS
Christopher H. Rosik, My Conversation with a Typical Opponent of Professional Therapies That Include Change - CLICK TO ACCESS
Neil E. Whitehead, Are Gay / Lesbian Relationships Really as Short as They Seem? - CLICK TO ACCESS
Book Review:
Carolyn Pela, A Review and Summary of the Book: Gender Hurts: A Feminist Analysis of the Politics of Transgenderism, by Sheila Jeffreys - CLICK TO ACCESS
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Volume 6 - 2014 Click Here
Papers:
Joseph Nicolosi, A Call for the American Psychological Association to Recognize the Client with Unwanted Same-Sex Attractions - CLICK TO ACCESS
Christopher H. Rosik, The Reincarnation of Shidlo and Shroeder (2002): New Studies Introduce Anti-SOCE Advocacy Research to the Next Generation - CLICK TO ACCESS
Philip M. Sutton, Possible Factors in the Development of Same-Sex Attraction (SSA) - CLICK TO ACCESS
Neil E. Whitehead, Prenatal Hormones Are Only a Minor Contributor to Male Brain Structure in Humans - CLICK TO ACCESS
Book Reviews:
Christopher H. Rosik, Book Review of James E. Phelan’s Successful Outcomes of Sexual Orientation Change Efforts: An Annotated Bibliography - CLICK TO ACCESS
Documents in Defense of Client and Therapist Rights:
International Federation for Therapeutic Choice (October 4, 2013), IFTC Written Intervention at OSCE/ODIHR 2013 Human Dimension Implementation Meeting—Warsaw, Poland - CLICK TO ACCESS.
Christopher H. Rosik, The Alliance and NARTH Institute Response to the WMA Statement on Natural Variations of Human Sexuality - CLICK TO ACCESS
Philip M. Sutton, What Research Does and Does Not Say about the Possibility of Experiencing “Harm” by Persons Who Receive Therapeutic Support for Unwanted Same-Sex Attractions or “Sexual Orientation Change Efforts (SOCE)”. - CLICK TO ACCESS
Volume 5 - 2013 Click Here
Papers:
Carolyn Pela, Narrative Therapy and Women with Same-Sex Attraction (SSA): Claiming Lost Stories - CLICK TO ACCESS
The Impact of Neurophysiologic Development on the Regulation and the Management of Homosexual Impulses - CLICK TO ACCESS
Neil E. Whitehead, Is First Same-Sex Attraction a Developmental Milestone? - CLICK TO ACCESS
Book Review:
Philip M. Sutton and Robert L. Vazzo, What Did Make Me Do It? A Review and Summary of Neil Whitehead and Briar Whitehead’s My Genes Made Me Do It!—Homosexuality and the Scientific Evidence - CLICK TO ACCESS
Documents in Defense of Client and Therapist Rights
Christopher H. Rosik, California Senate Bill 1172: A Scientific and Legislative Travesty—A Look at the Bill’s Misuse of Science. - CLICK TO ACCESS
Christopher H. Rosik, Fact-Checking California Senate Bill 1172—Serious Inaccuracies and Distortions Abound: Are Politicians Willing to Listen? - CLICK TO ACCESS
Christopher H. Rosik, The (Complete) Lack of a Scientific Basis for Banning Sexual-Orientation Change Efforts (SOCE) with Minors. - CLICK TO ACCESS
International Federation for Therapeutic Choice (October 1, 2012). IFTC Intervention at OSCE/ODIHR 2012 Human Dimension Implementation Meeting—Warsaw, Poland. - CLICK TO ACCESS
Christopher H. Rosik, Countering a One-Sided Representation of Science: NARTH Provides the “Rest of the Story” for Legal Efforts to Challenge Antisexual Orientation Change Efforts (SOCE) Legislation - CLICK TO ACCESS
Volume 4 - 2012 Click Here
Papers:
Douglas A. Abbott and Michelle Cretella, At Risk: Single Young Women Having Nonmarital - CLIICK TO ACCESS
James E. Phelan, Arthur Goldberg, and Christopher Doyle, A Critical Evaluation of the Report of the Task Force on Appropriate Therapeutic Responses to Sexual Orientation, Resolutions, and Press Release - CLICK TO ACCESS
Christopher H. Rosik, Psychological Practice with Lesbian, Gay, and Bisexual Clients: A Review of the American Psychological Association’s 2012 Guidelines - CLICK TO ACCESS
Did the American Psychological Association’s Report on Appropriate Therapeutic Responses to Sexual Orientation Apply its Research Standards Consistently? A Preliminary Examination - CLICK TO ACCESS
Book Reviews
Mary Beth Patton and Carolyn Pela, review of Janelle M. Hallman’s The Heart of Female Same Sex Attraction: A Comprehensive Counseling Resource - CLICK TO ACCESS
Neil E.Whitehead, Book Review of Simon LeVay’s Gay, Straight and the Reason Why - CLICK TO ACCESS
Statements:
IFTC Intervention at the 2011 OSCE Human Dimension Implementation Meeting - CLICK TO ACCESS
Statement on Sexual Orientation Change - CLICK TO ACCESS
Official Statement on SB 1172—Sexual Orientation Change Efforts (SOCE) - CLICK TO ACCESS
Spitzer’s “Retraction”: What Does It Really Mean? - CLICK TO ACCESS
Volume 3 - 2011 Click Here
PAPERS:
A. Dean Byrd, Homosexual Couples and Parenting: What Science Can and Cannot Say Walter R. Schumm, Child Outcomes Associated with Lesbian Parenting: Comments on Biblarz and Stacey’s 2010 Report - CLICK TO ACCESS
Neil E. Whitehead, Neither Genes nor Choice: Same-Sex Attraction Is Mostly a Unique Reaction to Environmental Factors - CLICK TO ACCESS
Neil E. Whitehead, Sociological Studies Show Social Factors Produce Adult - CLICK TO ACCESS
BOOK REVIEWS:
Mary Beth Patton, Janelle M. Hallman, and Shirley E. Cox of Lisa M. Diamond’s Sexual Fluidity: Understanding Women’s Love and Desire - CLICK TO ACCESS
Neil E. Whitehead of Cheryl Weill’s Nature’s Choice: What Science Reveals About the Biological Origins of Sexual Orientation - CLICK TO ACCESS
OFFICIAL STATEMENTS:
Response to American Psychological Association (APA) 2009 Task Force Report—November 12, 2009 - CLICK TO ACCESS
Response to the American Psychological Association (APA) Public Interest Directorate Public Comment Solicitation Program First Round Concerning APA’s Proposed Guidelines for Psychological Practice with Lesbian, Gay, and Bisexual Clients—April 30, 2010 - CLICK TO ACCESS
A formal response to the Report of the American Psychological Association Task Force on Appropriate Therapeutic Responses to Sexual Orientation By The National Association for Research and Therapy of Homosexuality - May 4, 2010 - CLICK TO ACCESS
Letter to Professor Sir Michael G. Marmot, President, British Medical Association—June 30, 2010 - CLICK TO ACCESS
Volume 2 - 2010 Click Here
PAPERS:
Douglas A. Abbott, Behavioral Genetics and Homosexuality - CLICK TO ACCESS
A. Dean Byrd, Dual-Gender Parenting for Optimal Child Development - CLICK TO ACCESS
Neil E.Whitehead, Homosexuality and Co-Morbidities: Research and Therapeutic Implications - CLICK TO ACCESS
The Alliance for Therapeutic Choice and Scientific Integrity - Practice Guidelines, 1st Edition - CLICK TO ACCESS
BOOK REVIEWS:
Michelle A. Cretella and Arthur Goldberg of Miriam Grossman’s You’re Teaching My Child What? A Physician Exposes the Lies of Sex Ed and How They Harm Your Child - CLICK TO ACCESS
James E. Phelan, Arthur Goldberg, and Paul Popper of Joseph J. Nicolosi’s Shame and Attachment Loss: The Practical Work of Reparative Therapy - CLICK TO ACCESS
Christopher H. Rosik of J. S. McIhaney and F. M. Bush’s Hooked: New Science on How Casual Sex Is Affecting Our Children - CLICK TO ACCESS
Volume 1 - 2009 Click Here
What Research Shows: NARTH’s Response to the APA Claims on Homosexuality - CLICK TO ACCESS
A Report of the Scientific Advisory Committee of the National Association for Research and Therapy of Homosexuality
James E. Phelan, Psy. D.
Neil Whitehead, Ph.D.
Philip M. Sutton, Ph.D
Three Claims by the APA
I. Response to APA Claim: There Has Been No Conclusive or Convincing Evidence That Sexual Orientation May Be Changed Through Reorientation Therapy
II. Response to APA Claim: Efforts to Change Sexual Orientation Are Harmful and Can Lead to Greater Self-Hatred, Depression, and Other Self-Destructive Behaviors
III. Response to APA Claim: There Is No Greater Pathology in the Homosexual Population Than in the General Population
IV. Responses from the APA to NARTH
Summary Narrative and References