“We've Lost Our Connection with Nature”
The Interviewer Asks: The Therapeutic Fraud Prevention Act is a bill currently in subcommittee in the U.S. House of Representatives that if enacted, would prohibit the practice of conversion therapy on a national level. If you are familiar with this bill, what is your opinion of it?
Dr. Nicolosi: In introducing this bill, gay-activist legislators present a false argument; they say we use coercive techniques such as nausea-inducing drugs, electroshock, and force. None of this is true. Nor do I know any other practitioner who would work in such a manner.
Instead, we forge a therapeutic alliance with the client in his desire to grow in heterosexual identity. Over time, clients who believe their homosexual attractions do not reflect their true self, are often able to reduce their unwanted attractions and develop a degree of heterosexual attraction, while strengthening their chosen identity as heterosexual men.
It is not an easy process. We see-- over and over-- how trauma has constricted so many men in expressing their natural, gender-appropriate sexuality and stopped them from growing in their sense of maleness. This trauma could have come from sexual abuse; it could have also come from an interruption in the normal, gender-appropriate identification and attachment process.
It is true, some men cannot change, and of course, some do not want to change; if so, we accept them as they are. With such clients, I work on other problems-- peer and parental conflicts, work-related issues, anxiety and depression.
Interviewer: How do you feel about the possibility of a national ban on conversion therapy?
Dr. Nicolosi: If Bruce Jenner, who believes he is a woman, can have medical help to amputate his male sexual organs, and if he can get female hormones (which cause all kinds of havoc in his body), breast implants, facial surgery--and have a whole celebrity culture applauding him for finally finding his true self--why can't a homosexually attracted man explore his heterosexual potential?
When we applaud the one and prohibit the other, this shows that we’ve lost our connection with nature-- imagining that we can be our own creators and designers.
Transgenderism works against nature--remember, every cell in Bruce Jenner’s body tells us he is still biologically male. Our clients want to live out a sexual identity that is harmonious with biological reality.
Interviewer: Based on your experience, knowledge and personal beliefs, what is the impact of conversion therapy to the individual, the LGBT community and the entire nation?
Dr. Nicolosi: Frankly, it is quite threatening to the gay-activist community; but if they believed in true diversity, not forcing their worldview on others, they would accept the fact that some people believe differently than they do.
Interviewer: How has your life/work/practice been impacted by conversion therapy?
Dr. Nicolosi: It has shown me how politicized my profession is, and how far it has strayed from science and from the respect for worldview and religious diversity that the profession claims to uphold.
Interviewer: How would your practice change with a federal ban on conversion therapy for minors and adults?
Dr. Nicolosi: I cannot even imagine such a thing happening. We do not live in a communist country….but we may be headed that way. Our culture needs to wake up and see the Gestapo tactics that gay activists are using. Today it may be my freedoms being infringed upon, not yours; but tomorrow, it could be your freedom at stake. .. That's an important fact to reflect upon.