People have come from as far as New York and California, and what everyone wants to hear is Love Won Out’s magical promise: that homosexuality can be cured.
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They are told that homosexuality is not a sexual identity, but a developmental disorder. It has a name – same-sex attraction disorder, or SSAD – and a cure – reparative therapy. Throughout the day, a series of men and women introduce themselves on stage as “ex-gays” and tell of their personal journey out of homosexuality into heterosexual happiness, a transition they attribute to psychological insight and biological truth. There are five Love Won Out conferences every year in the US and, although they are church-based, their message is expressed not in scripture but in the language of science. If you want to be saved, find a therapist. <\/p>\n
There is no such thing as a homosexual,” the chief speaker, a clinical psychologist called Dr Joseph Nicolosi, assures his audience. “Everyone is heterosexual. Some of you may have a homosexual problem. But you are still a heterosexual. ‘Homosexual’ is simply a description of a psychological disorder, prompted by an inner sense of emptiness. This,” he reminds them, “by the way, is non-religious, non-political information. This is scientific information.”<\/i><\/p>\n