Groundbreaking
Study Affirms
‘Gays’ Can Change
Ask
any one of the untold thousands of men and women who have left the homosexual
lifestyle, and they’ll say, “Tell us something we didn’t already know.”
Nonetheless, psychologists Mark A. Yarhouse and
Stanton L. Jones may have just hammered the final nail in the mythical “born ‘gay’
and stuck that way” coffin.
In a first of its kind comprehensive study, Yarhouse and Jones determined over a four year period that
men and women suffering from unwanted same-sex attractions can “re-orient”
themselves through Christian counseling and/or reparative therapy to their
natural and God-given heterosexual state.
Although the study concluded that leaving
the homosexual lifestyle is not always easy, it conclusively determined that it
can be done. At a news conference announcing the study, Jones, who is a
professor of psychology at Illinois’ Wheaton College, said, “These findings
contradict directly the commonly expressed views of the mental health establishment
that change in sexual orientation is impossible, and that if you attempt to
change, it’s highly likely to produce harm for those who make such an attempt.”
In fact, the study, which was commissioned
by Exodus International, the world’s largest organization ministering to people
suffering from unwanted same-sex desires, determined that change is not only
possible, it is very unlikely to produce harm, a fiction homosexual
activists have maintained for years.
The study followed 98 men and women from between
a three- to four-year period who self-identified as homosexual. Baptist
Press summarized the study’s results as follows:
“15 percent reported their conversion was
successful and that they had had ‘substantial reduction’ in homosexual
attraction and ‘substantial conversion’ to heterosexual attraction. They were
categorized as ‘success: conversion.’
“23 percent said their conversion was
successful and that homosexual attraction was either missing or ‘present only
incidentally or in a way that does not seem to bring about distress.’ They were
labeled ‘success: chastity.’
“29 percent had
experienced ‘modest decreases’ in homosexual attraction and were not satisfied
with their change, but pledged to continue trying. This category was
labeled ‘continuing.’
“15 percent had not changed and were
conflicted about what to do next.
“4 percent had not changed and had quit the
change process, but had not embraced the gay identity; and,
“8 percent had not changed, had quit the
process and had embraced the ‘gay identity.’”
Homosexual activists continue to desperately
perpetuate the myth that homosexuals are “born that way” and should therefore
be treated as a bona fide minority class with special rights and
benefits attached. This study represents a tremendous setback to the
realization of that goal.
For purposes of protecting individuals
belonging to an identifiable group against discrimination, the Supreme Court
has devised a three-part test. To qualify for protected “suspect minority
classification,” any given group must possess immutable characteristics
(unchangeable, like skin color). The fact that homosexuals can change,
as this study has reaffirmed, would disqualify them as a suspect minority class
under that test alone. However, a suspect minority class must also share both a
history of discrimination and political powerlessness to qualify. Again,
self-identified homosexuals fail both tests. In fact, rather than suffering
from political powerlessness, the homosexual lobby happens to be one of the
most powerful and well-funded lobbies in the world per capita.
The study’s findings will be detailed in Yarhouse and Jones’ book, Ex-Gays? A Longitudinal Study of Religiously Mediated Change in Sexual
Orientation, which is expected to hit bookshelves soon.
