Phillip Lee will tell you gay people can change who they are because he he has done just that.
Lee is pastor of His Way Out ministries
http://www.hiswayout.com/, a non-profit, inter-denominational organization that proposes homosexuals are sexually broken and can be led out of the lifestyle through a mixture of counseling and scripture.
"I spent 17 years in what many refer to as the gay lifestyle," Lee said. "I found out, like so many others, that to call homosexuality gay is a contradiction."
Lee conducts one-on-one counseling and organizes support groups out of his downtown Bakersfield office. He says he works with about 100 teens struggling with identity issues both in person and through the Internet. He also serves as a guest speaker at church services.
The practice of reparative or conversion therapy is criticized by gay rights advocates who call it misguided and unethical.
"For years in schools, people were forced to not be left handed. We know now these are wonderfully diverse ways of being normal," said activist Whitney Weddell. "The 100 kids that come in with their parents, I wonder how many parents drag them in and are being forced to this therapy that is just a waste of time."
Scientifically, there's not enough evidence to measure the counseling's effectiveness, said CSUB counseling psychology professor Kathleen Ritter, who says sexual orientation is a complex topic.
"The longest time that any population was followed in any study is six months so we don't know if that initial 'Oh I changed' held."
Ritter helped review the American Psychological Association's guidelines
http://www.apa.org/pi/lgbc/guidelines on sexual orientation and efforts to change it.
Through the guideline, the APA resolved homosexuality is not a mental disorder and mental health professionals should avoid telling clients they can change their sexual orientation through therapy or other treatments.
Ritter doesn't suggest conversion therapy for her patients in her private practice, but says it would be unethical to persuade someone from using of it.
"We don't want to look like we have the religious people on one end and psychologists on the other and that we're fighting each other. Because that's not true." Ritter said.
His Way Out ministry contends in its brochures that its position comes from the authority of Scripture rather than social sciences and medicine.
The ''sexually broken'' can be transformed through close reading of Scripture and openly discussing temptations, the ministry contends.
"Since it is acquired it can be unacquired." Lee said. "And like I said, a lot of people have bought into the born-that-way theory. There's no Scripture to support that theory."
Weddell discounts opinions that gay people can change, saying sexual orientation is driven in large part by biology.
"The difficulty is if you read the fine print, they are not saying they are going to cure you or you are going to stop being gay,'' Weddell said. ''They say they are going to help you suppress your normal innate feelings. And supressing who you inherently are is dangerous."
Ritter said her therapy often focuses on ways her patients can become more comfortable with their sexual orientation.
"I tell them the problem is in society," Ritter said. "I say the problem is not you at all. It's that society doesn't let you have enough space to be who you are."
