Murray, Utah
https://www.therapeuticchoice.com
https://www.facebook.com/groups/112444148767418
@AllianceTCSI https://twitter.com/AllianceTCSI
PayPal https://www.therapeuticchoice.com/member-donor-information
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Alliance for Therapeutic Choice and Scientific Integrity is the re-branded name for NARTH (National Association for Research and Therapy of Homosexuality.) It has weathered several scandals and lobbied against legislation banning conversion therapy.

Founded in 1992 under the name National Association for Research and Therapy of Homosexuality, or NARTH, the 501(c)3 nonprofit organization rebranded as Alliance for Therapeutic Choice and Scientific Integrity (ATCSI) in 2014. It was founded by three stalwarts in this field–Benjamin Kaufman, Charles Socarides, and Joseph Nicolosi, Sr. Kaufman explained the decision to create NARTH in “In Defense of the Need for Honest Dialogue,” writing that the organization was created because the American Psychiatric Association and similar professional organizations “had totally stifled the scientific inquiry that would be necessary to stimulate a discussion” about homosexuality. NARTH claimed from the start that it was a secular organization advancing conversion therapy, but its links to religious organizations, in particular the Mormon Church, are extensive.

The founders held that homosexuality is a treatable mental illness and that a person’s sexual orientation can be changed through therapy. It has pushed some strange ideas over the years, including suggesting male clients drink Gatorade, use the word “dude,” and increase muscle mass to fight homosexuality. In addition to lobbying for the ex-gay cause, the institution has primarily functioned as a research center and a referral service for clients seeking treatment for “unwanted same-sex attractions.” It has generally adhered to a psychoanalytic model of homosexuality, seeing it as evidence of arrested development toward heterosexuality and blaming molestation of the future gay person as a child and/or the combination of an overbearing mother and a weak and distant father. In 2006, the American Psychological Association declared that NARTH created “an environment in which prejudice and discrimination can flourish.” NARTH has weathered several scandals, including a principal who was found to have employed a male prostitute as a travel companion and the publication of a racist essay that claimed the civil rights and gay rights movements are “destructive” and that Africans were fortunate to have been sold into slavery.

NARTH eventually removed the piece. ATCSI is the main purveyor, along with the Core Issues Trust, of “SAFE – Therapy,” an acronym for Sexual Attraction Fluidity Exploration in Therapy, a popular “therapy” for supposedly changing sexuality. The website has an intake form to direct those who write in to “licensed, professional therapists.” ATCSI’s board includes members of other conversion therapy outfits, including Mike Davidson of Core Issues Trust, and David Pickup and Robert L. Vazzo of Voices of Change, and Michael Gasparro, who lists himself as an employee of Joseph Nicolosi, Jr.’s Breakthrough Clinic. Though the group claims no religious affiliation, it hosts prominent social conservatives at its events, and its materials have been distributed by churches.

The group’s current executive director, David Clarke Pruden, is a former head of the Utah Republican party. ATCSI’s April 2021 webinar featured Mat Staver, a former dean of Liberty University and committed anti-LGBTQ+ activist, who received the group’s President’s Award. ATCSI remains one of the main purveyors of conversion therapy, having also taken up anti-transgender issues. Its September 2021 conference featured panels on “Understanding the Transgender Phenomenon,” “What Every Individual, Family, and Religious Community Should Understand About Homosexuality,” and “The Importance of Both Physical and Emotional Connections in Overcoming Unwanted Sexual Impulses.”

In recent years, ATCSI has also been active in lobbying against conversion therapy bans. ATCSI publishes the Journal of Human Sexuality which “particularly seeks articles relevant to the understanding and care of persons who experience unwanted same-sex erotic attractions or conflict between their biological sex and perceived gender identity and the clinicians who provide this care.”

Ruckersville, Virginia
www.Brothersroad.org
https://www.facebook.com/groups/PCC.UnderstandingSSA/
https://www.facebook.com/groups/br.anotherwayout/
https://www.facebook.com/groups/MarriedtoanSSAman/
https://www.facebook.com/groups/MarriageandSSA/
https://www.facebook.com/groups/jimalumni/
https://www.facebook.com/groups/260899513931921/
https://www.facebook.com/groups/577839012358869/
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Brothers Road is the rebranded name of People Can Change and hosts the Journey Into Manhood weekends that involve activities designed to change orientation.

Founded in 2000 by Rich Wyler as People Can Change after he went through reparative therapy, Brothers on a Road Less Traveled, or Brothers Road (BR), which changed its name in 2016, is a non-profit, multi-faith, 501 (c)3 international organization that says it services, “primarily men from bisexual or same-sex-attracted backgrounds who — for our own, deeply personal reasons — typically do not accept or identify with the label ‘gay’ and prefer instead to explore and address underlying issues and embrace our authentic masculinity.”

The site includes a list of therapists and counselors for those experiencing same-sex attraction that includes well-known conversion therapists such as David Pickup and Robert Vazzo.

The group hosts the Journey Into Manhood (JiM) weekend program. This weekend event lasts for 48 hours and includes psychodrama, visualizations, role-playing, and team-building exercises.  According to a 2010 news story, Journeyers “are taught that their same-sex attractions are rooted in childhood traumas that pulled them away from male figures” and that to experience sexual orientation change, they “need to fulfill their needs for male attention through non-sexual platonic bonding.” Brothers Road does not promise immediate change, but says “the overall goal is to give the men a foundation so they can work on making the change over time.” JiM weekends also included an activity that the group described as “safe healing touch” or “‘father-son-style holding.” Wyler, who defended these activities, still directs the group. The organization has seven Facebook groups, one of which is public and the rest private, a series of webinars, and its website is available in several languages.

Ballynahinch, Northern Ireland
https://www.core-issues.org
https://www.instagram.com/coreissuestrusttv/
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCD-En7k5BeAxBamO7ZHdDiQ
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCvAVXPwLSxfqqmmQP5kQLcg
@coretrust https://twitter.com/CoreTrust

Core Issues Trust has been banned by Facebook, PayPal, Barclay’s Bank, and others and has recently met with UK officials about the pending legislation to ban conversion therapy.

The Core Issues Trust (CIT) is an explicitly Christian, Northern Ireland registered charity and a powerhouse in the promotion of conversion therapy, particularly in the European space. It has been banned by Facebook, Instagram, PayPal, and Mailchimp, although it is back on Instagram as coreissuestrusttv. Founded around 2009, CIT not only runs its own programs, it also serves as the host institution for others, including X-OUT-LOUD and the film Voices of the Silenced. CIT personnel have a long history of working with Joseph Nicolosi Sr., and NARTH, now renamed the Alliance for Therapeutic Choice and Scientific Integrity. CIT rejects the notion that being LGBTQ+ is innate and denies that it pushes conversion therapy. The group’s leader, Mike Davidson, describes himself as ex-gay, and claims homosexuality is a “cult” you aren’t allowed to leave. He is also the founder and chairman of the International Federation for Therapeutic and Counseling Choice, which pushes these ideas internationally. One of CIT’s three trustees is Andrea Williams, the co-founder and chief executive of the British conservative evangelical organization Christian Concern, which campaigned against same-sex marriage, and the Christian Legal Centre. In 2014, Davidson was stripped of his membership in the British Psychodrama Association because of his practices, and since then he has operated independently, “providing counselling for people with unwanted same-sex attractions.” Also in 2014, Davidson and another CIT employee were expelled from the Association of Christian Counselors. Davidson has novel psychological theories, including the idea that homosexuality comes from something called “attachment hunger,” which he describes as a desperate need to connect with others of the same sex on an emotional, rather than a sexual level, because of negative early childhood experiences.

Davidson says he uses “’SAFE-T’ – Sexual Attraction Fluidity Exploration in Therapy,” which he claims helps those who choose to voluntarily leave their lifestyle through the use of “standard psychotherapeutic and counselling approaches that explores sexual fluidity.” He is also on record claiming being LGBTQ+ is related to child sexual abuse.  In 2019, his techniques were exposed by the BBC when James Barr attended a therapy session with Davidson at his Northern Ireland home. Barr was asked to discuss past traumas and his relationship with his father before he chose to challenge Davidson, who admits to still being attracted to men. The group first came to attention in 2011 when it held a conference at Belvior parish, Church of Ireland, that included sessions such as “how parents can help their children avoid homosexuality.” In 2012, CIT paid for advertisements to appear on London buses, saying: “Not Gay! Ex-gay, post-gay and proud. Get over it!” The ads were banned by Transport for London, a decision which Core challenged and ultimately lost in the courts. CIT says it does not consider homosexuality a natural human behaviour, but rather relational or sexual “damage” that causes “deviancy” that may be “cured.”

CIT is perhaps best known for two controversial films it produced. In 2018, the Trust released the documentary Voices of the Silenced, which follows 15 gay and lesbian people going through conversion therapy. The film says it highlights the views of those “opposing the return to the pansexual cultures of the pre-Christian Graeco-Roman world.” It was heavily criticized by LGBTQ+ rights organizations, with Stonewall saying, “LGBT people aren’t ill. Being gay, lesbian, bi or trans is not something that should be ‘cured’ or changed.” In 2019, the Core Issues Trust produced and promoted the film Once Gay: Matthew and Friends about the X-Factor Malta contestant Matthew Grech, who announced his renunciation of homosexuality on television. The film was protested, and Grech later said he was still gay.

In May 2020, the National Secular Society lobbied the Northern Ireland Executive over the charitable status of the group, writing “Bogus therapies which encourage people to change or suppress their sexuality are harmful and widely discredited. Those promoting them shouldn’t enjoy the tax breaks and public recognition that charitable status brings.” In 2020, Barclays Bank shut down CIT’s bank account. In recent months, Davidson has mostly been active lobbying against possible Irish and UK bans on conversion therapy. He met privately with UK government officials at their behest in early November 2021.

Grand View, Missouri
https://www.desertstream.org
https://www.facebook.com/DesertStreamMinistries
https://www.instagram.com/desertstreamministries/

@Desert_StreamLW https://twitter.com/Desert_StreamLW
https://apps.apple.com/tr/app/desert-stream-living-waters/id1526145264
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.faithnetwork.desertstream&hl=en_US&gl=US
PayPal Giving Fund https://www.paypal.com/fundraiser/charity/2273224

With international reach, Desert Stream Ministries offers several pro- grams for the “sexually broken” and has apps in the Apple and Google Play stores.

Created in 1980 by Andrew Comiskey, Desert Stream Ministries (DSM) is an “ex-gay” ministry that started in Southern California as a “support group for men” when that region was the center of the burgeoning ex-gay movement. It was part of Exodus International before that group shut down. DSM promotes the idea that members of the LGBTQ+ community need to be fixed and offers counseling and other activities for “men and women seeking Jesus in light of unwanted same-sex attractions.”

Cominskey is popular in evangelical circles, having written several books on his techniques for avoiding his own sexual tendencies, including Pursuing Sexual Wholeness, and he has been featured on religious programs such as the 700 Club, where his appearance was billed as help for the “sexually broken.” DSM has several programs. Living Waters is a 20-lesson program taught in a closed-group format. CrossCurrent is an “introductory” level group for people exploring options in the “ex-gay” movement. Falling Forward is a 20-week support group “for men struggling with pornography, lust, masturbation and other forms of habitual sexual behavior,” and Men Pursuing Purity is a shorter, 8-week version of the same. In 1998, DSM was sued for allegedly abusing a teenager undergoing their counseling. The case was settled out of court for an undisclosed sum.

Truth Wins Out found two other accusations of sexual abuse by DSM staff. In his book Anything But Straight, Truth Wins Out Executive Director Wayne Besen quoted a newsletter from the conversion therapy group that said, “At the end of 2000, we faced an unusual number of Desert Stream-related leaders who fell into sexual sin, or who at least demonstrated a colossal lack of wisdom in their social choices … several were placed on different plans of discipline and restoration.”

In 2011, Cominskey converted to Catholicism, but continued his ministry. He has since been featured at Catholic churches. DSM’s programs are promoted by other conversion therapy organizations, including the Restored Hope Network.  It also has apps in the Apple App store and on Google Play for Desert Stream Ministries and Desert Stream Living Waters. The appropriate age for the second app begins at four years old. The group has affiliates in other parts of the world, such as Living Waters Philippines.

Londrina, Paraná, Brasil
https://www.exodus.org.br
https://www.facebook.com/exodusbr
https://www.instagram.com/exodus_brasil/?hl=en

Exodus Brasil (EB) is a member of the Exodus Global Alliance. EB separated from Exodus Latino America in 2002, under the direction of Willy Torresin de Oliveira. According to Exodus Latino America, Torresin was openly gay, but agreed to translate for conversion advocate Sy Rogers, who was speaking at an Exodus Latino America congress in Brazil in 1989. Reportedly, the first words that Rogers spoke, and Torresin translated were, “I was once a homosexual, but I am no longer one.” Torresin then joined the ministry and was trained by Exodus. EB says it works to “unite and develop a network of Churches affiliated to Exodus Brasil” and to “help the Church to minister effectively regarding human sexuality.” EB distributes materials on conversion therapy, hosts seminars and presentations in churches, theological seminaries, and other institutions, and refers people seeking help to the nearest affiliated ministries. The group holds regular conferences. Andrea Vargas, a leader in EB who published several books and is a professor at Escola da Sexualidad in Avalanch Missoes, argues that homosexuality is a sin that can and should be abandoned.

Exodus Brasil produces materials and hosts seminars and conferences on conversion therapy and claims that LGBTQ+ people are doomed to loneliness.

The group works with evangelical churches, ministries that advocate conversion therapies, and psychologists. A reporter who attended an Exodus event said that, in addition to advising gays, lesbians, and bisexuals to “let go of homo-affective behavior,” transsexual women and men must discard their identities in order to be restored. Psychologist Charlisson Mendes was looking for an innovative approach to sexuality when he attended a congress of Avalanche Missões, an Exodus affiliate, in Minas Gerais. “They claim to be modern, but they have an archaic view based on the argument that God created Adam and Eve – male and female – and, therefore, any other form of relationship is a sin,” he said. He recalls that speakers at the event said that “gay and lesbian relationships were unbalanced and did not last”. And that these people were doomed to loneliness. “Behind the Christian argumentation, Exodus promotes the pathologization of homosexuality,” says anthropologist and journalist Marcelo Natividade. Natividade collected reports from participants of events promoted by EB and its partners for years. He says that some of the interviewees reported attempts to instill traditional gender roles. “They taught gays to play football, lesbians to wash and iron and cook.” Natividade also said they would connect homosexuality with death and/or loneliness, “They showed pictures of homosexuals dying, decaying.”

President Jair Bolsonaro’s government is close to the evangelical movement. Rozângela Justino, one of the founders of Exodus Brasil, is part of a group of Christian psychologists who met with the Minister for Women, Family and Human Rights, Damares Alves. According to OjoPublico, “Damares was once a pastor of the Baptist Church of Lagoinha, in which a young woman said that she was subjected to psychological violence for being a lesbian.” In 2017, members of this group – including Rozângela – managed to temporarily overturn the Federal Council of Psychology’s resolution against conversion therapies.

Cuernavaca, Mexico
http://www.exoduslatinoamerica.org/
https://www.facebook.com/exoduslatino
PayPal https://www.paypal.com/donate?token=-0tBfq8Eg2v2SNDyVQAf3fwaY_4yKUyIDiBqzqV0XyUIpSAW0ShUAQQCfQCLLI4mccEwhEG_S9oMtCpV

Founded in 1994, originally in Colorado Springs, Colorado, but later moved to Quito and then Cuernavaca, Mexico, Exodus Latino America (ELA) held its first regional conference in 2000 in Quito. In 2002, Oscar Galindo became the executive director. By 2006, the group had launched ministries in Chile, Colombia, the Dominican Republic, Mexico, and Venezuela. ELA’s mission is to motivate, assist, and train the leadership of local churches to pastorally accompany, disciple, and provide spiritual counseling to people affected by sexual and relational disruption. Exodus Latino America also sends missionaries recruited during Exodus events abroad, where they conduct trainings, hold conferences, and distribute study materials and books. People in conflict with their own sexuality, especially young people, are the focus of Exodus conferences and programming, where homosexuality, usually called SSA (same-sex attraction), is treated as a sin. Exodus Latino America’s purpose is to “restore sexuality” to LGBTQ+ people, and the group believes society “is adrift” by favoring a lifestyle that is based “on the fluidity of feelings” that lack a moral basis and that pervert the law of God.

Exodus Latino America has been reported to conduct ‘restoration rituals’ including the casting out of demons. YouTube has monetized its videos with advertisements.

Galindo associates male homosexuality with paternal absence and considers himself “ex-gay.” They operate with the support of evangelical churches like the Assembly of God, which has more than 6,000 centers across Mexico and one million followers. A report by Mexicanos contra la Corrupción, documented that, in church facilities, Exodus promotes “restoration rituals for homosexuals, including the casting out of demons.” Spiritual retreats are also held for LGBTQ+ people, whose families have taken them there to be “healed.” Some parts of Mexico including Mexico City ban conversion therapy. Churches such as the Assembly of God are strongly opposed to a bill pending in the Mexican Senate to turn these practices into a crime countrywide.

Manassas, Virginia
https://instituteforhealthyfamilies.org/
https://www.facebook.com/InstituteforHealthyFamilies

Institute for Healthy Families has created several programs for people ‘struggling with orientation and gender identity.’ Its leader co-founded the National Task Force for Therapy Equality which fights conversion therapy legislation.

The Institute for Healthy Families (IHF) is an American 501(c)3 non-profit “therapeutic organization” guided by Judeo-Christian values. IHF is led by Christopher Doyle, a licensed psychotherapist in Virginia and Maryland, who has created several experiential therapeutic retreats for individuals, parents, and families “struggling with sexuality, sexual orientation, and gender identity.” He also works with minors. IHF specializes in Sexual/Gender Identity Affirming Therapy and works with clients and families all over the world who experience sexual and/or gender identity conflicts.

The site says, “we will work to help you resolve internal and external issues that are getting in the way of your ability to embrace your sexual and/or gender identity; whether that is helping you work through issues with family members, friends, and loved ones, or working through inner conflicts in order to find peace.” Doyle is a principal in the Therapy Equality movement that argues against conversion therapy bans. He co-founded  the National Task Force for Therapy Equality, which is a coalition of groups that fight such bans. As an advocate for individuals, families, and communities struggling with sexual identity, he founded Voice of the Voiceless in 2013. In September 2014, his work on the Therapy Equality campaign, to fight back against conversion therapy bans, was featured in the anti-LGBTQ+ Focus on the Family’s Citizen Magazine.

In 2019, Doyle’s suit against Maryland’s conversion therapy ban was thrown out. The suit argued that the law would restrict the free speech and freedom of religion rights of both Doyle and his clients and was filed with the help of the anti-LGBTQ+ Liberty Counsel, which is listed as an anti-LGBTQ+ hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center. He made similar comments after major social media sites banned conversion therapy in 2020. At times, Doyle strikes out at LGBTQ+ rights organizations. After the conversion therapy organization JONAH was ordered shut by a New Jersey judge for consumer fraud, Doyle said, “It’s clear from the court affidavits that the lawsuit against JONAH was well-thought-out and coordinated in conspiracy fashion by certain gay activists.”

Carrollton, Texas
https://www.facebook.com/Joel225International
https://www.youtube.com/user/Joel225International
@Joel225Intl https://twitter.com/Joel225Intl
@VoVJeremySchwab https://twitter.com/vovjeremyschwab
PayPal https://www.paypal.com/donate?token=lDCOakPZ9pyhsCVRSLabXfFDMraVpx5QUiwk8iSiJCv_iS
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Joel 2:25 has chapters in more than 100 countries and offers its ‘counseling’ services to ‘self-motivated’ teens.

Joel 2:25 International was founded as an ex-gay ministry by Jeremy Schwab, a former actor, and assigned its 501c(3) status in 2014 as a religious organization – general. According to its website, Joel 2:25 is a peer-led ministry providing resources and support for men, women, youth, and families affected by Same-Sex Attraction (SSA) across the United States and in 104 countries and with translations and support groups in 15 languages.” Its mission statement includes, “We promote an alternative to homosexual behavior. For some, that may lead to a path of discovering their own underlying heterosexuality.

For others, it may just mean a lessening of their eroticized same-sex attraction along with greater peace and need fulfillment.” According to its GuideStar profile, its “goal is to ensure Christian churches around the world have the right information and tools necessary to respond with compassion and truth to individuals and families affected and currently hosts weekly video-conferences in English, Spanish, Portuguese, Russian, Ukrainian, Arabic, German, French, and Italian with host groups in several cities. Our outreach efforts are growing with our new website (www.Joel225.org) and direct communication with churches and organizations in each country.” In explanation for his activism around preventing the banning of conversion therapy, Schwab has said “Reparative Therapy and this type of ministry work played a significant role in saving my life and I have been blessed to help many others over the past four years.” He adds, “Recently though, this ministry work has been under attack across the country and in some states Republican legislators and Governors have been silent or complicit in passing these laws.”

Schwab wrote a plank for the Texas GOP platform in 2014 to condemn the banning of conversion therapy which had an accompanying bill, saying, “We recognize the legitimacy and value of counseling which offers reparative therapy and treatment to patients who are seeking escape from the homosexual lifestyle. No laws or executive orders shall be imposed to limit or restrict access to this type of therapy.” The bill passed and Schwab later said that he never meant that anyone should be forced into counseling. In a 2014 blog post, Schwab wrote, “I personally have a LOT of experience with Reparative Therapy (sic) have benefited directly from therapy with Dr. Joseph Nicolosi Jr.,” who sent him to a Journey into Manhood retreat which Schwab says reduced his same-sex attraction by 50 percent in one weekend. The Joel 2:25 website publishes a chapter on how reparative therapy works from Joseph Nicolosi, Sr.’s book entitled Healing Homosexuality.

Joel 2:25 “provides ongoing video-conference and in-person support groups for Men who are recovering from Same-Sex Attraction (SSA) as well as referrals to Reparative Therapists, counselors, and local resources across the United States and in 104 countries.” It provides the same services for young adults, but for women, no in-person support groups are provided. For “self-motivated teens,” it makes the caveat that the teens must have decided of their own free will to participate.  Joel 2:25 also offers several experiential weekends, including the Journey into Manhood. Daily chapel services via Zoom are also offered as are sample prayers for the ‘conversion of the soul.’ The groups that it recommends to its site visitors include Alliance for Therapeutic Choice and Scientific Integrity, Brothers on a Road Less Traveled, Exodus Global Alliance, and Living Hope Ministries. 

Ashland, Kentucky and Glendora, California
https://www.livingstonesministries.org/
https://www.facebook.com/Living-Stones-Ministries-1687340584840379/?notif_id=1528133868909755&notif_t=page_admin
@Help4Famlies https://www.help4families.org/help4families
https://www.facebook.com/help4families.org/
https://twitter.com/help4famlies?lang=en
https://childparentrights.org
Amazon Smile eligible

Founded in 1997 by Carol Wagstaff, a pastor, Living Stones Ministries is a 501c(3) nonprofit that describes its work as “upholding heterosexuality as God’s creative intent for humanity… [It] cites homosexual tendencies as one of many disorders that beset fallen humanity. Choosing to resolve these tendencies through homosexual behavior, taking on a homosexual identity, and involvement in the homosexual lifestyle is considered destructive …and sinful. [It] upholds redemption for the homosexual person as the process whereby sin’s power is overcome… and that process entails the freedom to grow into heterosexuality.

Living Stones Ministries/Help4Families believes that being homosexual or transgender is a sin that must be overcome. Its ally, Child and Parental Rights Campaign, is active in pushing anti-transgender policies and legislation.

Living Stones Ministries is part of the Restored Hope Network, with ministries around the world, “Proclaiming, educating, and impacting the world with the Biblical truth that freedom from homosexuality is possible when Jesus is Lord of one’s life.” It offers prayer support, family support groups, some lasting as long as 10 weeks, and webinars across the country to individuals and “families impacted by homosexuality.” Additionally, they offer “safe places for individuals and families to openly share their grief and pain about homosexuality,” spiritual counseling, referrals for psychological counseling, and the annual Hope Gathering. It also hosts written and video testimony from members of X-OUT-LOUD.

Living Stone Ministries is the parent organization of Help 4 Families founded in 2004 by Denise Shick who is the current Executive Director of Living Stones Ministries. When Shick was nine years old, her father told her that he believed he was meant to be a woman, eventually transitioning, and living as a woman. Help 4 Families was launched for families dealing with ‘transgenderism.’ It offers support through email, skype, phone, and in person meetings across the country. One of the resources offered is an article titled, “Accepting homosexuality led to accepting transgenderism and will likely lead to accepting pedophilia,” published in LifeSite News. Also on the Living Stones Ministries website is the offering of the Child and Parental Rights Campaign created in 2018.

The official connection between the two is unclear as the Child and Parental Rights Campaign is a separate 501c(3) nonprofit. Its stated mission is to “expose the fact that children are being led to believe a powerful untruth about their bodies – that they could be ‘born in the wrong body.’” Its 990 IRS form declares its primary purpose is “a non-partisan, non-profit public interest law firm whose mission is to defend the civil rights of children and of parents against harms caused by the sexualization of children and gender identity ideology and to educate school systems and the public regarding such harms.” Its president and general counsel is Vernadette Broyles who has featured prominently in the effort to introduce and pass anti-transgender legislation as well as filing complaints and lawsuits to stop transgender children from using the appropriate bathroom and from receiving counseling and support at schools affirming their gender identity.

Tarzana, California
https://www.reintegrativetherapy.com/
https://www.facebook.com/ReintegrativeTherapyAssociation/
https://www.instagram.com/reintegrative_therapy/
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCYNFeMYVLr8l60UZr2wVMJg
@Reintegrative_ https://twitter.com/Reintegrative_
https://www.josephnicolosi.com/
Amazon Smile eligible

Founded by Joseph Nicolosi, Jr, son of so-called ‘father of conversion therapy,’ Joseph Nicolosi, Sr., Reintegrative Therapy Association claims that reduction in ‘same sex attractions’ is a fortunate byproduct of its treatment.

Joseph Nicolosi, Jr., son of Joseph Nicolosi, Sr., who is often called the father of conversion therapy, launched his own trademarked therapy, Reintegrative Therapy, and founded the Reintegrative Therapy Association which received its IRS nonprofit status in 2018. Its stated mission as seen on its IRS form 990 is “To provide community advancement in the fields of education, therapeutic practice and science of reintegrative therapy to assist those who are conflicted with their sexuality.” Like his father’s Reparative Therapy, Nicolosi Jr. claims that his therapy is scientifically-driven and evidence-based. Unlike his father, Nicolosi Jr. claims that the purpose of Reintegrative Therapy is not to change sexuality or orientation, instead that change is a happy byproduct of Reintegrative Therapy trauma treatment, saying that Reintegrative Therapy is broader and can benefit straight women with trauma and behavioral addictions, like binge eating, as much as it can help men with same-sex attractions. He also takes exception to Reintegrative Therapy being called conversion therapy, reparative therapy, or included as a SOGIE method as he claims that his treatment is not coercive.

His website has a chart explaining the differences. Nicolosi, Jr. has described Reintegrative Therapy as “helping the client to ‘reintegrate’ the split-off parts of himself that were created due to childhood trauma” in a prior iteration of the website. There is also a chart depicting how the brain can be rewired to achieve a change in male sexuality under the heading of The Science. On his website, Nicolosi states that only licensed therapists who have been through his training and agreed to abide by his code of ethics may administer Reintegrative Therapy. It is impossible to know how many therapists have completed the training.

One such therapist, Tim Long, who runs Kainos Christian Therapy in California, gave a much-anticipated training to representatives from 22 countries on Reintegrative Therapy at the International Federation for Therapeutic and Counselling Choice (IFTCC) conference in Budapest, Hungary in November 2019. The presentation was entitled “The Practical Work of Re-integrative (i.e. Reparative) Therapy for men struggling with SSA.” Reintegrative therapist Michael Gasparo serves on the board of Alliance for Therapeutic Choice and Scientific Integrity and claims to currently work at the Breakthrough Clinic, Nicolosi Jr.’s clinical practice. And another therapist, José Alberto Garza, of Mexico City is featured in a cringe-worthy video on the Reintegrative Therapy Association’s YouTube channel, taking a man through his homoerotic fantasy and the trauma of a childhood dog bite, resulting in his decreased desire for homosexual acts. An October 2021 press release on Reintegrative Therapy Association’s website touts a study supposedly proving that these therapies work: “Landmark Study Shows Trauma Treatment Significantly Alters Sexual Attractions: Surprising results challenge our assumptions about how fluid sexual attractions are.” 

The study was published in the Journal of Human Sexuality, the official publication of the Alliance for Therapeutic Choice and Scientific Integrity (formerly NARTH, founded by Nicolosi Sr.). “Most therapists will not offer clients sexual attraction fluidity exploration because they’ve been told there is not enough research into its safety or efficacy. Now we know, thanks to this new research, that such an approach is both safe and effective,” Nicolosi Jr. said of the study. When landing on Nicolosi Sr.’s webpage, which is still active after his 2017 death, a pop-up with “facts” about changes in sexual orientation redirects visitors to the Reintegrative Therapy Association website.

https://sexchangeregret.com/
https://www.facebook.com/sexchangeregret
https://www.youtube.com/user/returnedhome
PayPal https://www.paypal.com/donate/?cmd=_s-xclick&hosted_button_id=9RDSLBR3QFDVG&source=url

The founder of Sex Change Regret has been described as a source of extreme anti-transgender rhetoric and has claimed that parents who help their trans children transition should be jailed.

Sex Change Regret (SCR) is run by Walt Heyer, who is a former transgender woman now living as a man. On his website’s front page, Heyer says that he had gender reassignment surgery in 1983. At first happy about the change, he later came to believe that “hormones and sex change genital surgery couldn’t solve the underlying issues driving my gender dysphoria” and detransitioned in 1991. According to Heyer, he “learned the truth: Hormones and surgery may alter appearances, but nothing changes the immutable fact of your sex.”

He later married a woman and decided to “help others whose lives have been derailed by sex change.” In a 2020 video, Heyer described the source of his gender confusion as “being cross-dressed, being disciplined with a hardwood floor plank, and being sexually molested.” SCR hosts materials claiming that gender transition therapy is not safe and that gender ideology has “run amok.” SCR is part of the wider conversion therapy world, hosting links and information on its site to the Alliance for Therapeutic Choice and Scientific Integrity, and to pieces written by staffers at anti-LGBTQ+ groups that promote conversion therapy, including the Family Research Council and Family Watch International. Heyer is a prolific author, having penned six books, but also is a contributor to far-right publishers such as The Federalist and Daily Signal. Heyer was described by Media Matters for America as a “a pseudo-celebrity in anti-LGBTQ circles” and “a source of extreme transphobic commentary.”

His views about transition regret have been debunked by major professional medical bodies. They are also sometimes extreme or degrading. In now-deleted posts captured by Media Matters, he called gender reassignment surgery a “modern day frontal lobotomy,” said that parents who help their children transition should serve “at least 20 years in prison,” and called Chaz Bono a “poser transgender” because “she has resisted having a ‘Snoopy’ attached.”  In June 2020, YouTube removed a video of a Heritage Foundation panel including Heyer, citing its hate speech guidelines. The move was forcefully denounced by The Heritage Foundation, which appealed the decision and wrote, “Suppressing valid medical information is not only anti-science, this is part of an alarming trend of YouTube removing or blocking content that it doesn’t like.”

Wirral, United Kingdom
https://truefreedomtrust.co.uk
https://www.facebook.com/TrueFreedomTrust/
https://www.youtube.com/user/TrueFreedomTrust
@TrueFreeTrust https://twitter.com/TrueFreeTrust
https://soundcloud.com/true-freedom-trust

True Freedom Trust (TFT) claims it is not a conversion therapy organization, and only preaches celibacy for the LGBTQ+ community, but there is considerable evidence to the contrary. Founded in 1977 by an Anglican clergyman, who died in 2004, and Martin Hallett, who had been a gay man for nine years and ran TFT until 2009, TFT was a founding member of Exodus International, but resigned its membership in 2000 because TRT came to see Exodus’s rhetoric promising change to be problematic. TFT says it is a “teaching and pastoral support ministry that holds to the orthodox biblical view of sex, gender and relationships.”

With nearly 1,800 members and 123 partners, True Freedom Trust asserts that LGBTQ+ people are driven by loneliness and a ‘twisted addiction.’

It takes the view that homosexual activity is sinful, but being gay is not sinful in and of itself and, therefore, advocates celibacy for those of its gay and lesbian members who do not consider marriage to someone of the opposite sex to be a viable option. In 2004, True Freedom Trust supposedly had 1,200 members and 13 local support groups for men, women, and their families in the UK and Ireland. By 2021, their website listed nearly 1,800 members and 123 partnership churches. A 2012 report in The Guardian revealed some of the group’s techniques, including that it pushed the idea that LGBTQ+ people are driven by loneliness and anger and suffering from a “twisted addiction.” Even so, TRT has taken a hard line on gay sex.

In 2001, when UK ex-gay ministry Courage UK announced it was now gay-affirming, Hallett told supporters that TFT would not be following suit, and that it retained the belief that homosexual “genital activity” was always wrong. In January 2018, Stuart Parker was appointed as the new director. TFT holds events across the UK for those experiencing “same-sex temptations.” It has several other partner organizations including Living Out, Liberty Christian Ministries, and Onderweg-NU. Since the COVID-19 pandemic, TFT has moved to Zoom meetings, including one in November 2021 on “Caring for Same-Sex Attracted Christians.”

Pfäffikon, Switzerland
https://www.wuestenstrom.ch
PayPal https://www.paypal.com/donate?token=gYybI-vapE6H6h0Q-U55at_6Plry7PfNxL66YS1wTs3lfxWnMAf_MyrmGUIsZK36_Ll5Nnf0KQtUKq7B

Run by self-described “ex-gay” Rolf Reitmann, Wuestenstrom Switzerland was founded in 2004 and openly declares its support for conversion therapy, saying on the front page of its website, “Conversion Therapy, Shaping Sexuality, Making Decisions!” In a profile by the Swiss Life Channel, Reitmann said he felt different as a child, preferring to “to play with dolls, was very sensitive, could talk to girls better than to boys.” He hid the fact he was gay for years, became a pastor, and then came out to his congregation.”

Wuestenstrom Switzerland openly declares its support of conversion therapy on its website. A speech by its leader was used as an example for the need for a Swiss conversion therapy ban.

With the help of Markus Hoffman, who founded the now defunct German branch of Wuestenstrom, Reitman apparently was able to become “ex-gay,” give up a gay porn addiction, and marry a woman, later joining Wuestenstrom to help others do the same. The German branch was launched with the help of Andrew Comiskey’s Desert Stream Ministries, but that relationship ended in 2006. In 2009, Wuestenstrom affiliated with Exodus International. In 2010, they registered with the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) and attended the first of at least five meetings of OSCE subgroups. They describe their work as “an organization that is open to people who have questions and problems in their being a woman or man, who are affected by abuse, who are sex addicts and who have questions about their sexuality.” They continue, “We know that there are many affected people who have no place to talk openly. Because anyone who thinks differently than the mainstream will be silenced.

With me, YOU should feel what your inner conflict is and how you want to deal with it.” In 2019, a bill was proposed in the Swiss parliament to ban conversion therapy for minors. The suggested bill specifically referred to a speech given by Reitman in Austria and said, “Let’s stop closing our eyes, let’s finally intervene and finally put an end to the suffering of children and adolescents affected by these ‘therapies.’” The bill failed.

In this report, the term “conversion therapy” encompasses “reparative therapy,” “reintegrative therapy,” and all “SOGIE change practices” that attempt to change sexual orientation, gender identity, and gender expression change or suppression efforts, regardless of the provider, whether it be medical or mental health professionals, religious personnel, traditional or spiritual healers or practitioners, or other entities such as social or self-help groups.

Other terms, such as ‘ex-gay therapy’ and ‘same-sex attraction’ are employed in our research to document the online ecosystem of conversion therapy. Our definition encompasses all forms of activities to change sexual orientation, gender identity, and expression. Not all the organizations and groups described in this report engage in the same activities, which include a wide range from support groups or talk therapy to versions of 12-step programs.

Other work on conversion therapy has also documented “treatments” including coercive practices and physical abuse. What unifies all these degrading and dehumanizing efforts is the underlying and thoroughly discredited belief that sexual orientation and gender identity can be changed; that being LGBTQ+ is a disorder, illness, or sin that requires treatment or cure; and that cisgender heterosexuality is inherently normal and preferred.