Regent scholar: Don't focus on gay conversion

VIRGINIA BEACH

Gay-rights blogger Philip Deal came to Regent University's symposium on sexual orientation Friday expecting to debate a pitchman for converting homosexuals to heterosexuality.

Instead, he heard the Regent researcher, Mark Yarhouse, say that while same-sex attraction may be changeable in some individuals, not everyone can change.

"For me, in my own practice, I would not focus on change of orientation," said Yarhouse, a psychologist and counselor who teaches at Regent, an evangelical Christian school.

The symposium, "Ex-Gays?" presented Yarhouse's findings from a years-long study of several dozen people who sought help from Exodus, a Christian group, in changing their gay and lesbian sexual orientations.

Exodus promotes "freedom from homosexuality through the power of Jesus Christ."

About 100 people, mostly Regent students but some local gays and lesbians, attended the two-hour presentation and question-and-answer period.

Lesbians and gays frequently say their orientation is innate and natural, while many conservative Christians say homosexuality is a sin and can be reversed with therapy.

Yarhouse's study focused on those who said their same-sex attractions collided with their religious beliefs. He said his research found that there was "modest" movement away from homosexuality among some Exodus participants, but categorical conversions to heterosexuality were rare.

Yarhouse recommended that counselors avoid uniformly steering struggling gays toward heterosexuality and focus instead on the best outcome for the individual.

That could include celibacy or exploring different faith groups with various attitudes toward gays and lesbians, he said.

Deal, who lives in Norfolk, faulted the research project for not scrutinizing other orientation conversion treatments that he said left gays psychologically scarred.

He said Yarhouse's research was "a little more moderate than what I thought it would be... but it was still pretty right in terms of its conservative agenda."

But Deal noted that Regent officials invited him to the seminar.

"I hope they're setting the ground for dialogue between the GLBT community and the conservative Christian community," he said, referring to gays/lesbians/bisexuals/transgender people.

"As two groups of people we are very separated and there's no reason for that."

Steven G. Vegh, (757) 446-2417, steven.vegh@pilotonline.com