Huffington Post just published my op-ed about the Kirk Murphy story featured at Box Turtle Bulletin and CNN. Part 3 of the series on CNN wraps up tonight with former reparative therapy client, Ryan Kendall, and his former therapist (according to Kendall) Joseph Nicolosi.
Here is the first few paragraphs, go on over to HuffPo and give the rest a read:
Last week, Chuck Colson used his Breakpoint radio show and column to promote the theory that one can prevent homosexuality by altering parent-child relations. To prevent male homosexuality, Colson wrote, “early intervention, in which the boy’s father learns how to be both strong and caring, will interrupt an unhealthy mother-son bond.” In other words, according to Colson, troublesome parent-child relationships are at the root of homosexuality.
Colson based his program on a book by Joseph and Linda Nicolosi, titled A Parent’s Guide to Preventing Homosexuality. In their book, the Nicolosis assert that gender norms should be reinforced and fathers should help boys develop a strong sense of masculinity. In his talks on the subject, Nicolosi says that fathers and mothers play differently with their children and he lauds the rougher manner of fathers. For instance, in a 2006 talk on the roots of male homosexuality, I heard Nicolosi describe how some fathers playfully toss their infant sons in the air. Nicolosi then joked that if the father did not catch his son and the infant fell and cracked his head, that the son might have brain damage, “but at least he won’t be gay.”