If it makes it clearer, if a kid said I am attracted to the same-sex and I have always been attracted to the same-sex with no opposite sex attraction, I would label such a kid confused or in some stage.

No, I don’t find this very clear at all. Why would you label a kid who says he’s never had opposite sex attraction as “confused”?

Can you PLEASE contribute more on the blog? Your comments are invaluable.

I agree. And it is with caution that the patient or client should proceed when entering into any therapuetic situation or relationship. Keeping in mind that there are theories that may or may not apply and that in fact, one may come up with a different scenario or interpretation of their past that has not been recorded or seen with significance by anyone exept them. It is important to (as best one can) be true to their own story – it may uncover new insight to the whole human drama but most importantly it is meaningful to the individual. My advice- don’t follow tha path of others too closely – that includes your shrink.

Most of the kids I work with experience patterns of attraction that are ambiguous to them (they went through a gay period and they are not now attracted to the same-sex or they are now in a gay period after an early teen period of only opposite sex attraction). Believe it or not, there are people who do not go through normative stages a through z on their way to a gay or straight identity.

If it makes it clearer, if a kid said I am attracted to the same-sex and I have always been attracted to the same-sex with no opposite sex attraction, I would label such a kid confused or in some stage.

As on the other thread to extrapolate from a limited research of two years to be meaningful and relevant to those who have been ex gay longer (and I’m sure there are more ex gays beyond two years than in the two year frame) then you cannot use that to say something about ALL gays. Disagree with me if you want to on this rule but social scientists and statisticians would concur with me.

What you can say accurately is that within a two year period of people who are associated with a ministry group and are in some sort of program for changing their sexuality that 62% are celibate at the time of reporting.

Please read this article

http://www.narth.com/docs/thurman.html

I think one of the challenges in these discussions is that much of what we know about what an adult was like as a child is based upon recall memory (most studies are retrospective). Many people on both sides of these discussions recognize that people who have an identity as an adult interpret their past in ways that correspond with their current identity. We can imagine someone who says they are ex-gay doing that by interpreting certain parent-child relationships in ways that correspond with how they view their current experiences of SSA and corresponding identity. We can also imagine someone who is gay doing that by interpreting feeling different in ways that correspond with how they view their current experiences and identity.

This raises questions for conducting better research in this area, but in the meantime it also raises questions for how to best provide clinical services when a specific person is sorting out these concerns.