What is the goal of reparative therapy?
English: Gender symbols, sexual orientation: heterosexuality, homosexuality, bisexuality. Česky: (Photo credit: Wikipedia) |
Reparative therapy programs that try to cure homosexuals do more harm than good if “success” is narrowly defined as conversion of sexual orientation. (According to a longitudinal study by Christian psychologists Mark Yarhouse and Stanton Jones, only 15% of participants in reparative therapy experience conversion, 23% experience chastity, 29% continual same-sex attraction, 15% no response, 4% confusion, and 8% defeat.) Hill and Paris long for a church that focuses on care instead of cure because that will help same-sex attracted persons to live with fruitful ambiguity, responsibly steward their sexuality toward holiness, and keep their realidentity as God’s beloved intact—regardless of whether they convert.