Nonfiction, Gay & Lesbian 

The right of individuals to seek professional help for reducing unwanted same sex attractions, through assistance from psychological and psychotherapeutic professionals, is under threat in both Europe and America. In the UK, the country's largest professional body of its kind, the UKCP (United Kingdom Council for Psychotherapy)has made it an ethical offence for any of its registered professionals to assist clients to reduce gay feelings, thus over-riding client autonomy. Thus a married man wanting help to reduce these feelings, in favour of remaining in his marriage, may not be helped in his goals. In the state of California, legislation is about to be enacted which denies minors, and the parents of minors, access to therapeutic help to reduce homosexual feelings, or to seek re-orientation therapy. Proponents of these measures, along with the advocates for gay marriage, often appeal to the personal accounts of individuals denied the right to identify as gay and to live as homosexuals. This book contributes to the debate by highlighting a range of circumstances, evidenced in the lives of the individual contributors, where it is appropriate that professional help is accessed to achieve the personal goal of walking away from homosexual practice and feelings. Why is it that support to achieve a range of personal preferences can be accessed through the professional medical and psychological help - from breast enhancement to gender re-assignment, but the desire to reduce unwanted homosexual feelings is categorically denied? The book flags up arguments, with reference to personal lives and circumstances, to question the ideological intolerance that now manifests itself around this issue. It briefly challenges the view of the Royal College of Psychiatrists, for example, that "sexual orientation is biological in nature, determined by genetic factors" which fails to take into account significant twin studies. The majority of contributors to this book, who allow us insight into a deeply personal aspect of their lives, have undertaken some sort of professional help to reduce unwanted same-sex attractions. Their stories bring to life a 'minority within a minority' who have often been shamed, from all sides. The book thereby directly challenge the UKCP's statement that "There is overwhelming evidence that undergoing such therapy is at considerable emotional and psychological cost" a statement for which they offer no credible supporting evidence. - from Amzon