Joining a coalition of local GLBT organizations, national gay rights group Truth Wins Out staged a protest this weekend against an ex-gay therapy group in town for their national conference.

     NARTH, the National Association for Research and Therapy of Homosexuality, believes that homosexuality is neither normal nor biologically determined and that homosexuals who yearn for freedom from their attractions can become straight. NARTH’s leader, Dr. Joseph Nicolosi, has said there "are no gay people, just heterosexuals with a homosexual problem."

      When the American Psychological Association removed homosexuality from its list of mental disorders in 1974, they reclassified the danger to homosexuals not as the act or desire itself, but the mental anguish associated with coping in a society unwilling to accept them fully. At its annual convention in August, the APA specifically condemned NARTH by name.

     There the APA stated: "For over three decades the consensus of the mental health community has been that homosexuality is not an illness and therefore not in need of a cure. The APA’s concern about the positions espoused by NARTH and so-called conversion therapy is that they are not supported by the science. There is simply no sufficiently scientifically sound evidence that sexual orientation can be changed. Our further concern is that the positions espoused by NARTH and Focus on the Family create an environment in which prejudice and discrimination can flourish."

     Still, NARTH frequently lobbies the APA to once again label homosexuality a mental illness.

     "We’re here to counteract NARTH’s destructive message," said Wayne Besen, TWO’s founder and executive director. "This is not about healing." Members of TWO were joined by representatives of Orlando’s chapters of Parents and Friends of Lesbians And Gays, Equality Florida, and the Human Rights Campaign.

     "Countering the Quacks" was the protest’s theme and demonstrators blew duck whistles while marching among large inflatable ducks. One of the 20-some protestors even appeared in a Donald Duck costume across from the Renaissance Orlando Airport Hotel where NARTH held their meeting.

      "Among their theories is that drinking Gatorade can help make you straight," said Besen. After taking a swig of the sports drink he added, "So we’re testing that theory right here and now." Besen later reported that the theory proved unsuccessful for all of the protestors.

     NARTH has recently raised concerns among some of its own for several board members’ peculiar fringe theories. According to the Los Angeles Times, one NARTH psychiatrist said schoolchildren should be allowed to shame and ridicule classmates who don’t act according to accepted stereotypical gender roles. A NARTH therapist also suggested that slaves from "savage" Africa may have been better off in chains.

     Besen claims other NARTH members espouse holocaust revisionist theories, that gays were actually responsible for the mass persecution of Jews and others by Nazi Germany.

      "They show ugliness and hatred in the guise of science," said Besen.

      Rev. Jerry Stephenson, a self-described ex-ex-gay from Fort Lauderdale who joined the protests, knows first hand of the psychological and spiritual damage that so-called reorientation therapies cause. The man who once served as a Southern Baptist minister once subjected himself to various treatments to become straight. He now runs a private counseling practice for those who’ve been damaged by reorientation therapy.

      Stephenson points to several NARTH leaders who’ve been caught participating in same-sex encounters, highlighting the hypocrisy of their message.

      "In their closets it’s a totally different story, and that’s the sad irony," said Stephenson.

      Besen said that the evangelical church, once led by Rev. Ted Haggard who recently fell from grace amid allegations that he engaged in drug-infused sex with a male escort, is closely tied to NARTH.

      "How ironic that the only hero in this story – Mike Jones, a male prostitute – has a moral core and did the right thing, and that a multi-million dollar preacher turned out to be a hypocrite," said Besen.

     Besen said that until minds are changed, discriminatory legislation against the GLBT community will continue.

     "When you leave information unchallenged, such as the type that NARTH embraces, it only hastens fear and discrimination," said Besen.