Positive Alternatives to Homosexuality (PATH) is a coalition of groups that purport to help "people with unwanted

same-sex attraction This page lists common initialisms relating to LGBTQ (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer) people and the LGBTQ community. Key Variants of LGBTQ * 2SLGBTQI+ * GBT or GBTQ – variant omitting "lesbian", typically when referring ...

s (SSA) realize their personal goals for change—whether by developing their innate heterosexual potential or by embracing a lifestyle as a single, non-sexually active man or woman." The predominantly

ex-gay The ex-gay movement consists of people and organizations that encourage people to refrain from entering or pursuing same-sex relationships, to eliminate homosexual desires and to develop heterosexual desires, or to enter into a heterosexual re ...

member groups promote the "right to decide whether to seek counseling or therapy" and

abstinence Abstinence is the practice of self-enforced restraint from indulging in bodily activities that are widely experienced as giving pleasure. Most frequently, the term refers to sexual abstinence, but it can also mean abstinence from alcohol (drug), ...

. The coalition lists studies on

reparative therapy Conversion therapy is the pseudoscientific practice of attempting to change an individual's sexual orientation, romantic orientation, gender identity, or gender expression to align with heterosexual and cisgender norms. Methods that have been ...

and links to organizations that work with people who have unwanted same-sex attractions.

Criticism

A number of professional and activist organizations sharply disagree with PATH goals. According to

PFLAG Parents and Friends of Lesbians and Gays (PFLAG) is an LGBTQ advocacy organization founded and led by friends and family of LGBTQ people. PFLAG is a national organization presiding over decentralized local and regional chapters. PFLAG has nearly ...

, PATH is an anti-equality organization that "pursues discredited and profoundly damaging reparative therapy, as evidenced by the company the organization keeps." Most mental health professionals and the

American Psychological Association The American Psychological Association (APA) is the main professional organization of psychologists in the United States, and the largest psychological association in the world. It has over 170,000 members, including scientists, educators, clin ...

consider reparative therapy discredited.

Member organizations

In July 2003, various organizations united to form PATH. As of June 2014, PATH has 26 partner organizations: #

American College of Pediatricians The American College of Pediatricians (ACPeds) is a socially conservative advocacy group of pediatricians and other healthcare professionals in the United States, founded in 2002. The group advocates in favor of abstinence-only sex education a ...

Anglican Mainstream Anglican Mainstream is a conservative Anglican organization from the Church of England. It describes itself as "a community within the Anglican Communion committed to promote, teach and maintain the Scriptural truths on which the Anglican Church wa ...

( UK) # Core (

Christian A Christian () is a person who follows or adheres to Christianity, a Monotheism, monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus in Christianity, Jesus Christ. Christians form the largest religious community in the wo ...

Northern Ireland Northern Ireland ( ; ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, part of the United Kingdom in the north-east of the island of Ireland. It has been #Descriptions, variously described as a country, province or region. Northern Ireland shares Repub ...

) #

Courage International Courage International, also known as Courage Apostolate and Courage for short, is an approved apostolate of the Catholic Church founded in 1980 by John F. Harvey as part of the ex-gay movement. It runs a twelve-step program, similar to that of Al ...

(

Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...

) #

Family Watch International Family Watch International (FWI) is a fundamentalist Christian lobbying organization. Founded in 1999, the organization opposes homosexuality, legal abortion, birth control, comprehensive sex education, and other things that it regards as threats ...

# German Institute for Youth and Society # Help 4 Families (

gender identity Gender identity is the personal sense of one's own gender. Gender identity can correlate with a person's assigned sex or can differ from it. In most individuals, the various biological determinants of sex are congruent and consistent with the in ...

issues) #

Homosexuals Anonymous Homosexuals Anonymous (HA) is an ex-gay group which practices conversion therapy and describes itself as "a fellowship of men and women, who through their common emotional experience, have chosen to help each other live in freedom from homosexuali ...

(Christian) # International Healing Foundation # International Institute of Reorientation Therapies # Jason (Christian) #

Jews Offering New Alternatives for Healing Jonah the son of Amittai or Jonas ( , ) is a Jewish prophet from Gath-hepher in the Northern Kingdom of Israel around the 8th century BCE according to the Hebrew Bible. He is the central figure of the Book of Jonah, one of the minor prophets, ...

(JONAH) # Jonah Institute of Gender Affirmation #

National Association for Research & Therapy of Homosexuality The Alliance for Therapeutic Choice and Scientific Integrity (ATCSI), which until 2014 was known as the National Association for Research & Therapy of Homosexuality (NARTH), also known as the NARTH Institute, is a US organization that promotes con ...

(NARTH) # North Star (

Latter-day Saints The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, informally known as the LDS Church or Mormon Church, is a Nontrinitarianism, nontrinitarian Restorationism, restorationist Christianity, Christian Christian denomination, denomination and the ...

) #

OneByOne The ex-gay movement consists of people and organizations that encourage people to refrain from entering or pursuing same-sex relationships, to eliminate homosexuality, homosexual desires and to develop heterosexuality, heterosexual desires, or to ...

(

Presbyterian Presbyterianism is a historically Reformed Protestant tradition named for its form of church government by representative assemblies of elders, known as "presbyters". Though other Reformed churches are structurally similar, the word ''Pr ...

) # Parakaleo (Christian, UK, gender identity issues) #

Parents and Friends of Ex-Gays and Gays Parents and Friends of Ex-Gays and Gays (PFOX) is a non-profit organization that promotes the ex-gay movement. PFOX advocates the view that homosexuality is not a product of biological determination. Past presidents of PFOX include Greg Quinlan an ...

(PFOX) #

Brothers on a Road Less Traveled Brothers on a Road Less Traveled is an American nonprofit organization supporting men who wish to reduce or eliminate their homosexual desires. Formerly known as People Can Change (PCC), the organization was founded in 2000, and is sometimes ...

(formerly People Can Change) # Powerful Change Ministry Group (Christian,

African-American African Americans, also known as Black Americans and formerly also called Afro-Americans, are an American racial and ethnic group that consists of Americans who have total or partial ancestry from any of the Black racial groups of Africa. ...

) # Renacer (

Mexico Mexico, officially the United Mexican States, is a country in North America. It is the northernmost country in Latin America, and borders the United States to the north, and Guatemala and Belize to the southeast; while having maritime boundar ...

) # Transforming Congregations (

Methodist Methodism, also called the Methodist movement, is a Protestant Christianity, Christian Christian tradition, tradition whose origins, doctrine and practice derive from the life and teachings of John Wesley. George Whitefield and John's brother ...

) # True Freedom Trust (United Kingdom, Christian) # VenSer (Mexico, Christian) # Voices of Change # Joel 2:25 International

Exodus International Exodus International was a non-profit, interdenominational ex-gay Christian umbrella organization connecting organizations that sought to limit homosexual desires. Founded in 1976, Exodus International originally asserted that conversion therapy ...

belonged to the initial members, but left in April 2007.

References

External links

Positive Alternatives to Homosexuality
Official website {{DEFAULTSORT:Positive Alternatives To Homosexuality Organizations in the ex-gay movement

Criticism

Member organizations

See also

References

External links