article_title name birth_date occupation
joseph nicolosi
 joseph nicolosi 21 january 1947 psychologist
joseph nicolosi

joseph nicolosi -lrb- born january 21 , 1947 -rrb- is an american clinical psychologist , founder and director of the thomas aquinas psychological clinic in encino , california , and a founder and former president of the national association for research and therapy of homosexuality -lrb- narth -rrb- .
nicolosi has advocated and practiced reparative therapy , a practice that he claims can help people overcome or mitigate their homosexual desires and replace them with heterosexual ones .
nicolosi has described his theories in `` reparative therapy of male homosexuality : a new clinical approach '' and three other books .
nicolosi proposes that homosexuality is often the product of a condition he describes as gender-identity deficit caused by an alienation from , and perceived rejection by , individuals of the subject 's gender .
he holds a ph.d. from the california school of professional psychology .
nicolosi is a founding member of the national association for research & therapy of homosexuality -lrb- narth -rrb- and was its president for some time .
narth is a professional association that promotes the acceptance of conversion therapy , whose adherents purport successfully changing homosexuals into heterosexuals .
he is an advisor to , and officer of , narth .
in 2012 california passed a law banned the provision of conversion therapy to minors , including some of nicolosi 's existing patients .
nicolosi was named as a plaintiff in a lawsuit challenging the law on constitutional groups but the law , effectively barring nicolosi 's clinic from taking on patients under the age of 18 , was subsequently upheld .
in 2015 , a new jersey judge barred nicolosi from appearing as an expert witness in a lawsuit filed against another provider of conversion therapy on the basis that expert opinions contrary to `` the overwhelming weight of scientific opinion '' should be not be admissible .
