Sexual Identity and Faith

“Sexual Identity and Faith offers the most compassionate ‘third way’ of clinical care for those who want to mature in their sexual and religious/spiritual identities.  A valuable voice in the polarizing cultural discussion that often advocates for either sexual orientation change or affirmation, Mark Yarhouse provides an approach that does not indoctrinate but instead invites clients to craft a life that honors their values, beliefs, and experience. This book should be a training resource for all professional caregivers who want to be culturally competent, intellectually humble, religiously consistent, and spiritually attuned.”

—Stephen P. Stratton, professor of counseling and pastoral care, Asbury Theological Seminary

“Yarhouse provides a compassionate alternative to conversion therapy for those who struggle to live by conservative religious values while dealing with their same-sex sexual feelings and orientation.”

—Judith Glassgold, PsyD, part-time lecturer, Rutgers University Graduate School of Applied and Professional Psychology

“This is a very important resource for those who provide help to the spectrum of sexual and faith minorities. Yarhouse, in plain language, shares what he has been developing these many years of bridge-building, understanding, affirming, and respecting sexual identity and faith. This guidebook is designed to develop self-awareness, knowledge, and skills for working with a broad range of clients to facilitate their identity exploration and development. The descriptive case examples were very helpful in applying these skills, especially in seeing options for mixed-orientation couples and teenagers coming out to family members.”

—Lee Beckstead, PhD, counseling psychologist

“Sexual Identity and Faith is the clearest exposition yet of the contours of ‘Sexual Identity Therapy’ and can successfully inform clinicians in guiding clients to sort out the dissonance between their erotic attractions and their personal religious faith. As the foremost Christian clinician/researcher working in this field, Yarhouse offers us a truly client-affirmative approach in an age of ideologically foreclosed approaches to such issues. This volume is a welcome and impressive contribution.”

—Stanton L. Jones, PhD, professor of psychology, Wheaton College

“For too long, sexual minorities have been asked to disavow either their faith for their sexual identity or their sexual identity for their faith.  Yarhouse’s SIT is a practical and culturally respectful way to walk with these individuals, empowering them to author their own stories, stories in which they discern how to hold their faith and sexual identity together, honoring what matters most to them.”

—Janet Dean, PhD, licensed psychologist and associate professor of psychology, Asbury University

“This book is a highly needed clinical guide for Christian and non-religious practitioners with clients presenting a conflict between their religious and sexual identities. Before this work, clients entering therapy tended to see the resolution by minimizing one aspect of identity while holding the other paramount. The author details a ‘third way’—one that holds religious and sexual identity in regard, that requires a cultural humility by the practitioner and focuses on client affirmation and internal congruence. While directed at clinicians, this work is also accessible and can be invaluable to individuals and families navigating this terrain.”

—Michael Lastoria, professor emeritus, Houghton College, coauthor of Listening to Sexual Minorities

“I greatly appreciate the integrity of Mark’s work in (and his heart for) helping sexual-minority Christians as they struggle to make meaning out of their experiences of same-sex attraction amidst conflicting messages from inside and outside their faith traditions. This book provides mental health clinicians the necessary tools to help religiously-minded sexual minorities often navigate murky waters and potentially treacherous pathways towards inner peace and cognitive congruence.”

—Trista L. Carr, PsyD, licensed psychologist (CA psy25232)

“I am so excited about the release of Sexual Identity and Faith by Dr. Mark Yarhouse. As a graduate student who studied with him and learned SIT, I have applied this approach in work with many individuals who experience same-sex attraction to help them figure out how they wanted to “show up” in the world in a consistent way their values. Dr. Yarhouse presents a nuanced, compassionate, and dialectical view of sexual identity that is client-centered and helps the therapist provide support to the client in a way determined by the client’s values. Any clinician working with individuals whose experience of faith intersects with their sexuality will find this to be a helpful resource.”

—Erica Tan, PsyD, Licensed Clinical Psychologist