Dear Andrew,

I should tell you congratulations since it must have taken you some courage to write this question and by the content of it, you must feel really preoccupied.

To be quite direct, I’m afraid the answer to your question is a big NO, even if some associations have stipulated otherwise (and failed proving it works). Nobody can (with either drugs or psychiatric treatments) change deep inner truths like sexual orientation. In the homosexual history, you’ll find through the last century, a whole lot of people who’ve tried to go against they’re attractions towards people of the same gender, and I sincerely don’t think that you’ll be able to find one that succeed. They might say they did but I’m incline to think that they’ve chosen to forget about it since it’s impossible for it to just go away.

About that: it shocks me a bit to read that you think you’re less than a man because of your homosexuality. I can
write a book on what is it to be a real man in the 21^st century but one thing I can tell you right now is that heterosexuality doesn’t define manliness ! You can be a proud gay man, a real man!

They’re still some things you have to figure out about yourself:

• What kind of a man do I aspire to become?
• What kind of life do I want to lead?
• Do I want to be happy about who I truly am?
• Will I let everybody else define what I should be, according to social standards?
• Am I that afraid about living my life as a gay man? Why is that?

I sincerely hope I’ve help you in some way, you really need to introspect. Feel free to write back with some more precision about questions you ask yourself. And don’t worry ; you’re not alone having a hard time figuring things out…

Sincerely yours,

Daniel Gariépy
Registered nurse