At his mother's funeral, he told his close-knit family of seven siblings about his sexual orientation. Their reaction surprised him, he says, and lifted a great weight from his shoulders.

On Friday, Rosendahl -- whose district includes Playa del Rey and Westchester -- shared some of his story in front of media cameras, flanked by a small crowd of therapists, students and clergy, against the backdrop of a Marina del Rey hotel.

Inside, about 100 therapists and some of their "ex-gay" clients were gathered for the annual conference of the National Association for Research and Therapy of Homosexuality, dedicated to those seeking "to diminish their homosexuality and to develop their heterosexual potential."

The group, which contends that homosexuality is a "developmental disorder" and not biologically determined, promotes "reparative therapy" for clients with negative emotions toward their same-sex orientation.

Rosendahl called their research and their methods "unproven, unsafe and abusive," pointing out that the American Psychiatric Association stopped classifying homosexuality as a condition to be cured more than three decades ago.

"It's another form of rationalization for the continued persecution and prejudice against gay people, and it has to stop," Rosendahl said. "That's why we're here."

NARTH Executive Secretary Arthur Goldberg, who met with reporters after the protest, said the association does not target gays and lesbians who are "happy with that emotional adaptation."

"But if you're unhappy with those emotions, you have the ability to leave those behind," said Goldberg, who is not a therapist. "No one is born a homosexual. That is a myth. It's an adaptation to pain that they typically felt as a child."

Alan Chambers, a speaker at the NARTH conference, says that as a gay teenager, he was tortured by the same feelings of shame that Rosendahl endured.

"It was very much in conflict with my faith," he said. "When I found out that there was an alternative, that people had changed, I decided to pursue that."

Chambers is also now the president of Exodus, a nationwide Christian ministry that encourages gay and lesbian youth to "reorient" their same-sex attraction toward "Godly heterosexuality."

Gary Glickman, a psychotherapist at the Los Angeles Gay and Lesbian Center, said the NARTH rhetoric is clinically misleading and even dangerous when presented as fact to teenagers struggling for self-acceptance.

"Encouraging self-hate causes already vulnerable youth to be at greater risk for depression and self-destructive behavior," Glickman said. "Youth then equate violence done to them as violence that they deserve."

Glickman, who is gay, said that during his own teenage years there were plenty of people -- including himself -- who tried to "see if they could make me stop being gay."

"What it did instead was put up a big roadblock between me and loving my life," he said. "It's taken a long time for me to recognize that roadblock."

The handful of students who attended Friday's protest -- holding posters that read "I'm gay and that's OK" -- said the message of the NARTH conference, which continues through Sunday, conflicted with their own experience.

"When people try to make you feel bad about yourself, pity yourself, it's just wrong," said Sary Flores, 19. "I feel I was born this way. It's not a choice. Some people don't realize that until later in life."

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