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Christopher Rosik vs. transgender people

by Andrea James Reviewed September 2, 2026 7 min read

Christopher Rosik is an American psychologist and anti-transgender activist closely associated with the Christian anti-LGBTQ conversion therapy movement.

Rosik is a prominent critic of conversion therapy bans. Rosik is a board member of Alliance for Therapeutic Choice and Scientific Integrity (formerly the National Association for Research and Therapy of Homosexuality).

Background

Christopher Hastings Rosik was born on March 30, 1958. Rosik earned a bachelor’s degree from University of Oregon in 1980. Rosik then attended Fuller Theological Seminary, earning a master’s degree in 1984 and a doctorate in 1986. From 1986 to 2025, Rosik worked at Christian counseling organization Link Care Center in Fresno, California. Rosik was named their director of research in 2005.

In 1994, Rosik joined the National Association for Research and Therapy of Homosexuality (NARTH), later serving a president in the 2010s. In 2014, Rosik announced that the organization would rebrand itself as the Alliance for Therapeutic Choice and Scientific Integrity (ATCSI).

Southern Poverty Law Center’s Extremist Files profile of Focus on the Family (FotF) notes Rosik’s historic role in anti-gay conversion therapy:

“Christopher Rosik’s member bio page on the [Christian Counseling Network] website explains his expertise in counseling for “unwanted same-sex attraction” (aka conversion therapy). Rosik is also on the Board of Directors of the Alliance for Therapeutic Choice and Scientific Integrity (ATCSI), formerly known as the National Association for Research and Therapy of Homosexuality (NARTH), an organization he cofounded with Joseph Nicolosi. NARTH was notorious for its anti-LGBTQ+ pseudoscience around conversion therapy and was a partner of FotF during the time when Nicolosi was a speaker for Love Won Out conferences. ATCSI was revealed in the SPLC’s CAPTAIN report to be in league with the American College of Pediatricians to generate anti-LGBTQ+ pseudoscience and conspiracy theories to create a secular and scientific mask for the anti-LGBTQ+ groups to aid in regressing LGBTQ+ rights and policy.”

Starting in 2001, Rosik served on the faculty of private Christian university Fresno Pacific University (originally Pacific Bible Institute).

In summer 2025, Rosik and spouse moved to Orange County, California.

Anti-trans activism

In a 2023 overview, researcher Zinnia Jones wrote:

“The International Federation for Therapeutic and Counselling Choice (IFTCC), registered as a company in the UK in 2017 after hosting conferences internationally in 2015 and 2016, is a leader in activism for anti-gay and anti-trans conversion practices. At IFTCC’s London launch event in October 2018, the group issued a statement against banning conversion practices for queer people “who wish to explore with a therapist the fluidity of their same-sex attractions and behaviours in the context of determining their heterosexual potential.” In their statement, IFTCC claims to advocate for “patients’ self-determination should they desire to pursue their potential for fluidity and change in unwanted-same sex attractions and behaviour.” The document was coauthored by leaders of three groups endorsing anti-gay conversion practices:

[formatted for clarity; emphasis in original]

A 2021 press release by anti-trans UK group Christian Concern includes a number of quotations by Rosik, claiming that transgender affirmation leads to negative outcomes. Rosik stated:

  • “[There is] no age-appropriate way to explain to many of these children what losing their fertility or full sexual function may mean to them in later years.”
  • “Banning counselling choice condemns already at-risk sexual minority youth to experimental and unproven hormonal and surgical gender affirming therapy (GAT).”
  • “GAT permanently and prematurely medicalises minors for a condition that overwhelmingly resolves by adulthood. Why do that? It is not proven to be effective or safe, it does not reduce suicides, and is not the standard of care for gender dysphoric minors.”
  • “There is growing international push back against Gender Affirming Therapy (GAT) in favour of watchful waiting with its focused psychological evaluation and support of the youth and family.  A counselling ban prohibits exactly what the child needs most.”
  • “Minors cannot give truly informed consent for a life of sterility and compromised sexual function. They have developing brains, their minds change often, and they don’t grasp long-term consequences.”
  • “Gender Affirming Therapy’s suicide reduction claim is a myth, used as emotional blackmail against parents and the public.
  • “The chemical castration and surgical mutilation of otherwise healthy young bodies is not health care.”

In 2021, Rosik submitted an expert declaration in Tingley v. Ferguson, a case challenging a 2018 Washington state law that bars licensed healthcare providers from performing conversion therapy on minors. Represented by Alliance Defending Freedom, Tingley argued the law violated the First Amendment. The case was dismissed in 2021, with the dismissal upheld on appeal in 2022, and declined by the Supreme Court in 2023. Rosik’s declaration was analyzed as part of the 2023 CAPTAIN report by Southern Poverty Law Center.

In 2024, FAIR in Medicine published an open letter condemning the American Psychiatric Association for publishing the 2023 book Gender-Affirming Psychiatric Care. Rosik was a signatory.

References

Pauly, Madison; [with Henry Carnell of Mother Jones] (May 16, 2024). First They Tried to “Cure” Gayness. Now They’re Fixated on “Healing” Trans People. them https://www.them.us/story/conversion-therapy-lgbtq-anti-trans-gay-gender-affirming-care alt url https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2024/05/conversion-therapy-lgbtq-anti-trans-gay-gender-affirming-care/

Cravens, R.G. et al (December 12, 2023). CAPTAIN: Manufacturing the doubt that fuels the network. Southern Poverty Law Center https://www.splcenter.org/resources/reports/disinformation/

Jones, Zinnia (November 1, 2023). The Observer gets it wrong: Anti-gay and anti-trans conversion practices have always appealed to “fluidity” of both sexual orientation and gender identity. Medium https://zinniajones.medium.com/the-observer-is-wrong-anti-gay-and-anti-trans-conversion-practices-always-argued-from-fluidity-1ad666b3aad5

Anti-trans coverage

Staff report (November 24, 2021). Press release: International experts and ex-gays speak out against government conversion therapy ban. Christian Concern https://christianconcern.com/ccpressreleases/international-experts-and-ex-gays-speak-out-against-government-conversion-therapy-ban/

Selected writing by Rosik

Rosik, Christopher; Vazzo, Robert (May 2024). Correcting a False Narrative: Responding to Falsehoods and Half-truths in the Mother Jones Feature on the Alliance. https://www.therapeuticchoice.com/response-to-mother-jones

Rosik, Christopher and signatories (January 2024). An Open Letter to the American Psychiatric Association Regarding the Publication of Gender-Affirming Psychiatric Care. Foundation Againt Intolerance & Racism https://www.fairforall.org/open-letters/open-letter-apa/

Editors (2024). Retraction of Rosik et al. (2023). Psychology of Sexual Orientation and Gender Diversity, 11(1), 176. https://doi.org/10.1037/sgd0000697

  • Rosik, C. H., Beckstead, A. L., & Lefevor, G. T. (2023). Sexual orientation change efforts: Health associations, sexual identity labeling, and reports of change by engagement status. Psychology of Sexual Orientation and Gender Diversity. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1037/sgd0000631

Expert Declaration of Christopher Rosik, Ph.D. in Support of Plaintiff’s Motion for Preliminary Injunction, Tingley v. Ferguson, No. 3:21-cv-05359-RJB (W.D. Wash. May 13, 2021), ECF No. 2-2, https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.wawd.299341/gov.uscourts.wawd.299341.2.2.pdf

Rosik CH, Van Mol A (2021). Sexual Orientation Health Disparities: A Critique of the Minority Stress Theory. Catholic Medical Quarterly Volume 71(1) February 2021 http://www.cmq.org.uk/CMQ/2021/May/sexual_orientation_health_dispar.html

Rosik CH, Sullins DP, Schumm WR, Van Mol A (2021). Letter: Sexual Orientation Change Efforts, Adverse Childhood Experiences, and Suicidality. American Journal of Public Health, 111(4), e19–e20. https://doi.org/10.2105/ajph.2021.306156

Rosik, Christopher (2016). Sexual Attraction Fluidity Exploration in Therapy (SAFE-T): Creating a clearer impression of professional therapies that allow for change. Core Issues Trust https://core-issues.org/UserFiles/File/SAFE_T/Rosik_on_SAFE_T.pdf

Rosik, C. H. (2012). Opposite-gender identity states in Dissociative Identity Disorder: Psychodynamic insights into a subset of same-sex behavior and attractions. Journal of Psychology and Christianity. 31(3), 278-284.

Media

Liberty Counsel / Freedom Alive with Steve Stiger and Christopher Rosik (July 28, 2026). Counseling Bans Are Harmful – Dr. Christopher Rosik – Freedom Alive® Ep190. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Eou1nsFy2iI

Mental Healthy Podcast with Kenyan Knapp and Christopher Rosik (September 27, 2024). Dr. Christopher Rosik: Unwanted Same-Sex Attraction. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ATJ38PZu36g

PsychoBible with Andrew Rodriguez, Christopher Rosik, and Robert Vazzo (August 8, 2024). Responding to Anti-Therapy Hit Pieces by Mother Jones & Religion Dispatches (with Rosik and Vazzo). https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kBjRKW0dmiE

IFTCC with Christopher Rosik (February 29, 2024). It’s pretty well established that sexuality is fluid | Christopher Rosik. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WTR4w_RnsHs

The Ruth Institute / The Dr J Show with Jennifer Roback Morse and Christopher Rosik (December 4, 2023). Therapy Bans Harm Truth and People | Dr. Christopher Rosik on The Dr J Show ep. 212. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UWAhLZcARsw

PsychoBible with Andrew Rodriguez and Christopher Rosik (August 22, 2022). Results of Surveying LGB- and Non-LGB People with SSA: Christopher Rosik Interview. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aFRvAsHkhpU

Michael Davidson / Christian Concern conference (June 13, 2015, posted October 14, 2015). “Scientific Integrity and the Issue of Harm: …” Dr Christopher Rosik. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vLC97T4vuAs

Resources

Southern Poverty Law Center (splcenter.org)

The Journal of Human Sexuality (journalofhumansexuality.com)

Christian Counselors Network (christiancounselorsnetwork.com)

Irvine Christian Counseling (irvinechristiancounseling.com)

Link Care Center (linkcare.org)

  • Clinical Staff: Christopher Rosik, Ph.D.
  • linkcare.org/lc_about_staff_details.php?StaffID=17 [archive]
  • Christopher Rosik, Ph.D.: Licensed Psychologist PSY 10532
  • linkcare.org/lc_about_staff_details.php?StaffID=22 [archive]

California Department of Consumer Affairs (dca.ca.gov)

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