The American Psychological Association's move to conduct the first review of its 10-year-old policy on counseling gays and lesbians to help them change their sexual orientation has attracted criticism from conservative groups who say they have no voice on the six-member review task force who will have its first meeting next Tuesday.

Conservative religious leaders representing groups such as Focus on the Family have written a joint letter to the APA, expressing concern that the task force's proposals would not properly accommodate gays and lesbians whose religious beliefs condemn gay sex.

According to the Associated Press, APA spokeswoman Rhea Farberman said the group has not decided on when and how to reply to the letter.

Clinton Anderson, director of the APA's Lesbian, Gay and Bisexual Concerns Office, had however been quoted as saying that the panel's policy review will be based on scientific research, not religious ideology.

Defending the decision to reject certain conservative applicants to the task force, he said, "We cannot take into account what are fundamentally negative religious perceptions of homosexuality - they don't fit into our world view."

Gay rights groups are meanwhile hopeful that the APA's review results in a denunciation of reparative therapy (also called conversion therapy) which is considered futile and harmful.

The current APA policy rules out any counseling that treats homosexuality as a mental illness, but it does not explicitly condemn reparative therapy.

The task force will submit a preliminary report to the APA's directors in December and the final report may be ready by March 2008.