WEST PALM BEACH -- One group believes that homosexuals can be cured and runs programs aimed at putting gay men and lesbians on a straight path.

The other group believes such programs have tortured thousands of men and women, making it impossible for them to accept their natural sexual orientation and live happy lives.

The two polar opposites are to meet less than a mile apart in West Palm Beach beginning Friday. The confluence is no accident.

When gay rights activists learned the National Association of Research and Therapy of Homosexuality would hold its annual convention at the Marriott, they booked one at the nearby Crowne Plaza.

Not surprisingly, given the emotions surrounding the issue, neither group will leave town without being noticed.

More than 100 students from Lynn and Florida Atlantic universities and human rights activists plan to gather outside the Marriott on Saturday, protesting the conference that will feature such topics as ``Encouraging Heterosexuality in Our Children.''

Devin Reeves, president of the Gay-Straight Alliance at Lynn University who helped organize the protest, said his message will be simple: ``Stop NARTH from hurting out LGBT youth,'' he said of the sign he will wave during the three-hour protest.

Lester Leavitt, who said it took him 42 years and an unsatisfying marriage to break the bounds of his Mormon upbringing and embrace his homosexuality, said his message is more complex.

``I don't want to just mute their message,'' he said. ``I want to put these people out of business.''

The 50-year-old Pompano Beach man said he hoped the protest would spur those who have endured so-called ``reparation'' therapy to sue those who subjected them to years of counseling that was not only ineffective but damaging. He also wants to attract the attention of professional organizations, urging them to police therapists, psychologists and others who try to convert homosexuals to heterosexuality.

One of his targets is Julie Harren Hamilton, a West Palm Beach marriage and family therapist and former assistant professor at Palm Beach Atlantic University. She is the president of NARTH.

Hamilton said she was neither surprised nor bothered by the planned protest. Gay activists have rallied outside NARTH meetings before.

While the group believes homosexuals can be counseled so they no longer have same-sex attractions, she said no one is forced to seek therapy. ``A therapist can't work with someone who doesn't want to be treated,'' she said.

Leavitt and others, however, say the targets are often teens who are dragged to counseling by their parents.

Both groups argue that research is on their side.

In August, the 148,000-member American Psychological Association adopted a resolution saying therapists should not claim they can change someone's sexual orientation. In a statement, they said that there is insufficient evidence that homosexuality can be cured, and that studies show such therapy can lead to depression and anxiety.

Almost simultaneously, the 1,000-member NARTH released a report of its own that found gays and lesbians could become heterosexuals.

Both groups criticized the other's findings. NARTH said gay activists guided the association's findings; gay activists said NARTH used its own biased studies rather than ones that were peer-reviewed.

Leavitt says he knows firsthand the damage caused by denying one's sexual orientation.

``My goal is to make sure [young people's] lives aren't as tortured as mine was,'' he said.