News outlets all across the nation have been reporting on word that prominent "ex-gay" group Exodus International and leader Alan Chambers no longer espouse "reparative therapy" and admit there's no cure for innate same-sex desires.
But as Zack Ford notes at ThinkProgress, Exodus still thinks homosexuality is a problem that needs to be treated. Its new direction therefore actually offers nothing new. All the attention is simply "media-hype:"
If Exodus is no longer going to offer reparative therapy, what is it going to offer? At the bottom of the NYT piece, Chambers says that “many Christians with homosexual urges may have to strive for lives of celibacy.” NPR admits toward the end of its story that “Chambers compares same-sex attraction to adultery or pride,” believes that “homosexual acts are a sin because the Bible calls for heterosexual marriage,” and says that “gay Christians must either be celibate, or if they want to marry, it must be with someone of the opposite sex.”
Sin, celibacy, and fake marriages do not constitute progress from ex-gay therapy.
Ford concludes, "Their desire to not do harm is admirable — and with this change, they may in fact do less harm — but that doesn't change the fact that anything short of sexual orientation affirmation is still harmful." Amen.
