Anglican Mainstream

By Gary L'Hommedieu, Virtueonline

Yesterday The New York Times reported that Alan Chambers, president of Exodus International (EI), known as "the leading force in the so-called ex-gay movement," announced to the group's annual meeting that there was "no cure" for homosexuality, thus scuttling one of EI's core beliefs.

Sounds like the president was repenting of his organization's very raison d'être, and of course that's exactly what he was doing. The Times concluded its report with a succinct opinion as to why such public repentance suddenly came into play by one of the movement's true believers.

Based on an interview with the editor of ex-gay web site The Times wrote, "Mr. Chambers was trying to steer the group in a moderate direction because 'they were becoming pariahs' in a society that is more accepting of gay people."

That makes good sense. Sexual politics, and especially gay sexual politics, has been about politics as much as it's been about sex from the beginning. The history of the removal of homosexuality from the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM) of the American Psychiatric Association in 1973 is a story of intrigue, theatrics and intimidation — in a word, anything but science. The term "sexual orientation" came out of this same high-water phase of APA's scientific development.

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