This is an example of why the ex-gay movement is so destructive

No, that's not the topic. The topic is whether people who say the ceased engaging in homosexual sex for religious conviction are all evil liars who should ridiculed and silenced.

 

I don't believe anyone is doing any such thing. People enter religious reorientation programs for two reasons: because the program promises results, and because those entering the program are desperate for those results, and determined to believe themselves "cured" when those running the program tell them they're all better now. Alas, the effects are cosmetic and the pretense otherwise is soon overcome by the human sex drive. Trying to ridicule or silence them is cruel and misguided. And to their credit, even the devout folks who ran such programs came to understand that the recidivism was 100% within a year or two for all practical purposes, and that their promises, while well-meaning and sincere, were unfortunately empty.

Nobody involved here is evil, nobody is a liar. But at best, those programs were like AA, in the sense that the best AA can do is try to turn out non-drinking alcoholics. Most graduates fell off the straight-wagon fairly quickly, despite fervent desire and attempts to stay on.

In my opinion, the entire business is very sad. Holding out hope when there is none is cruel. Driving people to have such an unnecessary hope is equally cruel. I believe we're now moving in the right direction, taking the position that sexual orientation is an aspect of normal human variation, and not something anyone should be ashamed of or try to hide. And most emphatically not something other people should ridicule.