...but can you gay away the pray? That's an open question. What isn't a question anymore—what should never have been a question, and what certainly isn't a question I'm going to tolerate after this morning—is whether "ex-gay" ministries and quack therapists can "change" a person's sexual orientation. Here's Lisa Ling on The View today:

Lisa Ling: The truth of the matter is that he, and people who are part of the Exodus movement - we spent a lot of time with them, got exclusive access into the Exodus movement - they say that you can't completely turn it off, you can't change your sexual orientation. But you can try to live a life according to what the Bible says, with help.

Barbara Walters: You talked to a great many people, as you say all around the country.
Do you think it is possible to change your sexuality, is that what you've come to as a conclusion.

Lisa Ling: Even the head of Exodus says he doesn't believe you can change your sexual orientation. He says that he constantly has to fight his attraction for men.

So... the head of the largest "ex-gay" ministry in the country told Ling that it's impossible to change your sexual orientation, and admitted that he—after twenty years of being involved with Exodus—is still attracted to men. This is the same guy who once said, "The opposite of homosexuality isn't heterosexuality. It's holiness." As John points out, Exodus and other anti-gay "ministries" aren't in the business of making gay people straight. (And it is a business.) They're in the business of making gay people celibate. It would be amusing if they didn't employ spiritual violence to terrorize weak gay people and if they didn't hold up their own "ex-gayness" as proof that gay people don't deserve full civil equality. No one has to be gay, the argument goes, so no need for gay people to be treated like citizens. (No one has to be Jewish either—your point is?)

But, hey, if gay people are ex-gay when they're not having gay sex... then that means most gay people are ex-gay most of the time.