I was encouraged when groups like Exodus International shut themselves down, when major proponents of changing sexual attraction began to admit the work was not only ineffective but dangerous.

I’m saddened, though, to note that the cycle seems to be starting over, that different groups are springing up. Their choice of language might be a little bit different, and what they promise might be less dramatic, but they still offer “freedom” from what they call a struggle with attraction.

It’s the same old toxic gift in recycled wrapping, newly branded to avoid calling it conversion or reparative therapy. Dressed up to make it more acceptable in progressive Evangelical circles.

I was about to write that it’s sad, but it’s more than that. It’s a cancer that damages so many people physically, emotionally, and spiritually.

It isn’t sad; it’s actually tragic in a sense that is in no way hyperbolic.