As often as ex-gay political leaders emulate the anger and the strawman arguments of the religious right, I believe it’s important to avoid overgeneralizing.

I have noted over the years (long before this Salon blog) that there are ex-gay ministers who remain focused on genuine person-to-person fellowship with people who, for whatever reason, find homosexual identification or attraction completely unworkable in their own lives.

These ministers eschew the bitterness and self-defeat that inevitably accompany affiliation with the political religious right.

I’m not sure these ex-gay ministers would want to be named in this blog, since the ex-gay political activists would harass them. So I tend not to name them.

I disagree with these ministers’ opinions about homosexuality. And I know that their flock will, at most, overcome same-sex behavior but not the sexual attractions.

Nevertheless, to the extent that a few ex-gay ministers work with struggling individuals without anger, prejudgment or ulterior political motives, I respect their independence and their compassion.

If an unhappy same-sex-attracted person refuses to listen to a happy gay or gay-tolerant minister telling them that God loves them, then perhaps they will listen to an ex-gay minister tell them the same thing.

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