What I found silly about this exchange was the idea that anyone would think that therapy can change *anything.* I mean, no psychological therapy can be to any degree effective unless the patient *wants* to change his own behaviors or attitudes.
The problem is that the APA thinks that if a patient comes in wanting to change his sexual orientation, that he should be discouraged from doing so (unless, of course, he wants to change from straight to gay).
At least (or finally) the APA is admitting homosexuals can leave the lifestyle. For years they've been saying change is impossible or dangerous, but the growing number of ex-gays has, apparently, forced them to concede the obvious.
You oversimplify. What the APA has said is, if a person comes in to a therapist and says, "I'm having problems with homosexual thoughts" the therapist is supposed to help the person come to grips with the fact that he is gay. This is whether or not the person really wanted help keeping the homosexual thoughts at bay. In other words, the person doesn't need to want to change from straight to gay - the therapist is supposed to help him make that change anyway.
Shalom.