Fridae

According to The Los Angeles Times, Alan Chambers was quoted as saying that the term ex-gay as being too neat. "By no means would we ever say change can be sudden or complete," said the man who now identifies as straight and is a husband and father of two after having conquered his attraction to men.

Chambers and other Exodus leaders who will attend the group's Freedom Conference at California's Concordia University later this month, are said to be discussing the possibility of a biological basis for homosexuality.

Rev R Albert Mohler Jr, regarded as a leading conservative theologian outside the ex-gay movement, shocked many of his constituents by saying in a statement: "We should not be surprised (to find a genetic basis for sexual orientation)."

The LA Times report also quoted Michael Bussee, who founded Exodus International in 1976 but now regularly speaks out against ex-gay therapies.

"Something's happening. And I think it's very positive," said Bussee, who fell in love with a fellow ex-gay counselor after founding Exodus. Now a licensed family therapist, he is 'willing to acknowledge potential in therapy that does not promise change but instead offers patients help in managing their desires and modifying their behaviour to match their religious values - even if that means a life of celibacy,' reads the article.

He is scheduled to address the Ex-Gay Survivor's Conference at the University of California Irvine at the end of the month.

Dr Robert Spitzer, whose 2001 study has been commonly misused by reparative therapy advocates to support their cause, said: "What appeals to me is that it moves away from the total polarization (common in the field)."

"For many years, mental health professionals have taken the view that since homosexuality is not a mental disorder, any attempt to change sexual orientation is unwise," said Spitzer, of Columbia University.

Some therapies are considered dangerous, and some rely on discredited psychological theories. "But for health care professionals to tell someone they don't have the right to make an effort to bring their actions into harmony with their values is hubris," Spitzer said. He is also noted for advocating the removal of homosexuality from the American Psychiatric Association's (APA) list of medical disorders in 1973.

In May, the APA announced that it had appointed a Task Force of researchers and clinicians to review the current scientific research on therapeutic response to sexual orientation with an eye toward updating the Association's 1997 policy statement on the topic.