I'm not sure I blame them. The current atmosphere in the Christian community is not conductive to positive dialogue on alternative sexuality. Calling yourself ex-gay is much more palatable to the Christian community than calling yourself a celibate gay.

The sad fact is that this is a step towards honesty rather than away from it. By admitting they have issues with homosexuality, they are being more honest than if they pretended to be straight.

If they chose more honest language, how many of these people would still have successful ministries? These people have a God given mission that they are working to accomplish, and the distraction of having to explain how its possible to be gay and Christian would hamper that. I really can't blame them. It's simply much easier to invent a term palatable to Christians with which to label yourself and move on with your ministry than to stop and explain to everyone the truth and face all manner of criticism and obstacles that get in the way of doing what God put you on Earth to do.

Having said that, I do believe that many of them truly are afraid of the term gay and are fooling themselves (or have been fooled) into thinking it does not apply to them. Perhaps even most of them feel that way. However, I do have hope that maybe some of these people are doing it for the right reasons described above.