Working through the ex-gay movement, the Christian Right has tapped into the fear that many people have of homosexuality in order to further its theocratic agenda. The ex-gay movement is in many ways a typically American phenomenon. Schramm and Upchurch tried for years to become straight so that they would fit into society. It's hardly a surprise, then, to see the ex-gay movement growing in popularity. If you're a gay, lesbian, bisexual, or transgender person, mask your identity, or better yet, change it completely if you can.
American culture promotes certain acceptable images of men and women.
A dominant heterosexual culture mandates that people strive to get married to a member of the opposite sex, buy a house, have kids. And some people will go to great lengths to mask their differences in order to fit in. The ex-gay movement has tapped into this insecurity and is exploiting it for political purposes. The goal is not exclusively to convert homosexuals to heterosexuality but to recruit people into the Christian Right in order to promote a broader theocratic agenda. Challenging the leadership of the ex-gay movement must include an understanding of this broader agenda in order to defend equal rights for all people, regardless of sexual orientation.