A Christian advertising campaign promoting gay reparative therapy has been yanked from London buses, but not by my homies in the Advertising Standards Authority. No, London's mayor himself, Boris Johnson, stepped in to pull the ads, saying "it is clearly offensive to suggest that being gay is an illness that someone recovers from." His decision set off red flags among free-speech advocates and his political rivals, both of whom have suggested that Johnson's real motive for caring about this is an upcoming mayoral election where the gay vote might be crucial. The Periscope Post accused the mayor of favoritism and argued that banning the ads just draws more attention to them. The Independent's Joan Smith agreed, but added that she saw the ads as an unfunny moralist's adaptation of Monty Python's parrot sketch. They both make good points. I'm taking a longer view on the issue: The ads weren't offensive, but the service behind them is completely bogus and shouldn't be treated like it's on any kind of even keel with actual science.