Not for a second do I believe Rowan has changed his feathers. I think he's being peevish at the "gay lobbyists" who are, as many of us know, prone to totalitarian tactics. And Rowan, as any who know of him can tell you, immensely dislikes being ordered around.
Rowan Williams seems to fully understand the difference between what he once offered as a personal opinion when he was a professor (and thus was allowed to do so), and what the Archbishop of Canterbury can and cannot say. In another words, while he has and is entitled to his own views, he knows that the Primate of All England and Head of the Anglican Communion cannot support certain ECUSA innovations. Thus we see him increasingly siding with Archbishop Akinola.