Goodbye to an adversary

Over the last few decades Exodus International has been at the forefront of ex-gay ministries. These are the folks that try to turn gay men into straight men. As part of that effort they had annual conferences pushing their story.

Alan Chambers, the current president of the organization has sparked a lot of news over the last year. I've posted about much of that in articles collected here. That included admitting that he believed that 99% of the men in the program remained gay. That, and a few other pronouncements, so annoyed many partner ministries that they withdrew from Exodus and formed their own group, Restored Hope Network.

The Exodus annual conference started yesterday. Just before it started Chambers issued an extensive apology. This isn't one of those limp "I'm sorry if you were offended." This is the real deal. He apologized for the trauma his organization caused (when participants failed to become straight), the false hope (he hadn't acknowledged his own ongoing same-sex attractions), the years lost in working through shame and guilt from not changing, the stigmatized parents ("Your son is gay because of what you did."), the failure to share lives of successful gay people. And, most of all, the misinterpretation of rejection by Christians as rejection by God causing many to walk away from faith or even commit suicide.

Wow!

And then, during the opening plenary session (more of a worship service), he announced that Exodus International is shutting down. It will be replaced by a new organization named Reduce Fear, though details of this new organization are vague (the website isn't ready yet). I get the sense it is to be a support group for those going or have gone through the program.

Again, Wow!

To top it off Chambers took a seat on the program Our America with Lisa Ling with several survivors of the kind of therapy Exodus used. This was an opportunity for them to tell Chambers directly how they were harmed, deceived, and defrauded by Exodus and for him to apologize face-to-face. Lots of courage to subjecting himself to such an ordeal. Alas, I don't get OWN on my TV. Perhaps I'll catch it later online.

This is a huge development. It is great to see the end of an adversary. However, the replacement, as far as I can tell, will still promote one idea that is still quite bad. We may not be able to turn you straight, but to be acceptable to God (and the rest of the Fundie church) you must either enter into a straight marriage or remain celibate.

Alas, Restored Hope is still out there, now purged of any moderating influences.