Why ‘Ex-Gay’ Group Exod Internatnal Should Take Its Apology Overseas – Foreign Policy

Contents:

• WHAT IS EXOD INTERNATNAL, THE EX-GAY CHRISTIAN GROUP AT THE CENTER OF NETFLIX'S PRAY AWAY?
• FORMER 'EX-GAY' LEARS DENOUNCE 'CONVERSN THERAPY' IN A NEW DOCUMENTARY
• EXOD INTERNATNAL: 'GAY CURE' GROUP LEAR SHUTTG DOWN MISTRY AFTER CHANGE OF HEART
• EXOD CLOS, MARKG OFFICIAL END OF THE EX-GAY MOVEMENT
• EX-GAY GROUP EXOD INTERNATNAL SHUTS DOWN, PRINT APOLOGIZ
• THE DOWNFALL OF THE EX-GAY MOVEMENT
• WARNG: EXOD IS FISHED BUT THE EX-GAY MOVEMENT HAS JT BEGUN
• EXOD INTERNATNAL, FORMER GAY CONVERSN THERAPY GROUP, APOLOGIZ TO GAY COMMUNY, CLOS UP SHOP
• REPORT: SWATCH GROUP SU COUNTRY THAT ALLEGEDLY SEIZED ITS GAY PRI WATCH
• WHY ‘EX-GAY’ GROUP EXOD INTERNATNAL SHOULD TAKE ITS APOLOGY OVERSEAS
• EX-GAY GROUP EXOD INTERNATNAL SHUTS DOWN, PRINT APOLOGIZ
• GROUP APOLOGIZ TO GAY MUNY, SHUTS DOWN ‘CURE’ MISTRY
• AFTER EXOD: EVANGELILS REACT AS EX-GAY MISTRY STARTS OVER
• U.S. GROUP THAT 'NVERTED' GAYS CLOS S DOORS AND APOLOGIZ

WHAT IS EXOD INTERNATNAL, THE EX-GAY CHRISTIAN GROUP AT THE CENTER OF NETFLIX'S PRAY AWAY?

Over the urse of nearly 40 years, a group lled Exod Internatnal had a chokehold on the "ex-gay" movement—a relig ph suggtg that wh work and therapy, people the LGBTQ+ muny uld "undo" their queerns.

As members ntued to leave the mistry, nounce nversn therapy, and rume their liv as gay, lbian, bisexual, and trans people, the anizatn always reced more people willg to be fac for the group. Worthen, who has been emed the "Father of the Ex-Gay Movement, " spent a good chunk of the 80s travelg the world and startg more ex-gay mistri. Eventually, Worthen and his wife turned the res of Love Actn over to John Smid, an "ex-gay" who served as Executive Director om 1991 to 2008.

FORMER 'EX-GAY' LEARS DENOUNCE 'CONVERSN THERAPY' IN A NEW DOCUMENTARY

In a statement, he spoke out agast reparative therapy, suggtg that while the practice of homosexualy was still a s his ey, reparative therapy did not remedy homosexualy people. It's a movement that's born out of a larger culture of homophobia and transphobia that still persists the majory of Christian church today. Interview highlights clu extend web-only answers and have been eded for length and clary: Interview Highlights Thomas on how he joed the "ex-gay" movement and Exod Internatnal I was out of the closet the '80s.

They also had a group for the gays, and unrneath all of that olns there was this toxic theology that said that you need to overe homosexualy. Stolakis on what the ex-gay and nversn therapy movement looks like today Conversn therapy and the ex-LGBTQ movement has always been practiced lolly.

EXOD INTERNATNAL: 'GAY CURE' GROUP LEAR SHUTTG DOWN MISTRY AFTER CHANGE OF HEART

It's bee very lennial-driven bee there are younger people who've grown up homophobic and transphobic environments who are ready and willg to take the place of people like Randy. June 20, 2013 — -- A Christian mistry that claimed people uld change their sexualy through fah, prayer and therapy is shuttg down s operatns, and the group's print issued an apology for g the gay muny "pa and hurt" through s past Internatnal's board of directors said the cisn to close the doors of the 37-year-old mistry me "after a year of dialogue and prayer about the anizatn's place a changg culture, " acrdg to a statement posted on the group's webse late Wednday.

RELATED: Exod Internatnal Head Alan Chambers Compar Homosexualy to ObyOnce parg homosexualy to oby a 2011 terview wh ABC News, the group's print, Alan Chambers, issued an extensive apology this week to the LGBTQ muny reflectg his change of heart.

EXOD CLOS, MARKG OFFICIAL END OF THE EX-GAY MOVEMENT

"The group's "nversn therapy" was based on the belief that people are not born gay, but rather choose to act on same-sex clatns, makg a "ndn" that uld be "cured.

It might seem like the “ex-gay” movement end Thursday, wh the closg of Exod Internatnal, the evangelil anizatn that once practiced “reparative therapy” for gay Christians, and wh the apology of s print, Alan Chambers, for the hurt he has ed.

EX-GAY GROUP EXOD INTERNATNAL SHUTS DOWN, PRINT APOLOGIZ

But the announcement is only the pstone of the rapid disappearance of the “ex-gay movement, ” a nstellatn of evangelil mistri (and a few Jewish and Mormon offshoots) that embraced psdoscientific therapi to change the sexual orientatn of gay believers. The life was sucked out of Exod by both the momentum of the gay-rights movement and the nstant fectns of people prevly associated wh the movement.

Largely unnoticed by the mastream media, Chambers had for several years been distancg Exod om the discreded ias behd reparative therapy and the anizatns’ prev claims to have helped “thoands” of people overe their homosexualy. Durg his 11 years at Exod, Chambers gradually morated his claims about the possibily of changg sexual orientatn, qutng the anizatn’s talk of “change” and rejectg the term “ex-gay.

THE DOWNFALL OF THE EX-GAY MOVEMENT

” His 2009 book, Leavg Homosexualy, revealed some of the mss of his own marriage to a woman after years of livg an openly gay life. A year ago Chambers explicly nounced reparative therapy and said he had never met anyone who changed their sexual orientatn, sparkg a furor among more nservative ex-gay Chambers’s gradual makeover of Exod seems largely driven by the nstant luge of bad news on every possible ont. Warren Throckmorton, an evangelil psychologist who studi sexual inty, eventually nclud that there was no evince reparative therapy worked and beme a strong cric of the ex-gay movement’s claims.

The well-known psychiatrist Robert Spzer publicly renounced and apologized for his ntroversial 2001 study that had been greeted as a holy grail for those lookg for evince therapy uld change sexual then there were the “ex-ex-gays. ” Both former ex-gay lears and participants were a nstant PR nightmare for the ex-gay movement as they me out, some s for the send time, and announced what Chambers would eventually acknowledge: that no one they knew of had ever bee straight.

In 2010 Baptist mister and ex-gay thor Gee Rekers was ught at the airport wh a gay “rentboy” who claimed he had given Rekers “nu body bs.

WARNG: EXOD IS FISHED BUT THE EX-GAY MOVEMENT HAS JT BEGUN

” In 2011 John Smid, the director of a California ex-gay group then known as Love Actn, apologized on his blog after participatg a documentary that forced him to nont the hurt he had before Exod explicly began s rebrandg, the ex-gay movement had been cimated si and out. Horror stori about prsn and suicidal thoughts om those ex-gay therapy were reported the mastream media and had an effect even on the relig.

Last year, Orthodox Jewish rabbis me out agast the therapy jt a few months after California beme the first state to ban for teens unr perhaps the biggt factor is the shiftg experience of nservative Christians themselv, who n no longer sulate themselv om the realy of the gay people they know and who have begun to accept that sexual orientatn isn’t a choice.

(RNS) Exod Internatnal, a group that bills self as “the olst and largt Christian mistry alg wh fah and homosexualy, ” announced late Wednday (June 19) that ’s shuttg s doors. The announcement me jt after Exod print Alan Chambers released a statement apologizg to the gay muny for many actns, cludg the anizatn’s promotn of efforts to change a person’s sexual orientatn. Exod functned as a support group for men and women who were stgglg wh their sexual orientatn, and early on embraced the ia that gays and lbians uld bee straight through prayer and unselg.

EXOD INTERNATNAL, FORMER GAY CONVERSN THERAPY GROUP, APOLOGIZ TO GAY COMMUNY, CLOS UP SHOP

Supreme Court prepar to issue two potentially cisive lgs on gay marriage and public opn shifts rapidly favor of gay rights and even gay marriage. A recent Gallup Poll showed that 59 percent of Amerins now view gay or lbian relatns as “morally acceptable, ” a 19-pot swg sce 2001 and the biggt change seen on any social issue, cludg divorce, extramaral affairs and other issu. Chambers had already disavowed reparative therapy at the annual Gay Christian Network nference January 2012, and his apology “is the acknowledgement many of have been wag to hear for a long, long time, ” said GCN executive director Jt Lee.

“Alan has been movg this way for awhile … but this apology is much more explic and leav no room for support for change therapi or monizg gays. “Exod has been a lightg rod for Christian discsn about homosexualy over the years and wh today’s events will probably ntue to be for awhile.

“Headl about Exod closg down will e celebratns across the gay muny, ” said Mel Whe, who ghostwrote Jerry Falwell’s tobgraphy years before he me out as gay and lnched the gay rights group Soulforce. Durg the latter part of the 20th century, Exod and siar nservative groups promoted the ia that gay people uld—and should try to—bee straight. Ex-gay lears traveled to church and appeared on televisn news programs cg a lany of exampl of happily married “former homosexuals” to monstrate that sexual orientatn is a choice and that change is Chambers would unrgo a radil change of heart.

REPORT: SWATCH GROUP SU COUNTRY THAT ALLEGEDLY SEIZED ITS GAY PRI WATCH

”As a former Exod participant who once lived a “gay liftyle” but was able to achieve a succsful straight marriage, Chambers was the perfect ndidate to lead the anizatn.

WHY ‘EX-GAY’ GROUP EXOD INTERNATNAL SHOULD TAKE ITS APOLOGY OVERSEAS

”The movement tradnalists believed would be their savg grace the fight agast LGBT rights was quickly beg their Achill’ chosen to lead Exod 2001 was like beg the ex-gay Pope followg the Catholic sex-abe sndals.

As Satcher reported, morn science had livered cshg blows to the ex-gay movement wh peer-reviewed rearch showg that s iology was bunk. Today, even top Southern Baptist lears have nounced ex-gay therapy, and the school newspaper for the Jerry Falwell-found Liberty Universy has edorialized agast . He has voiced his support for Print Obama’s effort to ban orientatn-change therapi for mors and celebrated the Supreme Court’s cisn to legalize gay marriage.

EX-GAY GROUP EXOD INTERNATNAL SHUTS DOWN, PRINT APOLOGIZ

“For those who nnot rencile their fah and sexualy, they n be affirmed their choice of celibacy and vote their liv to more life givg than ‘riddg themselv of the mon homosexualy, ’” Chambers says. Even if you don’t tst Alan’s motiv, you have to adm that his nfsn and apology are a giant step forward unrmg the credibily of those who ntue to hold out the false promis ma by the ex-gay movement.

Que to the ntrary, Alan’s apology provoked ex-gay loyalists to hunker down, ri out the storm, re-anize and re-emerge wh an even more ant mment to their beliefs that that homosexuals n and mt be cured. In her onle ttimony she scrib the RHN “cure” for homosexuals the words: “J got hold of me and that was the end of my homosexualy.

GROUP APOLOGIZ TO GAY MUNY, SHUTS DOWN ‘CURE’ MISTRY

The terrible sufferg ed by Exod and the failure of s ex-gay therapi flows directly and directly out of the false teachgs of the fundamentalist Christian lears. The hard-re ex-gay promoters really believe that those who “give ” to their homosexual “temptatns” will fd “their liv ed and their souls damned. The lol ex-gay mistri know that their ex-gay therapi do not work and that they personally are rponsible for sufferg and even ath.

The real difference between Plk’s “Rtored Hope Network” and Chamber’s “Rce Fear” anizatn is their ultimate goal for practicg homosexuals. The first step for the soft re “changers” is to adm that that they nnot “cure” you, that no matter how hard you try your homosexual feelgs will still exist. Alan also admted que openly that he still “stggl” wh homosexual sire and cidg not to “act on those sir” he scrib the send step towards soft-re “change.

AFTER EXOD: EVANGELILS REACT AS EX-GAY MISTRY STARTS OVER

” Alan and the other soft-re changers don’t scribe homosexual acts as s (that’s the hard-re way) but they do clg to the old notn that God’s will for sexual relatnships is limed to one man wh one woman. Alan’s “change” will not ll for homosexuals to bee heterosexuals but for sexually active homosexuals to bee self-acceptg but celibate lbian or gay persons.

Soft re “changers” will teach that sexually active lbian or gay persons should enter to “tradnal” oppose sex marriag or to a relatnship wh an oppose sex fellow “stggler. ” Then they uld also say, “But if you ci to stggle agast your homosexual orientatn orr to stay a lovg relatnship wh a heterosexual spoe, we will support you that cisn as well.

U.S. GROUP THAT 'NVERTED' GAYS CLOS S DOORS AND APOLOGIZ

Newly released documents show the Natnal Organizatn for Marriage aimed to create tensn between the black and gay muni orr to prevent same-sex marriage. ’s foremost "gay nversn therapy" groups, publicly announced Thursday is closg up shop and qutg the gay nversn bs, llg the practice “harmful.

”In an apology letter on the Exod webse, group lear Alan Chambers publicly apologized to the gay muny, wrg, “Our mistry has been public and therefore an acknowledgement of wrong mt also be public.

”ThkProgrs reported that the board of Exod Internatnal “voted unanimoly” to shut down nversn operatns, and will stead swch to helpg church velop healthier relatnships wh the LGBT s webse, Exod said had been gay nversn therapy tra for “over three s. ” Chambers wrote that the procs that led to the cisn to close up shop began three years ago when Exod Internatnal was featured on the Oprah Wey Network as part of a show lled “Gods and Gays, ” and Chambers wrote that he and his wife Llie hoped to “keep havg hont discsns the hop of arrivg to a place of peace.