Exodus Closes, Marking Official End of the Ex-Gay Movement

[DonViejo]

by David Sessions Jun 21, 2013 4:45 AM EDT

Sustained for decades on aging pseudoscience and religious bigotry, the idea that gay people could change their sexual orientation has recently been demolished. Now the largest Christian ex-gay organization is closing.

It might seem like the “ex-gay” movement ended Thursday, with the closing of Exodus International, the evangelical organization that once practiced “reparative therapy” for gay Christians, and with the apology of its president, Alan Chambers, for the hurt he has caused.

“I am sorry I didn't stand up to people publicly ‘on my side’ who called you names,” Chambers said in an open letter addressed to the “LGBT community.” “I am sorry I have communicated that you and your families are less than me and mine.” The statement announced the Exodus board’s unanimous decision to close its doors.

The move is certainly significant, and is no doubt intended to have a powerful symbolic effect. But the announcement is only the capstone of the rapid disappearance of the “ex-gay movement,” a constellation of evangelical ministries (and a few Jewish and Mormon offshoots) that embraced pseudoscientific therapies to change the sexual orientation of gay believers. The life was sucked out of Exodus by both the momentum of the gay-rights movement and the constant defections of people previously associated with the movement. But perhaps more than anything, it was Chambers himself who had had enough.

Largely unnoticed by the mainstream media, Chambers had for several years been distancing Exodus from the discredited ideas behind reparative therapy and the organizations’ previous claims to have helped “thousands” of people overcome their homosexuality. During his 11 years at Exodus, Chambers gradually moderated his claims about the possibility of changing sexual orientation, questioning the organization’s talk of “change” and rejecting the term “ex-gay.” His 2009 book, Leaving Homosexuality, revealed some of the messiness of his own marriage to a woman after years of living an openly gay life. A year ago Chambers explicitly denounced reparative therapy and said he had never met anyone who changed their sexual orientation, sparking a furor among more conservative ex-gay groups.

full article
http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2013/06/21/exodus-closes-marking-official-end-of-the-ex-gay-movement.html