{"id":1361,"date":"2013-06-23T17:43:00","date_gmt":"2013-06-23T17:43:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/admin.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/2013\/06\/exodus-ex-gay-ministry-closes-up-shop.html"},"modified":"2013-06-23T17:43:00","modified_gmt":"2013-06-23T17:43:00","slug":"exodus-ex-gay-ministry-closes-up-shop","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/2013\/06\/exodus-ex-gay-ministry-closes-up-shop.html","title":{"rendered":"Exodus “Ex-Gay” Ministry Closes Up Shop"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>
\u201cI long for the day when a gay or lesbian kid feels like the first place, the best place, to call or go for help is the church,\u201d\u00a0said<\/a>\u00a0Exodus leader Alan Chambers, in his opening remarks at the ex-gay ministry\u2019s 38th annual convention in Irvine, Calif., Wednesday night.\u00a0<\/span><\/div>\n
To the ears of most gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender people, that sounds like nails on a chalkboard.\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
Church has in fact been the very\u00a0last<\/em>\u00a0place for LGBT people to seek help\u2014a claim validated by the Pew Research Center who recently\u00a0found<\/a>\u00a0that nearly half of LGBT people claim no religion at all. Not a surprise considering that many LGBT folk spent a chunk of their childhood sitting through homophobic sermons and Sunday school lessons wondering if God really did hate and condemn them.\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
But, and most significantly, Chambers also delivered the dramatic news that Exodus would be shutting its doors. Earlier this year, in an appearance at the Gay Christian Network conference, Chambers admitted that \u201c99.9%\u201d of those in ex-gay ministries never change their sexual orientation.\u201d A short time later Chambers swore that Exodus would no longer use \u201creparative therapy,\u201d or the notion that you can \u201cpray away the gay,\u201d in their programs.\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
This week, Chambers issued\u00a0an apology<\/a>\u00a0to the LGBT community, saying he never saw it as the \u201cenemy.\u201d<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
\n
\u201cI am sorry I didn\u2019t stand up to people publicly \u2018on my side\u2019 who called you names like sodomite\u2014or worse. I am sorry that I, knowing some of you so well, failed to share publicly that the gay and lesbian people I know were every bit as capable of being amazing parents as the straight people that I know. I am sorry that when I celebrated a person coming to Christ and surrendering their sexuality to Him, I callously celebrated the end of relationships that broke your heart. I am sorry I have communicated that you and your families are less than me and mine.\u00a0<\/span>\u201cMore than anything, I am sorry that so many have interpreted this\u00a0<\/span>religious<\/span>rejection by Christians as God\u2019s rejection.\u00a0 I am profoundly sorry that many have walked away from their faith and that some have chosen to end their lives.<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Read the rest here\u00a0<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u201cI long for the day when a gay or lesbian kid feels like the first place, the best place, to call or go for help is the church,\u201d\u00a0said\u00a0Exodus leader Alan Chambers, in his opening remarks at the ex-gay ministry\u2019s 38th annual convention in Irvine, Calif., Wednesday night.\u00a0 To the ears of most gay, lesbian, bisexual […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1361","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\nExodus "Ex-Gay" Ministry Closes Up Shop<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\""I long for the day when a gay or lesbian kid feels like the first place, the best place, to call or go for help is the church," said Exodus\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, 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