Nine former leaders of the 'ex-gay'
movement on Thursday published a joint letter denouncing conversion
therapy as “ineffective and harmful.”
Such therapies “profess to lesbian,
gay, bisexual and transgender people to change or overcome their
orientation or gender identity,” the
letter reads. “The majority of those who practice this
'therapy' often do so with little or no formal psychological
training, operating instead from a strict religious perspective
believing homosexuality to be a 'sin.'”
“We once believed that sexual
orientation or gender identity were somehow chosen or could be
changed. We know better now.”
“Looking back, we were just believing
(and sometimes teaching) what we had been taught – that our
identity needed mending. We grew up being told that being LGBT was
disordered, sick, mentally ill, sinful, and displeasing to God. We
grew up being told that loving, same-sex relationships were shallow,
lust-driven, deceived, disordered, and impossible.”
The letter was signed by Brad Allen,
former church network coordinator for Exodus International; Darlene
Bogle, founder and former director of Paraklete Ministries; Michael
Bussee, co-founder of Exodus International; Catherine Chapman, former
Women's Ministry director for the Portland Fellowship; Jeremy Marks,
founder of Courage UK and Exodus Europe; Bill Prickett, founder and
former executive director of Coming Back; Tim Rymel, former outreach
director of Love in Action; Yvette Cantu Schneider, former executive
director of Living in Victory Ministry and director of women's
ministry for Exodus International; and John J. Smid, former executive
director of Love In Action and board member for Exodus International.
Earlier this week, Schneider said in an
interview that she questioned
the therapy long before she left the movement.
“We now stand united in our
conviction that conversion therapy is not “therapy,” but is
instead both ineffective and harmful. We align ourselves with every
major mainstream professional medical and mental health organization
in denouncing attempts to change sexual orientation or gender
identity. We admonish parents to love and accept your LGBT children
as they are. We beseech the church to accept, embrace, and affirm
LGBT persons with full equality and inclusion.”
“We join together in calling for a
ban on conversion therapy,” the group added, before endorsing the
National Center for Lesbian Rights' (NCLR) #BornPerfect campaign to
end conversion therapy in five years.
“We are committed to protecting LGBT
children and their families from the severe harms caused by these
dangerous practices,” NCLR Executive Director Kate Kendell said in
a statement. “These practices have been thoroughly discredited by
every major mental health organization, and yet, every day, young
lives are wrecked. We intend to stop the practices once and for
all.”