Christian Ministry Apologizes To LGBT Community And Halts Operations

Exodus International has, for nearly 40 years, offered a "cure" for gay people. Now, they realize how many people they have hurt trying to do the impossible, and their president, Alan Chambers, admits that he still has homosexual feelings, but omitted that, in his "ministry".

Exodus Halts Operations and Apologizes to the LGBT Community

The closure comes less than a day after Exodus released a statement apologizing to the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community for years of undue judgment, by the organization and from the Christian Church as a whole.
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Chambers isn't the only Exodus member who is sorry. In April, John Paulk, former chairman of Exodus and the co-author of "Love Won Out: How God's Love Helped Two People Leave Homosexuality and Find Each Other," renounced his past involvement in the "ex-gay movement," and expressed remorse for his actions.

Chambers' Statement: We're Sorry!

“It is strange to be someone who has both been hurt by the Church’s treatment of the LGBTQ community, and also to be someone who must apologize for being part of the very system of ignorance that perpetuated that hurt,” said Chambers. “Today it is as if I’ve just woken up to a greater sense of how painful it is to be a sinner in the hands of an angry church.”
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“I am sorry for the pain and hurt that many of you have experienced. I am sorry some of you spent years working through the shame and guilt when your attractions didn’t change. I am sorry we promoted sexual orientation change efforts and reparative theories about sexual orientation that stigmatized parents.

“I am sorry I didn’t stand up to people publicly ‘on my side’ who called you names like sodomite—or 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.

I think this is wonderful. Not only will his organization shut down and showing everyone that they no longer believe their original message (Pray Away the Gay), but people of the LGBT community will have a better sense that they are not being rejected by God, but by judgmental people, in the name of Christianity.

Tonight, Our America with Lisa Ling will present a program on OWN where she interviews Exodus International president, Alan Chambers.

In a special episode, Lisa Ling is joined by a group of survivors of the condemned and damaging practice of "reparative therapy" as they confront Alan Chambers.

Tune in Thursday, June 20th at 10/9c for this special presentation and watch a sneak peek now.

Good for them, I hope other Religious institutions follow suit and get with the times.
I do wonder If though they have realised that in 10/20 years If they had not done this they wouldn't have a religion to follow because everyone is rejecting it.
Like I said in another post you gotta move with the times and adapt to be able to carry on.
S&F BH you just made my day

reply to post by Benevolent Heretic


Jesus said it best "those who have not sinned may cast the first stone"

and im not even Christian

S&F.

Well that's a heck of an about face! Got to wonder what precipitated this beyond the upfront statements..

Very good news! You don't get to pick who you love.

IF LGBT was a thing you could turn off like a switch, a conscious decision you could make, most of the LGBT of my generation I know would probably have punched out of it long ago, especially in light of the hate, the harassment, and the rejection by family and so-called friends.

But it isn't.

reply to post by Benevolent Heretic


It's about time! This is the same group that went overseas to promote the "Kill the Gays" Bill in Uganda!

A mere year and three months after Uganda’s introduction of the Kill The Gays bill, ex-gay group Exodus International’s president Alan Chambers has finally issued an apology for his group’s involvement. The gist: Exodus has too many members to ever know what the hell they’re doing, and that they would have clarified their position long ago except that God didn’t tell them to take the complaints of faggots seriously until now. The Lord works in mysterious ways, especially when you have your head up your ass. Chambers’ lame ass apology begins thus:

Criticism is easy to come by at Exodus. We are a large and diverse organization made up of many members. Our growth over the years has caused us to not always know what the hand or foot are doing, which sometimes causes us to look like we are “all butt”.

Full story here: www.queerty.com...

"All butt" !

reply to post by setibuddies

Originally posted by setibuddies
Got to wonder what precipitated this beyond the upfront statements..

I hope to find out more on the show tonight (mentioned in my OP). I have heard that Alan Chambers will be very open about his position and reasoning.

Here's a story of one man, Sean Sala, who will be interviewed:

Gay Iraq War Vet Who Confronted Alan Chambers Takes On Ex-Gay, Inc.

Moments before I was to take my own life, I stared at the closet door in my friend’s room. Behind that door was his loaded gun. In a desperate plea before I was going to end it all, I had flashes of the decade I spent in the Church where I was told I was possessed by demons. Flashbacks of when I was walking into a Sunday service, called a “f**” and was ultimately kicked out of Christian Life Assembly in Carrollton, Texas (under the past leadership and former name) for being gay, and memories of the Exodus International ”Living Waters” program where I was told time and time again that I was molested and that is what lead to me becoming gay.
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When I headed into that church basement in Los Angeles to film the documentary, Alan Chambers apologized. For me though, that apology will not be enough until Exodus agrees to shut down.

I am not religious at all, but I know religion plays a big part in many people's lives, including gay people. To know that so many people will be able to have their religion and not feel that their God has rejected them or that they are obsessed by demons makes me very happy.

Organizations like this, where they put mental pain and suffering on a person to offer a "cure" but then they later on admit that the "cure" wasn't real - they should be arrested.

If this was a "cure" for a deadly disease, then people would know how messed up it is and they would be in deep trouble, but because it was a "cure" for gayness (most) people will not look at it as badly.

reply to post by Benevolent Heretic


'Ex-Gay' Group Activist To Gay Man: Your Homosexuality Caused Your Son's Death

What a classy group!

Jerry, a man married for more than two decades and a father of two, spent years fighting his attraction to other men. He listened to tapes from "ex-gay" group Exodus International and joined an "ex-gay" fellowship in his hometown, hoping the efforts would eliminate his homosexual urges -- but they didn't.

Seven years ago, Jerry came out as a gay man. Though he was free from the struggle of fighting his homosexuality, Jerry's life was marred by tragedy just a few months later when his 26-year-old epileptic son, Billy, passed away from a seizure. "It was devastating for all of us," Jerry says in this video from Lisa Ling's special report on "God & Gays."

When Jerry returned to town for his son's funeral, he was confronted by someone from the "ex-gay" group regarding the cause of Billy's death. "One of the people from Exodus had said to me, 'It was your fault,'" Jerry tells Ling in the video. "He said, 'Well, the Lord took his hand of protection off of your family because you chose the homosexual lifestyle.'"

Well that's a heck of an about face! Got to wonder what precipitated this beyond the upfront statements..

vatican has been doing similar thing in regards to "alien" life...

i think this is part of what some of us refer to as "the new-age agenda"

In raising my own kids, I came to this conclusion: there're two kinds of people in this world, people you can reason with and they'll say, "You know, Mom, you're right. I shouldn't do that.", and people who you can talk blue in the face to but they have to learn the hard way. I think this guy had to learn the hard way.

When you have to learn the hard way (and, really, sometimes we all have to learn something the hard way), you can be hurtful to other people and/or yourself.

At some point, after you've learned the hard way, you might even remember the voices that spoke up to you with reason. If only ... well, it is done. You have to move on, having learned a lesson. At least this guy was able to say he was sorry for what he had done to others and himself.

And this is why we must always speak up, use our Voices to speak truth, reason, say Basta!, because we never know who is listening and might remember it after they've learned the hard way. And this is why there will always be others who want to silence a Voice. It is our job to keep speaking, no matter whose ears hear.

reply to post by UNIT76


Are you saying this is a bad thing? If so, how is apologizing about hurting people bad?

Jeez... some people.

reply to post by desert


no there, are really only two kinds of people. People that second toe starting from the big toe is either 1) longer than the big toe or 2) equal or smaller than the big toe

reply to post by 3NL1GHT3N3D1


with all due respect, those are your words not mine.
what i was "suggesting" is really much "bigger" than that.

reply to post by UNIT76


So apologizing for hurting people is bad in this instance though? Or do you think it's a good thing that they apologized for what they did?

reply to post by Benevolent Heretic


Alan Chambers needs to learn the teachings of Peaches!

Originally posted by charles1952
And yet, the North American Man Boy Love Association is still up and running. Maybe the two sides can make a deal, "We'll shut one of ours if you shut one of yours." How much hurt has NAMBLA created? (Rhetorical)

Well, that's the first time I've seen a pedophile group compared to a fundamentalist Christian group. Excellent - couldn't have done it better myself!

reply to post by kaylaluv

Dear kaylaluv,

Consider that fundamentalist Christian groups are regularly referred to as "retards," "racists," and "Nazis."

Isn't it a step up to compare them to a pedophile group which is trying (with some success) to gain acceptance in the Psychiatric and Legal community?

Who is despised more in the GL (whatever letters, I forget) community, Fundamentalist Christians or those attracted to "younger people?" Just looking for some "equality" here.

If there was such a thing as a trade, which group would you suggest if not NAMBLA?

With respect,
Charles1952

Originally posted by charles1952
reply to post by kaylaluv

 

Dear kaylaluv,

Consider that fundamentalist Christian groups are regularly referred to as "retards," "racists," and "Nazis."

Isn't it a step up to compare them to a pedophile group which is trying (with some success) to gain acceptance in the Psychiatric and Legal community?

Who is despised more in the GL (whatever letters, I forget) community, Fundamentalist Christians or those attracted to "younger people?" Just looking for some "equality" here.

If there was such a thing as a trade, which group would you suggest if not NAMBLA?

With respect,
Charles1952

No, I think it's a perfect comparison actually. Two groups who prey on and victimize innocents. I think they are equally despised by the LGBT community.

In 1994 the Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD) adopted a "Position Statement Regarding NAMBLA" saying GLAAD "deplores the North American Man Boy Love Association's (NAMBLA) goals, which include advocacy for sex between adult men and boys and the removal of legal protections for children. These goals constitute a form of child abuse and are repugnant to GLAAD." Also in 1994 the Board of Directors of the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force (NGLTF) adopted a resolution on NAMBLA that said: "NGLTF condemns all abuse of minors, both sexual and any other kind, perpetrated by adults. Accordingly, NGLTF condemns the organizational goals of NAMBLA and any other such organization."

en.wikipedia.org...

Originally posted by Benevolent Heretic
To know that so many people will be able to have their religion and not feel that their God has rejected them or that they are obsessed by demons ...

For quite some time we’ve been imprisoned in a worldview that’s neither honoring toward our fellow human beings, nor biblical," said Alan Chambers, president of Exodus.

Finally, some Good News. Glory hallelujah! Praise Jesus! Thank You, God!