Content area
Full Text
ALAN CHAMBERS, the President of Exodus International, a group claiming to change the sexual orientation of homosexuals, sunk in his chair and squirmed as the camera closed in on his crinkled face. There was a quick cutaway to the audience where his fidgety wife, Leslie, looked as if she wanted to run to the nearest fire exit. Sensing the kill, talk show host Montel Williams asked Chambers if his organization could "change" homosexuals into heterosexuals.
"We don't have the ability to change anyone," Chambers said, stumbling into the carefully set trap. Montel pounced, showing a policy statement on Chambers' own website that claimed to "liberate" people from homosexuality. "If we liberate Iraq, we have changed Iraq," Montel scornfully lectured Chambers, who wilted under the scrutiny. Realizing he had tripped over his web of deceit, the ex-gay leader muttered that if Exodus did say it liberated gay people, it was something that he believed should come off the group's website.
It is important to note that Exodus not only promises liberation, it also offers desperate and vulnerable gay people the "freedom to grow into heterosexuality" and "freedom from homosexuality through the power of Jesus Christ." Clearly, a person who wants to become straight has every reason to believe that such an outcome can be achieved by joining Exodus. Like most ex-gay leaders, Chambers plays semantic games so clients can't claim they were ripped off when the miracle cure inevitably fails. Exodus washes its hands of these disillusioned customers by claiming that only God, not their ministry, has the ability to make people straight. They are simply the conduits to reach God; therefore, instead of a beef with Exodus, clients should take their dissatisfaction up with the deity that has apparently abandoned them.
During the same show, a psychiatrist also pointed out that an important component of Exodus is essentially acting lessons to teach men how to become more masculine and women to be more feminine. Caught crossing his legs in an effete manner, an embarrassed Chambers said, "If it [Exodus] teaches you to cross your legs a different way, then I have failed and I am the President." Chambers' embarrassment was justified: a central part of his ministry is re-educating men and women on how to...