Queer Quote: Ex-Gay Org Head Alan Chambers Apologizes

Alan Chambers is the longtime head of Exodus International, the oldest and largest "ex-gay" organization which for decades has insisted on a promoting a "religious ministry" that it could heal homosexual and turn them straight. Yesterday, at the annual conference of Exodus, Chambers issued an astonishing apology for his actions harming the LGBT community and later announced that Exodus itself would shut down.

An excerpt from Chambers' (somewhat long) apology for three decades of preaching "gay=sin" is today's Queer Quote:

Please know that I am deeply sorry. I am sorry for the pain and hurt many of you have experienced. I am sorry that some of you spent years working through the shame and guilt you felt 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 that there were times 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 that I callously celebrated the end of relationships that broke your heart. I am sorry that I have communicated that you and your families are less than me and mine.

It occurs to me that it is interesting that just as we wait to see if the expected advances in LGBT equality materialize at the Supreme Court, one of the key bulwarks of the anti-gay movement impeding that progress is going to be going away.