Exodus No Longer Exists, But The Destructive Legacy Remains
We announced the closing Of Exodus 11 years ago but conversion therapy, especially in its ex-gay form, is stronger than ever.
Wow. I can't believe how the past month has taken over every facet of my life! Mostly good things like the book launch of WHY, traveling to Hollywood, doing interviews, GREAT conversations with people who have read the book already, making new friends, and networking with like (and open) minded folks. Life-moments galore. Check out my socials @rrscobey for photo updates and whatnot if interested to see more :)
This morning, I was shocked to remember that we are a day away (6/19/13) from the eleventh anniversary of our announcement that we were closing Exodus.
It's still the best and worst day of my life. I celebrate each anniversary! Shutting Exodus down was the right thing to do on so many levels.
Yet, the threat of conversion therapy remains and is exponentially larger.
Last December, the Trevor Project issued a report on conversion therapy. These numbers are alarming:
The Trevor Project identified more than 1,320 conversion therapy practitioners across 48 U.S. states and the District of Columbia, including 605 (46%) who hold active professional licenses and 716 (54%) operating in a ministerial or religious capacity.
Of course, Exodus was the big dog on the block eleven years ago, with 251 member agencies (professionals, peer support groups, counselors) at its height. Still, there were other conversion therapy groups and networks not affiliated with Exodus.
Regardless, those recent numbers from the Trevor Project are shocking to me. The largest number of counselors with professional licenses in the Exodus network was 30+. Today, there are 605 professional counselors in the United States that we know of! The church closet's gilded cage (financing) is shielding at least 716 ex-gay ministries.
And these are just the ones in the United States. What to do?
Sure, we could and should lobby hard to have state licensing boards refuse licenses to counselors who think that conversion therapy or any SOCE (sexual orientation change efforts) is a healthy and realistic (it is neither) goal.
We could and should go after ex-gay non-profit organizations with 501(c3) status. I guarantee their articles of incorporation/by-laws do NOT say their goal is to do conversion therapy as an ex-gay ministry. Given that every professional mental health organization has condemned the practice and that it is illegal to do conversion therapy in many places, it's in the state's best interest to revoke the 501(c3) status of non-profits whose only revenue comes from this potential deadly ideology and not allow ex-gay ministries to raise money tax-free with boilerplate church by-laws.
But honestly, the above two points don't matter in the end unless and until we start changing hearts and minds in the church to see that the conservative evangelical view/theology concerning LGBTQ+ people is stigmatizing and not God's will or reality. Yes, make the above two points happen, but don't forget that those aren't the final goal; changing hearts and minds are the final goal to shutting down exgay conversion programs.
You can point to a person or organization doing these things, go after them, and shut them down, but they will reappear elsewhere or be immediately replaced by others willing to step into those roles.
The deadly villain is the spiritual covid being transmitted through toxic church teachings. Groups and people might be carriers of the spiritual virus, but it is toxic LGBTQ+ theology that always causes pain, sickness, and sometimes death; the true villain is the theology that empowers all these conversion therapy efforts. Without addressing that, we are only working in a garden of weeds.
Pull a few weeds here; four more pop up over there. All the while, what is supposed to be growing to give life and nourishment to LGBTQ+ people is being choked out by shame and robbed of what we need to thrive.
All of us who have made it out of that cult need to keep speaking up and sharing our stories through print, video, podcasts, and more—all of it. We must do so with courage, grace, wisdom, and compassion for those still held hostage by this self-stigmatizing worldview.
Those who were never a part of this systemic bigotry, please don't ignore the plight of those who are still trapped in the church closet. If you know the truth, speak it. It will bring life and counter this form of spiritual covid.
Love wins when we give voice to it.
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