5 Former Ex-Gay Leaders Who Have Now Come Out
Five former ex-gay advocates who have turned their back on the horrific process
This week, we spoke with Alan Chambers, former president of Exodus International — an organization that told gay people they needed to change their sexuality through “ex-gay” therapy. Chambers shut down Exodus in 2013, came out as gay, and has since advocated against using therapy to try and “cure” sexuality. With that in mind, here’s a list of five other former ex-gay advocates who came out and turned their back on the horrific process.
Michael Bussee and Gary Cooper
Came out: 1979
Co-founders of Exodus International, they left the ex-gay organisation and were together for 11 years until Cooper’s death.
John Smid
Came out: 2011
Said he’d “never met a man who experienced a change from homosexual to heterosexual.”
John Paulk
Came out: 2013
Confronted in a D.C. gay bar in 2000, Paulk waited 13 years to renounce ex-gay therapy and divorce his wife.
Christian Schizzel
Came out: 2014
An ex-gay poster boy, he renounced the practice after seven years.
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