Conversion therapy organization founder comes out as gay; Calls practice ‘a lie’

The founder of a faith-based conversion therapy program has come out as gay, adding that his program was built on “a lie” that is “very harmful” to those who participate in it.

McKrae Game came out as gay in June, about two years after being fired from the organization he founded, South Carolina-based Hope for Wholeness, which attempts to use Jesus Christ to fix “the complicated issues of sexual and relational brokenness,” according to their website.

In an interview with the Charleston Post and Courier, Mr. Game confirmed he was gay, said the organization he founded was predicated on “false advertising,” and said he is attempting to right the wrongs of his 20 years with his organization.

“Conversion therapy is not just a lie, but it’s very harmful,” he said. “Because it’s false advertising.”

“I was a religious zealot that hurt people,” Mr. Game added. “People said they attempted suicide over me and the things I said to them. People, I know, are in therapy because of me. Why would I want that to continue?”

Mr. Game said in a Facebook post last week he asked for apologies for being “wrong” about the benefits of conversion therapy and called for “all [ex-gay] ministry and conversion therapy counselors and organizations shut down.”

“The memories aren’t all bad. There’s many good memories. But I certainly regret where I caused harm,” he wrote. “I know that creating the organization that still lives was in a large way causing harm. Creating a catchy slogan that put out a very misleading idea of ’Freedom from homosexuality through Jesus Christ’ was definitely harmful.”

Conversion therapy — which attempts to change a person’s sexual or gender identity — has been denounced by major professional medical groups, including the American Medical Association and the American Psychological Association.

The UCLA’s Williams Institute estimates nearly 700,000 LGBTQ adults have gone through conversion therapy, and can increase the chances of depression, anxiety, drug use, homelessness, and suicide, according to the Human Rights Campaign. 

Practice of conversion therapy on minors has been banned thus far in the District of Columbia as well as 18 states. South Carolina is not among them.