Hope for Wholeness, the 21-year-old “ex-gay” therapy network that was once an heir apparent to Exodus International, is shutting down.
NBC News reports: The Spartanburg, South Carolina-based organization, founded in 1999 as Truth Ministries, told members in an email Monday and obtained by NBC News that Hope for Wholeness would be closing its operations, citing the group’s difficulties in retaining a director to lead their efforts. … Hope for Wholeness was originally an offshoot of Exodus International, which, for decades, was the center of the ex-gay movement and had more than 120 ministries in the United States and Canada. Exodus was dissolved in 2013 after the organization’s leader announced at a conference he would resign and apologized to those who spent “years working through the shame and guilt when your attractions didn’t change.” Hope for Wholeness would eventually grow to become one of the nation’s most expansive ex-gay groups — Exodus’ heir apparent — with members and affiliates in at least 15 states.
Hope for Wholeness was founded by McKrae Game, once considered a leading voice in the “ex-gay” therapy movement. Game, who was ousted in 2017 after admitting to watching gay porn, has since disavowed the movement.
Newsweek reports: Game, who publicly came out as gay a year ago, said that he had not fully processed how stifling his former ministry could be until more than a year after he had been fired. “I was very much caught in a cult,” he said. “Ex-gay ministry is very much like a cult. They have their own unique language that no one can understand.” … Any of the organization’s remaining finances will be donated to Abba’s Delight, another ex-gay ministry located in Louisville, Kentucky, to start a new ministry network, according to the board’s email. It is unclear how much money Hope for Wholeness has left, but Game explained that funding is scarce for these organizations.”Ex-gay ministry, especially post-Exodus closing, is not a financially thriving enterprise,” Game said. “It is hanging on by a thin thread.”
Watch an interview with Game from last year below.
