“Ex-gay” activist McKrae Game has
come out as gay and renounced conversion therapy as harmful.
Game's coming out comes after he was
fired by the organization he led for 20 years, Hope for Wholeness,
one of the nation's most expansive conversion therapy ministries. The
goal of Hope for Wholeness is to alter the sexual orientation or
gender identity of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender
individuals. Game was fired in November 2017 for his use of male
pornography.
“Conversion therapy is not just a
lie, but it's very harmful,” Game
told The
Post and Courier. “Because it's false advertising.”
Game, 51, and his wife of 23 years have
two grown children. Game said that his wife Julie knows he's gay.
During a Facebook live event on
Wednesday, Game said that there are people “very angry” at him
for coming out.
LGBT activist Kim Williams, who
appeared on the stream, said that Game “was just as abused and
brainwashed as the people he wanted to save. He was suffering.”
Game has said that he “felt
homosexual” at “around 5 or 6” and enjoyed wearing his sister's
clothes in secret. He underwent conservation therapy for years before
deciding to start his own ministry. After he cheated on his wife with
a man, Game said in 2009 that heterosexuality is like learning to
ride a bike.
“Coming out of homosexuality it's
like trying to learn a bike,” he said. “You're going to fall a
bunch of times. I just kept getting back on the bike and riding.”