The 20-year-old male escort hired to accompany ex-gay leader George Rekers on a European vacation says Rekers is gay, the Miami New Times reported.

Rekers, a Baptist minister and board member of the National Association for Research & Therapy of Homosexuality (NARTH), a group that believes gay men and lesbians can – and should – alter their sexuality, has denied he participated in “inappropriate behavior” with Lucien, the prostitute he hired from gay escort website RentBoy.com. Rekers said he hired the escort to “lift his luggage” during the 10-day trip the pair shared.

The Miami New Times broke the story about Rekers' apparent hypocrisy on Tuesday.

On Wednesday, Rekers denied the paper's allegations, saying its authors had “cleverly gave false impressions of inappropriate behavior” in a blog posting.

In a Facebook posting Rekers said that he hired Lucien to “share the Good News of Jesus Christ” with him.

“Contrary to false gossip, innuendo, and slander about me, I do not in any way 'hate' homosexuals, but I seek to lovingly share two types of messages to them, as I did with the young man called 'Lucien' in the news story.”

The two messages, Rekers says in a response to gay blogger Joe My God, are: “It is possible to cease homosexual practices to avoid the unacceptable health risks associated with that behavior” and “the most important decision one can make is to establish a relationship with God for all eternity by trusting in Jesus Christ's sacrifice on the cross for the forgiveness of your sins, including homosexual sins.”

But on Thursday, Times writers Penn Bullock and Brandon K. Thorp returned with a new story after interviewing Lucien, who told them that Rekers is gay.

“It's a situation where he's going against homosexuality when he is a homosexual,” he said.

Lucien said he provided the 61-year-old social conservative daily body rubs in the nude, adding that Rekers liked having his anus rubbed by the younger man.

The story has prompted gay advocates to ask for Rekers' resignation from the ex-gay group NARTH.

“Given the sordid and tawdry facts, he should immediate step down from NARTH's board and apologize to the LGBT community for his extreme hypocrisy and self-loathing,” said Wayne Besen, executive director of Truth Wins Out, a non-profit group that advocates against ex-gay ministries.

“As of today, his entire body of work on LGBT issues in rendered meaningless,” he added.