Founder of Conversion Therapy Organization apologizes and comes out

McKrae Game, in a lengthy post on Facebook, apologized for the harm caused by his conversion therapy work. According to NewNowNext, Game came out as gay in June.

In 1999, Game founded a conversion therapy organization in South Carolina called Hope for Wholeness, as reported by The Hill. Using Facebook, he apologized for hurting others and weaponizing guilt and shame. In his post, he stated:

“…I certainly regret where I caused harm. 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. Promoting the triadic model that blamed parents and conversion or prayer therapy, that made many people believe that their orientation was wrong, bad, sinful, evil, and worse, that they could change, was absolutely harmful.”

He hopes that through talking to others and sharing his story, he can help right some of the wrongs and pain he caused others. In his post, he explained that he plans to rewrite his Transparent Life book and reach out to past participants of his organization.

Unfortunately, Hope for Wholeness still exists, and conversion therapy is still legal in many states around the U.S. It is an incredibly harmful practice denounced by medical associations like the American Academy of Pediatrics and the American Medical Association. However, The Human Rights Campaign reports that more cities are beginning to outlaw this practice.

Just recently Colorado became the 18th state to ban conversion therapy. It took four years for the bill to pass, as it was introduced in 2015 and every legislative session since. Hopefully, more cities and states can continue to protect the LGBTQ community from the abuse and harm of conversion therapy.