Sexual orientation is not a choice — and it cannot be changed.
"No one changes their orientation; it doesn't happen. No therapy, no ministry, no prayer meeting, no nothing — you cannot change your sexual orientation."
For decades, many churches promoted "ex-gay" ministries — also known as conversion therapy — as the faithful Christian response to gay and bisexual people. This approach rested on the belief that people could essentially choose not to be gay if they worked hard enough, or prayed hard enough.
In 2013, the leading ex-gay organization in the world, Exodus International, closed its doors after its president acknowledged that 99.9% of people he knew had failed to change their sexual orientation. In the years since, Chambers has only grown more absolute: in a 2019 interview, he stated plainly, "No one changes their orientation; it doesn't happen."
Many other former ex-gay leaders — from Michael Bussee to John Paulk to John Smid — have similarly renounced the ex-gay movement and now affirm gay and bisexual Christians.
For generations, gay and bisexual Christians were told their orientation was something to be overcome. That premise has been abandoned even by those who once championed it.
