July, 11, 2013
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"Part of our decision was, 'We're going out of business so the Church can do its job,' so I see this as an opportunity," Chambers said in an interview with CBN.
"It's too much for any one person or any one organization to bear to be the entity that owns the religious or Christian response to this issue."
Chambers, who explained the decision to shut down Exodus International in a statement posted on the ex-gay ministry’s website last month, believes that he could have been more honest with others.
"I think we set people up for unrealistic expectations," Chambers stated. "As I look back over the course of 22 years at Exodus and 12 in leadership, I wish we'd been a whole lot more honest. I wish we had shared the depth and complexity of our stories."
In light of the ex-gay ministry’s closing and his own personal temptations, Chambers insists that he has a wonderful marriage.
"I have an amazing marriage even in the reality of temptations and struggle and attractions that are still there," he said. "I think we've tried far too often to minimize that discussion and it's hurt people in the process and I am sorry for that."
Peter Sprigg, a senior fellow for Policy Studies at the Family Research Council, has a slightly different view of ex-gay ministries such as Exodus International.
"I don't think anyone in the ex-gay movement has anything to apologize for," Sprigg said. "The overall message of the ex-gay movement, 'change is possible,' is a very modest statement."
Sprigg went to explain that LGBT activists are hostile towards ex-gay ministries because they are attempting to persuade the public that it is impossible to change from homosexual to heterosexual.
"They have to persuade people that people are born gay and can never change," Sprigg said. "That's why they are so hostile to the ex-gay movement. It seriously undermines one of the presuppositions of their political movement."