Gay Conversion Therapy Leader Comes Out As Gay!

Years after founding one of the nation’s biggest gay conversion therapy ministries, McKrae Game is ready to tell the world he’s very much a homosexual.

According to Post and Courier, the Hope for Wholeness founder came out of the closet earlier this summer, nearly two years after he was fired from the conversion therapy program he helped start.

The South Carolina man is now trying to find his place in a community he condemned as evil for the past 20 years, all while he comes to terms with the turmoil he inflicted on the many people he attempted to turn straight — including himself.

Game, now 51, was born and raised in a Southern Baptist household in Spartanburg. He said he started realizing his attraction to other boys by age 11, but repressed his urges until he turned 18.

At that time, he moved into a duplex across the street from where his mother lived. By the grace of God, a gay man who was about 20 years older moved into the adjoining apartment. The two became close, and soon developed a discreet, intimate relationship with each other.

After giving into temptation, Game came out to a small group of people. For a little over three years, he frequented one of the area’s only gay bars, where he talked to people whose stories sounded a lot like his.

While his spirit was ready to live that out-and-proud life, Game’s religious upbringing held him back — and gave him debilitating anxiety. He recalled:

“I was having ongoing panic attacks, and I had never experienced that before. Emotionally, I was freaking out. I was crying. I was internally pained… My brain was telling me ‘you’re going in the wrong direction.’ But my body was telling me otherwise.”

[R. Kelly joke redacted.]

Eventually, Game sought therapy at the urging of his mother, where he was told he was drawn to male attention because his father had not been invested enough in him as a child. This caused the conflicted man to develop a philosophy that would become the centerpiece of his ministry: if one determined the cause of someone’s attractions, one could learn to correct it.

Obviously, that’s a load of bulls**t. Being gay isn’t a symptom.

And, yes, one technically can spend a lifetime attempting to repress one’s same-sex attractions — but after a certain point, it’s like…

That’s exactly what Game learned after all these years.

Now with clear, openly gay eyes, he’s become the latest former conversion therapy advocate to condemn the practice as dangerous and misleading. He told the outlet:

“Conversion therapy is not just a lie, but it’s very harmful. Because it’s false advertising.”

Umm… no duh!

In 1999, Game developed a curriculum that teaches same-sex attraction is a multi-casual developmental disorder. Gross. He called the curriculum Hope for Wholeness — which led to an organization that, even today, is used by conversion therapy providers across at least 15 states.

Estimating how the group has counseled thousands of people over the years, Game said:

“I created it all. We have harmed generations of people.”

That said, Game was prepared to receive backlash when he came out in June. He told the paper he still gets angry messages on Facebook from people who say they were traumatized by the organization he founded — not to mention, some hate on gay dating apps from critics who claim he doesn’t “deserve” an out and proud life after endorsing conversion therapy for decades.

Overall, though, Game said most people in the LGBT community have been “ridiculously kind” to him, adding:

“[They are] liking me for me now and not who I was. And I hope they just give me the chance to talk to them so I can hear them out and apologize.”

Game, who married his wife Julie (sry, girl) in 1996 and has two now-adult children with her, said he realizes he’ll probably be apologizing for the rest of his life.

Sounds like he’s finally on the road to atonement!