(New York Post)
Tamar Lapin September 3, 2019 4:50pm
The founder of one of the nation’s largest conversion therapy programs has announced that he’s gay — and disavowed the “harmful” practice.
McKrae Game, who led the faith-based conversion therapy group Hope for Wholeness in South Carolina for nearly two decades, came out of the closet this summer at 51, The Post and Courier reported Saturday.
“Conversion therapy is not just a lie, but it’s very harmful,” Game told paper. “Because it’s false advertising.”
The revelation came two years after Game was abruptly fired from Hope for Wholeness.
In the interview, the former crusader called for the dissolution of conversion therapy groups.
The widely discredited practice, which is intended to suppress or change a person’s sexuality through counseling or religion, is currently banned in 18 states, including New York.
Game said he is trying to come to terms with the harm he inflicted through his program.
“I was a religious zealot that hurt people,” he said. “People said they attempted suicide over me and the things I said to them. People, I know, are in therapy because of me. Why would I want that to continue?”
Game is still married to a woman, Julie Game, who he says knows he is gay.
After coming out, he said he readied himself for intense backlash. He still receives angry Facebook messages from people who say they were traumatized by his program.
In a Facebook post last week, he wrote a lengthy apology, saying: “I WAS WRONG! Please forgive me!”
He told the paper he knows he will likely be apologizing for the rest of his life.
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