The Man Behind Hope For Wholeness Conversion Therapy Ministry Comes Out As Gay

The man behind one of the biggest conversion therapy camps in the U.S. has come out as gay and disavowed the practice. In a report Saturday in the Post and Courier, 51-year-old McKrae Game, who led the faith-based conversion therapy group Hope for Wholeness in Spartanburg, South Carolina, spoke about coming out and the damage he feels has done.

“I was a religious zealot that hurt people,” said Game, who had been fired from the organization two years ago. “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?”

Conversion therapy is the now-discredited practice of counseling or ministry meant to eliminate one’s LGBTQ+ personality. While it is still legal across most of the U.S., 18 states and Washington, D.C., have banned conversion therapy on minors.

Game’s ministry began to grow as one of the leading forces in conversion therapy under its original name, Truth Ministry. Under a curriculum Game titled “Hope for Wholeness,” the ministry taught that homosexuality is a multi-casual developmental disorder. It quickly grew as ministries popped up across the U.S. before adopting the curriculum’s name for the ministry in 2013, with locations across 15 states as of 2019.

Prior to the report, Game had come out to a small group in Spartanburg. It culminated when Game, who was raised in a Southern Baptist family, approached the pulpit during a service at a conference for Evangelical Christians.

“I remember walking up to the altar. I look up and there’s probably about 300 people around the stage,” Game told Post and Courier. “Because, in my mind, homosexuality and Christianity didn’t go together, and the very first thought was ‘now I can go to heaven and not hell.’”

His mother then hired the services of a counselor who promised to get to the roots of Game’s sexual attractions. He would meet with the counselor once a week for six years. Game would then meet his wife in 1995 and the couple would raise two children together.

Game did also reveal that they are still together and she knows he is gay.

Despite fear of backlash, Game revealed it has not been as harsh as he was expecting.

“Most people in the gay community have treated me ridiculously kind, liking me for me now and not who I was,” Game said. “And I hope they just give me the chance to talk to them so I can hear them out and apologize.”

Game has joined a growing number of conversion therapy proponents who have left the practice, come out as LGBTQ, and now condemn the practice.

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