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WATCH: 'Hardball' on the 'Ex-Gay' Movement

WATCH: 'Hardball' on the 'Ex-Gay' Movement

Hardballbesen

Host Chris Matthews and guests Wayne Besen and Laura Berman are glad the movement's diminishing.

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MSNBC's Hardball With Chris Matthews had gay activist Wayne Besen of Truth Wins Out and psychotherapist Laura Berman as guests Friday to discuss the shutdown of Exodus International and the harm done by so-called reparative therapy, aimed at turning gay people straight.

Both the host and his guests denounced such therapy as wrongheaded and harmful, and lauded the progress toward LGBT equality in the U.S., which much remains to be done. "Today, it's gone beyond tolerance to acceptance," said Matthews. Added Besen: "Equality is an unstoppable train." See video of the segment below.

Meanwhile, Exodus leader Alan Chambers, who has apologized for promoting reparative therapy, told The Christian Science Monitor, in an article published Saturday, that the successor organization to Exodus will offer a place "where people can come together who have different opinions, and different worldviews, to talk about really complex issues," such as bullying and harassment.

Exodus's renunciation of reparative therapy hasn't set well with all conservative Christians, and some continue to endorse it. "The ex-gay movement has nothing to apologize for," said Peter Sprigg of the antigay Family Research Council in a statement to the Monitor. "The message that 'change is possible' is a modest one. It does not mean that change is easy, nor that change is mandatory. But to apologize for saying 'change is possible' is to deny both human freedom and the transforming power of the gospel of Christ."

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Trudy Ring

Trudy Ring is The Advocate’s senior politics editor and copy chief. She has been a reporter and editor for daily newspapers and LGBTQ+ weeklies/monthlies, trade magazines, and reference books. She is a political junkie who thinks even the wonkiest details are fascinating, and she always loves to see political candidates who are groundbreaking in some way. She enjoys writing about other topics as well, including religion (she’s interested in what people believe and why), literature, theater, and film. Trudy is a proud “old movie weirdo” and loves the Hollywood films of the 1930s and ’40s above all others. Other interests include classic rock music (Bruce Springsteen rules!) and history. Oh, and she was a Jeopardy! contestant back in 1998 and won two games. Not up there with Amy Schneider, but Trudy still takes pride in this achievement.
Trudy Ring is The Advocate’s senior politics editor and copy chief. She has been a reporter and editor for daily newspapers and LGBTQ+ weeklies/monthlies, trade magazines, and reference books. She is a political junkie who thinks even the wonkiest details are fascinating, and she always loves to see political candidates who are groundbreaking in some way. She enjoys writing about other topics as well, including religion (she’s interested in what people believe and why), literature, theater, and film. Trudy is a proud “old movie weirdo” and loves the Hollywood films of the 1930s and ’40s above all others. Other interests include classic rock music (Bruce Springsteen rules!) and history. Oh, and she was a Jeopardy! contestant back in 1998 and won two games. Not up there with Amy Schneider, but Trudy still takes pride in this achievement.