Former leader of 'ex-gay' Christian ministry arrested for soliciting sex from a minor

Alan Manning Chambers, the leader of a Christian ministry that touted conversion therapy and claimed it could “cure” queerness, has been arrested for soliciting sex from a minor in a police sting.

The former leader of Exodus International was arrested on Tuesday by the Orlando Police Department and charged with solicitation of a minor via computer, sending harmful material to a minor, and illegal use of a two-way communication device, according to Orange County court documents reviewed by The Advocate.

According to an affidavit obtained by local ABC affiliate Channel 9 Orlando News, a detective posing as a 14-year-old boy living in Orlando on Snapchat was contacted via the app by someone claiming to be a 50-year-old man named “John David.” David began messaging the detective’s fake account, later moving the conversation to the encrypted messaging platform Telegram and text messages for several months. The affidavit stated that “David” frequently discussed meeting up and engaging in sexual activity during that time, as well as concerns about their age difference and if he would get in trouble.

Channel 9 Orange News reported that detectives stated “David” suggested meeting up with someone he believed to be a 14-year-old in April, but later said he had been pulled over and could not make the intended time. Instead, “David” suggested that the detective posing as a teen should take an Uber to his office. Investigators connected the “John David” phone number, Telegram account, and Snapchat profile all back to Chambers.

Police stopped him on Tuesday, May 19, and arrested Chambers for the charges. When he was questioned about communicating with a teenager, police said Chambers said he had been talking to a person on Snapchat he believed to be 14-years-old, but would not answer more questions on the matter.

For years, Chambers acted as president of Exodus International, an ex-gay Christian umbrella organization that claimed it could cure homosexuality through conversion therapy. But in 2012, Chambers renounced conversion therapy as an ineffective and inhumane practice. At the time, he apologized for his role in the organization and the proliferation of conversation therapy as a “cure” for queerness.

“I do not believe that cure is a word that is applicable to really any struggle, homosexuality included, for someone to put out a shingle and say, ‘I can cure homosexuality’ — that to me is as bizarre as someone saying they can cure any other common temptation or struggle that anyone faces on Planet Earth,” he told the Associated Press in 2012.

Exodus International shuttered soon after in 2013, closing after nearly 37 years. Chambers went on to make appearances at Pride events, delivering two sermons at the Washington National Cathedral during a Capital Pride celebration in 2016.

This is a developing story.