Founder of ‘ex-gay’ Freedom March Jeffrey McCall admits to sleeping with men

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“Ex-gay” leader Jeffrey McCall who preaches that Jesus can provide “freedom from homosexual and transgender lifestyles” has admitted that he has still been sleeping with men.

McCall is the founder and CEO of the group Freedom March, which describes itself as “a diverse group of Jesus followers who have been delivered from LGBTQ identities” and holds marches to oppose bans on conversion therapy. He describes himself as both a former “homosexual” and a former transgender woman.

He found fame in “ex-gay” circles after he appeared in the Netflix conversion therapy documentary Pray Away as an example of the movement enduring presence.

Despite his promotion of religion as conversion therapy, McCall made a surprising – or to many, unsurprising – statement recently on his Facebook page.

McCall told his followers that he wanted “to share about my falling short of the glory of God”, and admitted to “giving [his] heart away” to a straight man he was “trying to help”.

He continued: “After denying what I wanted with him I then went on to fall sexually with a man when I felt wounded and lonely. This led to multiple falls with men over time.”

Despite his obvious hypocrisy, McCall insisted that he was still “ex-gay”, and went on: “I am just a peasant who tried to help save peoples eternal lives and point them to Jesus all while going through my own process.

“This falling short of the glory of God is not dictating my future. I have no plans or desires to return to my old life. If anything it makes me never want to fall into that sin ever again.”

var unruly = window.unruly || {}; unruly.native = unruly.native || {}; unruly.native.siteId = 1068722; Jeffrey McCall in Pray Away. (Netflix) Anti-conversion therapy campaigners say Jeffrey McCall is a ‘self-serving con artist’

Jeffrey McCall’s confession has proved, once again, that the type of religious conversion therapy he promotes is both ineffective and harmful. 

McCall is certainly not the only “ex-gay” leader to debunk his own movement, and recent years have seen multiple conversion therapy proponents denounce the practice and finally embrace their own identity. 

Truth Wins Out, an anti-conversion therapy organisation, condemned McCall and Freedom March in a statement.

Executive director Wayne Besen said: “Jeffrey McCall is a self-serving con artist who runs a fraudulent organisation that preys on vulnerable and desperate LGBTQ people who grow up in religious homes.

“If McCall had an ounce of integrity he’d apologise for his rank hypocrisy and shut down his odious Freedom March racket before it ruins more lives.

“McCall’s own actions prove that he has no ability to ‘help’ anyone, starting with himself.”