Gospel Singer Donnie McClurkin Accused Of Leading "Gay Cure Cult"
Gospel singer Donnie McClurkin is being accused of running a gay conversion group, according to one of his purported victims.
After news of a Toronto psychiatrist having sex with a young male patient he was attempting to cure of homosexuality surfaced, a Twitter user accused McClurkin of being connected to Exodus International, an ex-gay organization that's shuttered its U.S operations but continues overseas.
"In the '90s Donnie McClurkin formed a religious gay cure cult," wrote Achmat X in a series of tweets. "My mom naively enrolled me."
He claims the group's leaders "took advantage" of the young members, and that he lost his virginity while in treatment there. "The sad part about this is when I told my parents about the abuse, Exodus kicked me out. They told my parents that I wanted to be gay and that I resisted God’s help."
Achmat added that while he never had to undergo electric shock or other physical torture, "the sexual and mental abuse was no less violent and has had life long consequences."
McClurkin, a multiple Grammy winner with more than 10 million albums sold worldwide, claims to have been cured of homosexuality himself. He pinned his same-sex attractions on being molested by an uncle as a boy.
“I was not born with these sexual tendencies. It wasn’t chromosomal and had nothing to do with my DNA,” he wrote in 2002. “These tendencies surfaced because a broken man thrust an 8-year-old boy into this whirlwind. Thus, my first sexual relationship was with a man. Before I could ever know the purpose or pleasure of a woman, have my first date or even my first kiss, the wound was inflicted, and the seed was planted.”
The 58-year-old singer thanked prayer and the power of God for his "change," as well as women in his church who told him to sing lower and keep his hands at his side in order to appear more masculine. To people who don't want to or think they cannot change their orientation, he said, "I’ve been through this and have experienced God’s power to change my lifestyle. I am delivered and I know God can deliver others, too."
McClurkin has not responded to the recent accusations.