On Tuesday, May 19, 2026, the Orange County Sheriff’s Office arrested Alan Manning Chambers, 54, of Winter Park, Florida.

Chambers is the former president of Exodus International — the Orlando-based organization that operated from 1976 to 2013 as the flagship of America’s "ex-gay" movement, claiming for decades that prayer and counseling could cure homosexuality. He was the public face of conversion therapy in the United States for years, appearing on national television, testifying before legislatures, and telling gay people — including children — that their identity was sinful, changeable, and incompatible with a life of faith.

In 2013, he shut Exodus International down, stood before its final annual conference, and delivered a nearly hour-long apology to the LGBTQ community for the harm the organization had caused. He acknowledged that he had spent years masking his own attraction to men. He called the ministry’s approach damaging. He said he was "very, very sorry."

Thirteen years later, according to the Orange County Sheriff’s Office, Chambers spent months on Snapchat, text messages, and Telegram communicating with an undercover detective who identified himself as a 14-year-old boy.

What the Affidavit Says

The investigation began in February 2026 when an undercover detective created a Snapchat account and was contacted by a user identifying himself as "John David," a 50-year-old man. Over the following months — from February 10 through May 4 — that user allegedly communicated repeatedly with the person he believed was a 14-year-old boy living in Orlando, discussing meeting and engaging in sexual activity.

According to investigators, Chambers expressed concern multiple times about the age difference and the possibility of getting caught. He deleted communications. He told the detective he didn’t want anyone to find out. He reportedly asked the teenager to take an Uber to meet him near his office.

Investigators connected the accounts to Chambers through a warrant for his Snapchat account, followed by warrants for his Google account and AT&T records. AT&T subpoena records identified the phone number as belonging to the Alan M.L. Chambers Foundation, with a Winter Park billing address affiliated with Exodus International.

On Tuesday morning, detectives conducted a traffic stop on Aloma Avenue and Strathy Lane in Winter Park. During the stop, Chambers confirmed the accounts were his. He acknowledged communicating with someone he believed to be 14. He stopped the interview when asked about the specific nature of the conversations.

He was arrested and booked into the Orange County Jail without bond.

Chambers is charged with solicitation of a minor via computer, transmitting material harmful to a minor, and unlawful use of a two-way communication device.

The Orange County Sheriff’s Office has asked the public to contact them with any information about possible additional victims. He is scheduled to appear before a judge for his first hearing. As of this writing, it is not clear whether Chambers has retained an attorney.

The Legacy of What He Built

Exodus International operated for 37 years across more than 260 affiliated ministries in North America. Its central premise — that homosexuality was a sinful condition that could be changed through prayer, counseling, and commitment to Christian faith — was not a fringe position. It was mainstream evangelical policy, endorsed by major denominations, promoted by prominent pastors, and used to justify legislation targeting LGBTQ people for decades.

The human cost of that premise is documented. LGBTQ leaders who responded to Exodus International’s 2013 closure described a movement that left behind survivors carrying profound shame, lasting psychological damage, and in some cases suicidal ideation. The 2021 Netflix documentary "Pray Away" documented the experiences of conversion therapy survivors in detail — including former Exodus leaders and participants who described years of self-hatred, depression, and emotional devastation produced by the organization’s core message.

Chambers himself acknowledged in 2013 that the ministry had caused "undue suffering." He said the organization had wrongly told people that change was possible and necessary. He called for grace toward LGBTQ people. He said he was sorry.

At the time of his arrest this week, Chambers was working at a clothing store in Winter Park and serving as executive director of the Park Avenue District, a community organization. The Park Avenue District released a statement saying the matter was "unrelated to the organization or its work."

The Pattern That Keeps Repeating

The charges against Chambers are allegations. He is presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law, and the legal process should proceed accordingly.

What does not require a verdict is the pattern — documented, bipartisan, decades long — of prominent anti-LGBTQ figures whose public crusades against gay people turned out to coincide with private behavior they were determined to conceal.

Josh Duggar — former Family Research Council lobbyist who campaigned publicly against LGBTQ rights — was convicted in 2021 of receiving and possessing child sexual abuse material. He was sentenced to more than 12 years in federal prison.

Dennis Hastert — Republican Speaker of the House who championed "family values" legislation and held the gavel during the Defense of Marriage Act era — was revealed to have sexually abused multiple boys during his years as a wrestling coach. He served 13 months in federal prison.

Ted Haggard — evangelical megachurch pastor, founder of the National Association of Evangelicals, and regular White House adviser during the George W. Bush administration who preached against homosexuality — was exposed in a years-long relationship with a male sex worker. He later acknowledged same-sex attraction.

Larry Craig — Republican senator from Idaho who voted consistently against legislation protecting gay rights — was arrested in 2007 for soliciting sex in a Minneapolis airport men’s room from an undercover police officer.

Bob Allen — Florida Republican state representative who co-sponsored an anti-gay bill — was arrested for offering to pay an undercover officer for oral sex in a public park bathroom.

George Rekers — co-founder of the Family Research Council and prominent conversion therapy advocate — was photographed returning from a European vacation with a male escort he had hired through a website called Rentboy.com. He claimed the young man had been hired to help carry his luggage.

The list is not short. It is not limited to one party or one denomination or one era. It spans decades, and it consistently produces the same profile: a person whose public platform is built on the condemnation of LGBTQ people, whose private life contradicts that platform, and who uses the public condemnation as both cover and weapon.

There is a clinical term for the psychological dynamic this represents. There is also a simpler way to say it: the loudest voices in the room are often the ones with the most to hide.

That observation does not prove Chambers guilty of the charges against him. Courts will make that determination.

What it does is place Tuesday’s arrest in a context that is not random, not coincidental, and not new. Conversion therapy caused documented harm to real people for decades — telling them that their identity was broken, sinful, and required fixing. The person who ran the largest such organization in American history has now been arrested for allegedly pursuing a sexual relationship with a 14-year-old boy.

The Orange County Sheriff’s Office said their detectives "stopped a predator before he had the chance to harm a child."

The LGBTQ survivors of Exodus International were not stopped before harm was done to them.

That asymmetry is worth sitting with.