Inside the Christian ministry accused of disguising conversion therapy as celibacy

This story was originally published by Uncloseted Media, an LGBTQ focused investigative news outlet.This story contains descriptions of suicide and self-harm. If you or someone you know needs support, resources are available here.What Uncloseted’s Investigation Found:Strength in Weakness (SIW) says it does not practice conversion therapy. But 24 former participants and people close to the ministry described teachings centered on suppressing LGBTQ identity and behavior through celibacy, heterosexual relationships and lifelong resistance to same-sex attraction.The ministry has a global reach. SIW says it has worked with thousands of people across 58 countries, while Uncloseted Media identified appearances by the ministry’s founder, Guy Hammond, in at least 31 U.S. states and 20 other countries.Former participants describe serious harm. Survivors of SIW told Uncloseted they experienced shame, isolation, depression and suicidal thoughts while following SIW’s teachings; one former participant died by suicide after leaving the ministry.SIW continues operating even where conversion therapy is banned. Experts say its religious framing and rejection of promises to make people straight have helped it avoid the scrutiny faced by more traditional conversion therapy programs.At 17 years old, Sami Tacher remembers standing atop a parking garage outside Seattle and staring down at the pavement.They had been trying for five years to suppress their attraction to men. At 15, Tacher had found Strength in Weakness, a Christian ministry that purported to teach people experiencing “same-sex attraction” how to resist those desires. To Tacher, who had grown up believing that being gay would destroy their relationship with God and devastate their family, SIW felt like an answer.Two years later, Tacher says, they could no longer imagine how they were supposed to live the rest of their life.“I just stood up there and waited,” Tacher told Uncloseted Media. “I went there several