Rogue Retreat denies links to gay conversion therapy

Jun. 11—Rogue Retreat, a major provider of services to homeless people, is denying accusations from activist groups that it has ties to gay conversion therapy.

As recently as 2018, the groups say, Set Free Ministry in Medford was distributing pamphlets for people with same-sex attraction to join support groups to get "God's help for victory over our compulsive desires while examining and admitting our part in our sinful past."

Chad McComas is both the executive director of Rogue Retreat and pastor of Set Free Ministry. Set Free Ministry helped found Rogue Retreat in the 1990s.

A wide range of medical and psychological organizations have denounced gay conversion therapy as harmful. Research shows people who undergo the discredited "treatment" are at greater risk of suicide. Oregon law protects youths from conversion therapy.

The allegations made this week prompted the city of Medford to announce Friday it has paused city grant funding to Set Free Ministry. The city gave the church a grant in 2021 for services such as showers for homeless people and a food pantry.

"The city has asked the Rogue Retreat Board to conduct a full and objective investigation of these allegations," Medford officials said in a press release.

City officials said Set Free Ministry shares some personnel with Rogue Retreat, but the two organizations are separate organizations legally and functionally. Rogue Retreat offers several programs that receive city government support through funding and use of property, including the Hope Village site with tiny houses, an urban campground and a soon-to-open navigation center. Operational agreements for the programs include nondiscrimination provisions, city officials said.

"For all of these programs, the city expects that no person shall be turned away based upon LGBTQIA+ identity, race, gender, religion and all other protected classes, and no person shall be required to participate in religious services," the city said.

Set Free Ministry allowed the Celebrate Recovery program to hold meetings at its building, said Rogue Retreat Development Director Matthew Vorderstrasse.

Celebrate Recovery is a national religious program meant to help people overcome what it calls addictive behavior. It no longer advertises support groups for people with same-sex attraction on its website, but does offer faith-based programs for issues that include eating disorders, drug and alcohol addiction and combat-related post-traumatic stress disorder.

Celebrate Recovery cautions that its programs are not a substitute for medical care or professional therapy.

Rogue Retreat issued a statement this week saying that it is separate from Set Free Ministry and isn't associated with the leadership of Celebrate Recovery in any way.

"Rogue Retreat is not a faith-based organization and does not promote or support conversion therapy nor do we require any religious affiliation for services," Rogue Retreat said.

Back in 2018, a concerned community member wrote a letter to McComas asking him if he was aware of a same-sex attraction pamphlet being distributed by Celebrate Recovery at Set Free Ministry. The person said a friend had received the pamphlet, "Same Sex Attraction: The Problem and Solution for Men," and found it to be deeply disturbing.

The person wrote that the information in the pamphlet has been thoroughly debunked and conversion therapy can lead to depression, isolation and self-harm, according to a copy of the letter included in a 26-page report by the environmental group Siskiyou Rising Tide and Siskiyou Abolition Project, which advocates for an end to prisons, policing and white supremacy.

McComas wrote back to say Celebrate Recovery is a worldwide movement to help people caught up in addiction.

"I'm sorry you don't agree with the materials your friend received, but as you can see we are in harmony with the overall program. We have been running our Celebrate Recovery program for 20 years and have seen God do amazing miracles with literally 100's if not 1000's of people over time," McComas wrote.

The same-sex attraction pamphlet is no longer on Celebrate Recovery's national website, but copies remain on the internet that were posted by churches around the country.

The pamphlet said gayness is caused by a lack of love from a father or other male role model. The unmet needs become sexualized during puberty, Celebrate Recovery claimed.

Research shows parenting styles don't cause people to become gay.

The Celebrate Recovery pamphlet says symptoms of same-sex attraction include not feeling manly, having more female friends than males, craving male friendship, not being able to take "good-natured kidding or joking from other men," feeling misunderstood, having self-doubts and regrets, being very religious or having a strong social consciousness, fantasies about or sex acts with men and overcompensating by "overachieving in school, career, profession, hobby, or wife's interests."

The pamphlet said men with same-sex attraction are caught in a "cycle of sexual confusion and bondage."

For women, a Celebrate Recovery pamphlet still circulating on the internet said same-sex relationships are triggered by child abuse, a lack of connections to parents or the belief that men are more valuable than women.

"We knew it was wrong but became trapped in the dirty bandages that held our two wounded hearts together," the pamphlet said of same-sex relationships among women. "We were frozen with fear and stuck in sinful relationships, not knowing how to get out of them and make things right with Christ."

Symptoms of same-sex attraction in women include being interested in "male-dominated sports, hobbies and careers," the pamphlet said.

McComas said many different groups distribute information or provide services at Set Free Ministry's property. Some people might take offense at the nonprofit group Max's Mission handing out free drug overdose antidote kits, for example, or other organizations signing people up for government-funded benefits, he said.

In an interview with the Mail Tribune, McComas declined to state his views on homosexuality.

Earlier this week, a television station quoted him as saying he believes in the Bible and therefore believes homosexuality is a sin. McComas said he doesn't let his personal beliefs influence how he treats people.

Talking with the Mail Tribune, McComas said, "I have different hats. I have one hat as executive director of Rogue Retreat, and I have thinking that I do there. I have a hat as pastor of Set Free, and I have thinking and beliefs there. But I also have personal beliefs. My personal beliefs do not affect my corporate hat at Rogue Retreat. To try and discredit me personally is not fair to Rogue Retreat."

McComas said the activists are attacking him but have provided no evidence of Rogue Retreat discriminating against anybody for their sexual orientation.

"It's OK to make an accusation. But there's no teeth in it if you don't have testimony. If you can find anyone in our program, past or current, who has any concerns about what we're doing, I would listen to that. But they're not there," he said.

The 26-page report by the activist groups didn't include any quotes or information from LGBTQ+ homeless people saying they faced discrimination from Rogue Retreat because of their sexual identity.

"I don't think I've heard that specifically from anyone in regards to Rogue Retreat staff," said Maig Tinnin of Sisikyou Rising Tide, one of the activist groups.

The report did quote some people who said they were uncomfortable knowing McComas is connected to both Rogue Retreat and Set Free Ministry.

"You've got people in the street in Medford whose only option for showers and laundry are homophobic churches," the report quoted formerly homeless person Trinity Shaw-Stewart as saying. "The pastor runs the shelter system. How are gay and trans folks going to be treated by a nonprofit whose director believes their identity is a sin and a 'choice'? It shouldn't be hard to understand how this makes queer and unhoused people struggle to get services and shelter."

Tinnin said many churches in the Rogue Valley believe homosexuality is a sin. But Tinnin said McComas' beliefs are an issue for public discussion because Rogue Retreat receives millions of dollars in local and state funding and has a great deal of power over local services for homeless people.

That represents a dangerous blurring of the line between government and religion, the activist groups said in their report.

Tinnin said homeless people may not feel safe about coming forward to say whether Rogue Retreat discriminated against them.

"We have very vulnerable people with limited options. Part of the dynamic when it comes to issues of inequity is people don't feel empowered to speak up," Tinnin said.

McComas said Rogue Retreat has staff members of various sexual orientations, and the Set Free Ministry church has diverse members in its congregation, too.

Vorderstrasse, Rogue Retreat's development director, said Rogue Retreat treats everyone equitably.

"As a person myself who works here, 90% of our staff would not work for Rogue Retreat if conversion therapy or anything like that was happening here. We're here for the people," Vorderstrasse said.

In their report, the activist groups said Rogue Retreat's urban campground, an organized site in Medford with tents and services for homeless people, is part of an effort to criminalize homelessness.

A court ruling bars cities from kicking homeless people out of parks and other spaces if there is no shelter space available.

The activist groups said cities open sanctioned campgrounds for homeless people, then step up enforcement against people who can't or won't use the campgrounds.

Vorderstrasse said Rogue Retreat's urban campground is a step in the right direction, not a ploy. He said it's not safe for homeless people to be camping along the Bear Creek Greenway, where a cooking fire could escape and wipe out thousands of homes in the Rogue Valley.

"There's a middle ground we need to walk where we can provide a safe place for people to go to, but we also have to think about the overall community and the housing inventory we protect by having a managed campground and not having people on the Greenway," Vorderstrasse said.

The 2020 Almeda fire that started in an Ashland neighborhood and burned along the Greenway, I-5 and Highway 99 corridor destroyed more than 2,600 homes and businesses.

McComas said homeless people deserve better than having to sleep on the streets or the Greenway.

"They deserve to sleep in a place with a porta-potty or a flushing toilet with access to a shower. They deserve to have clean clothes. They deserve to feel safe and not wonder if someone's going to beat them up in the middle of the night. The women deserve not to have to be scared to death every single night that somebody's going to try and assault them," he said. "Once they get in the campground, they can sleep again at night — because they haven't been able to do that."

The criticism against Rogue Retreat comes at a critical time for funding.

The state is deciding how to allocate hundreds of millions of dollars in marijuana tax revenue to groups that provide support services for people facing addiction.

Rogue Retreat has been a past recipient of a much smaller pool of statewide funding and used the money to keep operating its urban campground and indoor Kelly Shelter. It's applying for more money from the much larger pool.

Vorderstrasse said the activist groups' accusations against Rogue Retreat could hurt its ability to win government funding and get community donations.

"If Rogue Retreat were to get de-funded, what group in the community is going to step in and take care of these 500-plus people that we shelter each night? That's what I want the community to actually think about," he said. "This type of targeted attack doesn't help the individuals they're trying to protect."

Reach Mail Tribune reporter Vickie Aldous at 541-776-4486 or valdous@rosebudmedia.com. Follow her on Twitter @VickieAldous.