The former president of a widely-known anti-LGBTQ organization has been arrested for seeking sex from an undercover deputy posing as a 14-year-old boy, according to the Orange County Sheriff’s Office.
Alan Chambers, 54, of Winter Park was booked in the Orange County Jail Tuesday on charges of soliciting a minor, transmitting material harmful to minors and unlawfully using a two-way communications device. An affidavit obtained from the Sheriff’s Office describes lewd text messages exchanged with the undercover deputy through the social media app Snapchat and later through text-messaging service Telegram.
Chambers led a “pray-away-the-gay” ministry, Exodus International, from 2001 until 2013 when he shut it down and apologized to those he said had been hurt by the organization.
Before his arrest, Chambers was listed as president of the Park Avenue District, the nonprofit organization representing businesses in the downtown Winter Park corridor. He also worked as vice president of operations at John Craig Clothier, a luxury menswear store on Park Avenue. In 2023, Chambers was named “best-dressed booster” by Winter Park Magazine.
According to a sheriff’s office affidavit, from Feb. 10 through May 4, Chambers is accused of repeatedly seeking to meet with a teenager for sex. On Tuesday morning, detectives said they interviewed Chambers during a traffic stop on Aloma Avenue and Strathy Lane, where he confirmed the accounts he was messaging from were his but stopped the interview when he was asked about the conversations.
A Sheriff’s Office spokesperson said investigators are working to find out whether there are other victims. On Wednesday, Chambers was given a $15,000 bond, ordered not to have contact with any minors and prohibited access or use to social media or messaging apps, during a hearing with an Orange County judge.
Chambers helmed the Orlando-based Exodus International as part of the so-called “ex-gay” movement and was a fervent proponent of conversion therapy for LGBTQ people. He also served as associate pastor at Calvary Assembly of God in Orlando until 2005.
He previously said he reached out to the ministry at 19 as he sought to “feel about women the way I felt about men.” He wrote two books about homosexuality, including a supposed “practical guide” in 2009 entitled “Leaving Homosexuality.” His third and most recent release, a 2015 memoir called “My Exodus: From Fear to Grace,” explores his departure from Exodus International.
Exodus International closed its doors after 37 years and a peak of 260 affiliated ministries across North America, with Chambers, a father of two, apologizing to the LGBTQ community for years of “undue suffering and at the hands of the organization and the [Christian] church as a whole.”
John Craig Clothier did not immediately respond to a message seeking comment, but a statement issued by the Park Avenue District said Chambers is “no longer associated with the organization.”
“Out of respect for the legal process, we will not comment further on the specifics of the case,” the statement read. “Our focus remains on continuing to support the Park Avenue community and the many businesses, events, and initiatives that make this district such a special part of Winter Park.”
