David Matheson is a campaigner known for his previous advocacy of conversion therapy. In 2019, he announced he was divorcing his wife of 34 years and intended to live as a gay man.[1] [2] [3] He previously led the organization Journey into Manhood.[4]
Matheson was an early protege of Joseph Nicolosi, who founded the National Association for Research & Therapy of Homosexuality (NARTH).[1]
Matheson, a Mormon, said "he was not renouncing his religious faith, or the entirety of his work as a conversion therapist, despite dating men. But he did criticise the 'shame-based, homophobic-based system' of his upbringing" in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church).[5] [1] He and his former wife had three children and one grandchild.[6]
Matheson has a master's in counseling and guidance from the LDS Church's largest school Brigham Young University and began full-time practice in New Jersey in 2004. He counseled only men and the goal was always to develop what he called “gender wholeness.”[7]