A US ‘cowboy pastor’ who claims his horse therapy can help gay people become straight is closing his ranch. GSN first exposed ‘conversion therapy’ operations at the Cowboy Church of Virginia and its pastor’s associated ranch in 2012.
Now the pastor Raymond Bell and his wife are ‘ceasing operations’ by August 2021 and selling their herd of horses. Bell is listed as the ‘Cowman’ pastor of the Cowboy Church of Virginia.
Meanwhile he and his wife also run a ranch called Overcoming Adversity Through Silence (OATS). In 2012 he told an undercover GSN journalist he used ‘Equine Assisted Psychotherapy’ (EAP) to teach men to stop being gay and become more masculine.