Shadix Appeared In TWO Video Condemning Ex-Gay Therapy

NEW YORK – Truth Wins Out Advisory Board member Glenn Shadix, 58, died this morning from a fall in his Birmingham, Alabama condo. Shadix was best known for his role as Otho in Tim Burton’s “Beetlejuice” and appeared in more than 70 films and TV shows.

Shadix appeared in two more movies for the writer-director Burton, doing the voice of the mayor in “The Nightmare Before Christmas” in 1993 and playing the orangutan Senator Nado in Burton’s 2001 remake of “Planet of the Apes”.

“Glenn is a hero of mine and one of the kindest people I’ve ever met,” said Truth Wins Out’s founder and Executive Director Wayne Besen. “He had a huge heart and was committed to stopping the harm caused by ex-gay programs. It deeply saddens me that he is gone, but there is no doubt that he left the world a better place.”

Recently, Shadix became involved in LGBT advocacy, discussing in a Truth Wins Out video that he was a survivor of “ex-gay” shock therapy, which aims to turn LGBT people heterosexual. Such therapy is outdated and rejected by every mainstream medical and mental health association, including the American Psychiatric Association, American Medical Association and The American Psychological Association. In Jan. 2010, he joined the advisory board of Truth Wins Out and planned to speak out publicly against “ex-gay” therapy.

“He was having mobility problems, and he was in a wheelchair,” Susan Gagne, Shadix’s sister, said. “It looks like he fell and hit his head in the kitchen, and that’s the cause of death.”

Glenn in “Heathers”