Gay conversion therapy conference to be hosted in a church
A Belfast church has defended a decision to permit a conference taking place at one of its buildings which promotes a therapy claiming to help people “convert” from homosexuality.
Gay Rights groups outraged by the event are set to picket the one-day conference today organised by the Core Issues Trust and held in Belvoir Church of Ireland.
Core Issues claims people are not born gay and that they can change.
A number of speakers attending the conference, entitled ‘Interrogating the Pejoratives: Considering Therapeutic Approaches and Contexts for those Conflicted in Sexual Identity’, will focus on reparative therapy which seeks to change sexual orientation.
The controversial therapy intends to help gay people “get rid of unwanted same-sex longings”.
Core Issues, a Northern Ireland-based group which, according to its website, is a non-profit Christian initiative “seeking to support men and women with homosexual issues who voluntarily seek change”.
But the conference has sparked anger among gay rights groups and unions who warn such therapy is “dangerous”.
Tags: Church Life
June 14th, 2011 at 11:43 am
“How dare anyone condemn the vice we have chosen to pursue!”
June 14th, 2011 at 12:10 pm
Depends if the people being counselled are gay or men who choose to have sex with men. There is a difference. One is a modifiable behaviour. The other isn’t.