Two separate Church ministries to persons with same-sex attraction have been subject to condemnation by gay-rights advocates in the last few days.
On Saturday protestors demonstrated outside a conference being run by the True Freedom Trust [1] (TFT) in a Baptist church in south Belfast. TFT, which is a member of the Evangelical Alliance, describes itself as “a Christian ministry that offers pastoral support and biblical teaching on same-sex attractions”. The protestors accused the group of advocating so-called “conversion therapy” [2]. However, TFT director Stuart Parker denied this and said it’s “particularly for people who hold to an orthodox position on sexual orientation, what the Bible says about it, and who have chosen themselves to maybe live a celibate life and encourage them in that.”
Meanwhile, [3] former President Mary McAleese launched a broadside against the Catholic ministry Courage [4], which helps adults, 18 and over, to abstain from acting on same-sex sexual desires.
Ms McAleese, the former Ireland president, said that Courage was “Machievellian, dangerous and deliberately specious” [5].