A church on WA’s south coast is pushing ahead with an event labelled as “gay conversion therapy” by the LGBTQI+ community.
The Albany Baptist Church is hosting Real Lives, an event this Thursday where attendees can “hear stories of hope and vision and dignity beyond LGBTQ+ and ideologies”.
It features speakers who have “previously lived or identified as LGBTQ+, but who are now finding a new life in Jesus Christ”.
Advocacy group Albany Pride has described the event as homophobic, but Albany Baptist Church senior pastor Phil Beeck insisted it was not conversion therapy.
“I actually don’t know anyone who’s had gay conversion therapy. Never heard of a church who does it.
“So I’m not actually sure what that looks like, or would look like or could look like in a church, but certainly not this.”
LGBT community outraged
The event is reportedly being delivered by True Identity International, a network that claims to support people “struggling with sexuality and gender identity issues”.
The church also plans to hold a supplementary youth-focused event on Friday, but a meeting will be held this week to determine whether that event goes ahead.
Supplied: Lupo Prenzato
)Albany Pride committee member Lupo Prenzato said the group did not accept the claim that the event was not gay conversion therapy.
“The conversion therapy is only the tip of the iceberg; behind it there is effectively homophobia,” he said.
“You are telling a young person that the way that you are is not right, you must change it.
“The language they use — dignity or hope — it’s like you don’t have dignity if you don’t convert yourself. That’s how that reads.”
Conversion practices banned
LGBTQI+ conversion practices are not illegal in WA, but have been banned in Queensland and Victoria.
Queensland laws prohibit conversion therapy by healthcare providers, while in Victoria this includes any teachings and counselling, noting that informal support groups can be among the most harmful practices.
Tim Jones is a historian from La Trobe University who leads an Australian Research Council linkage project researching the scope and nature of LGBTQ+ conversion ideology and practices in Australia.
He told the ABC the evidence showed that conversion therapy did not work and was potentially very harmful for individuals.
“People can experience really severe mental health crises, suicidality, disruption to their participation in education and work, disruption to their relationships,” Mr Jones said.
“A lot of the symptoms in research we did with mental health practitioners about their experiences of caring for survivors was that many people frequently experience chronic, complex PTSD-like symptoms.”
