GALHA Condemns Religious Anti Gay Brainwashing Campaign

London, 20th April 2009

The Gay and Lesbian Humanist Association (GALHA) today denounced plans by the Anglican Mainstream Organisation  to hold a two-day anti-gay "Sex and the City" conference  at a "secret location" in London on April 24 and 25. One of the purported aims is to promote a "cure" for homosexuality.

GALHA secretary David Christmas commented. "The fact that the whole premise is riddled with absurdities does not make it any the less dangerous. For the past 30 years, mainstream medicine and science have accepted that homosexuality is in no sense an illness, and as such, by definition, cannot be cured."

Humanists certainly don’t believe that most religious believers are mad, despite their frequently believing in invisible beings, miracles, and after life experiences.. Given this, it seems brave, indeed foolhardy for some Christians to claim that homosexuals are in any sense mentally ill.

There is no evidence that subjecting gay people to indoctrination and reprogramming can change their underlying sexuality. At most it can encourage people to suppress their true feelings, often with disastrous consequences, including ill-fated heterosexual marriages. It is preying on the most emotionally vulnerable members of the gay community – those who are for any reason unhappy – in order to suck them into an intolerant and absolutist morality, without any regard for their needs or their nature.

The "ex gay" movement is a deeply flawed and intolerant movement, alien to British standards of respect, tolerance, and simple common sense.

END

Note to Editors:

GALHA provides a voice for the many non religious in the LGBT community in
the United Kingdom and elsewhere and promotes a rational approach to LGBT
Rights as human rights. For its 30th Anniversary in 2009 GALHA is holding a
series of special public meetings and events including an exhibition of its
work in Central London.

www.galha.org

0792 118 8329.