Government move to eradicate ‘gay cure’ therapy, ITV News understands
by Paul Brand, ITV:
Dean is in his late 40s, with a wife and a grown-up daughter. He loves his family deeply. In many ways, he has achieved a straight man’s dream – but only by living a gay man’s nightmare.
For decades, Dean suffered the trauma of trying to change his sexuality through what’s called ‘conversion therapy’, ‘cure therapy’, or in a Christian setting, ‘deliverance’.
It is incredibly rare to interview someone who has recently been through this process in Britain, let alone someone who has also led the sessions himself.
Dean tells me that until his early 20s, he had lived as a gay man, even campaigning for equal rights.
But after converting to Christianity around the age of 22, he began intensive therapy to try to turn himself straight.
[…] Three years ago he took the brave decision to leave his ministry and come out as gay.
Dean’s experience sounds extreme, but to many it is familiar. ITV News understands that tomorrow Britain’s largest ever survey of LGBT people will reveal that thousands of people have either been through conversion therapy or been offered it.
The methods are legal, unregulated and – as we found – easily available. But I understand the government is set to announce proposals to eradicate conversion therapy as part of its LGBT Action Plan, with the details still to be decided.
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