The human-rights campaigner Peter Tatchell of OutRage! has entered the fray over loopy Christians who feel they can “exorcise” people’s sexuality out of them.
He speaks out in an article in the Brighton magazine Gscene (which also, incidentally, carries a fetching picture of the Pink Triangle Trust’s own George Broadhead, alongside his forthright views on a leading bigoted Muslim oaf who has declared from on high that homosexuality is not acceptable).
On “exorcisms”, Tatchell says in the Gscene article (mysteriously in both quote marks and italics!):
“The exorcism rituals involve the casting out of alleged demons and witches that supposedly possess a gay person’s soul and turn them away from heterosexuality.
“There are claims that gay teenagers and young adults are being subjected to exorcisms at the insistence of their parents and pastors, in an attempt to rid them of same-sex attraction.
“The exorcisms can include traumatic emotional scenes where the victims are surrounded by a group of church elders who scream at them to drive out the evil spirits and who sometimes shake their bodies.
“When this is done to youngsters under 18, it is a form of child abuse and the police should intervene to stop it.
“There needs to be a thorough police investigation of all the churches that are doing these exorcisms.”
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Related links:
Casting out demons
PTT condemns exorcisms
Exorcism storm
Rite and wrong
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