LGBT people of faith caught in the crossfire between two communities

Lucy Knight’s award-winning article (I’m Christian and gay, and finally at ease with it, 25 March) beautifully sums up the dilemma that so many of us LGBT people of faith face. Too often we are caught in the deadly crossfire between two communities – where, ironically, their central message is about love.

The recent National Faith & Sexuality Survey, conducted by my Foundation, has shown that it is religious leaders who are most likely to advise or force a young LGBT Christian to undergo conversion therapy, despite the severe impact this can have on their mental health and emotional wellbeing.

This practice has to stop.

I am very pleased that the government has committed itself to end this practice in the UK, and I look forward to working with them as a member of their newly appointed LGBT advisory panel to ensure that the faith communities come to understand and apologise for the harm that they have done.
Jayne Ozanne
Director, Ozanne Foundation, and member of General Synod for the Church of England

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