A TORY candidate was the trustee of a church which openly discussed and promoted the use of conversion therapy on gay members.
Between 2003 and 2018, Miriam Cates was a member of the St Thomas Philadelphia church in Sheffield and acted as a trustee between 2016 and 2018.
However, an independent report into the activities of the church found that between 2014 and 2019 the church “endorsed and supported” the use of the conversion therapy on gay members.
Conversion therapy refers to practices which seek to change or repress a person’s sexuality or gender identity.
The charity Barnardo’s carried out an investigation into the St Thomas Philadelphia church at the request of the Church of England’s Diocese of Sheffield after Matt Drapper, a gay man and former member of the church, said he was a victim of an “exorcism” there in 2014.
Cates told the BBC that she was unaware of the allegations regarding conversion therapy levelled against the church and did not endorse the practice.
However, the report found that it was openly discussed within the church during Cates’s time as a member and some of her time as a trustee.
“The culture of the church [in 2014] was one in which the presence of evil spirits and ‘ungodly soul ties’ were believed to be the cause of homosexual thoughts, feelings and behaviour, and prayers of ‘deliverance’ for homosexuals were not uncommon,” it read.
While gay members were welcomed into the church during Cates’s time as a member, the report found that there was a “firm belief” they would “eventually understand the need to be transformed to live in accordance with biblical revelation and orthodox church teachings”.
Indeed, it found that so-called exorcisms being carried out by the church “were often spoken about by church members” and on one occasion “there were celebrations in the congregation because a parent stood up and spoke of an adult in their family, who had been ‘delivered from the sin of homosexuality’”.
Social media posts from November 2012 suggest that Cates also attended a conference at the church which Drapper described as an “exorcism training weekend”.
While Cates denied this description, she confirmed she had attended the conference but had “no recollection” of the content of the seminars.
A consultation on banning conversion practices in Scotland was concluded by the Scottish Government earlier this year.
Former UK prime minister Theresa May had promised a similar Westminster ban during her time in Number 10.
However, this was eventually watered down to exclude transgender people before being dropped by the Conservative government entirely partly due to the efforts of vocal opponents such as Cates.
In a statement to the BBC, she said: “I do not and have never advocated for what is referred to as 'gay conversion therapy'.
“I have never participated in such activities, and I was not aware – nor was there any way that I could have been aware of Mr Drapper’s allegations, which were not – as far as I was aware – raised during the time that I was on the leadership of the Church, and only surfaced after I left."
As a trustee and director of the charity behind the church between September 2016 and September 2018, Cates held safeguarding responsibilities for members.
The Network Church Sheffield said: “We have accepted the outcomes of the first investigation and are saddened that eight years ago one of our community was not cared for in the way we would have liked. We sincerely apologised to them for this.
“Whilst the leadership of the church has changed, we recognise there are significant lessons to be learned and we are determined to learn them.”
The Bishop of Sheffield, Dr Pete Wilcox, said: “We apologise unreservedly to the survivor for the distress this has caused and to anyone else similarly affected by such practices in the past.
“The Diocese of Sheffield believes, along with the wider Church of England, that conversion therapy is unethical, potentially harmful and has no place in the modern world.
“Any survivors or those with information about misconduct in church or church-related abuse must always feel free to come forward knowing that they will be listened to in confidence.”
