{"id":8544,"date":"2015-04-30T18:05:00","date_gmt":"2015-04-30T17:05:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.christianvoice.org.uk\/?p=8544"},"modified":"2026-03-21T08:42:31","modified_gmt":"2026-03-21T08:42:31","slug":"holy-sexuality-conference-cancelled","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.christianvoice.org.uk\/index.php\/holy-sexuality-conference-cancelled\/","title":{"rendered":"Holy Sexuality Conference Cancelled"},"content":{"rendered":"<figure id=\"attachment_8547\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-8547\" style=\"width: 275px\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.christianvoice.org.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/04\/Cancelled.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-8547 \" src=\"https:\/\/www.christianvoice.org.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/04\/Cancelled.jpg\" alt=\"After over 40,000 people signed a petition, the Holy Sexuality Conference in London was cancelled. \" width=\"275\" height=\"243\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-8547\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">The Holy Sexuality Conference in London was cancelled after 40,000 dissenters signed a petition calling for its cancellation.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>The \u201cHoly Sexuality\u201d Conference in London was <a href=\"http:\/\/www.thegayuk.com\/magazine\/4574334751\/London-Gay-Cure-Event-Cancelled-After-40-000-Say-No-Way\/9635449\" target=\"_blank\"><strong>cancelled<\/strong> <\/a>after 40,000 people signed a petition calling for its abandonment.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.gaystarnews.com\/article\/gay-cure-summit-comes-central-london100415\" target=\"_blank\"><strong>Dubbed<\/strong> <\/a>the \u201cGay Cure Summit\u201d by GayStarNews, the 5-day conference was to be held from 21-25 April and aimed at helping people who struggle with unwanted same-sex attraction. According to the advert:<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;This conference will be invaluable for those who are struggling with their sexuality or for those who wish to find out more about issues surrounding sexuality and same sex attraction to reach out to others.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>The three people supposed to <a href=\"http:\/\/www.bbc.co.uk\/newsbeat\/article\/32304137\/gay-cure-conference-is-forced-to-cancel-due-to-petition\" target=\"_blank\"><strong>speak<\/strong> <\/a>at the event were Americans Mike Carducci, Wayne Blakely, and Danielle Harrison. These speakers explained that they found \u201credemption, victory, healing and freedom from their [homosexual] lifestyle.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The conference was <a href=\"http:\/\/www.gaystarnews.com\/article\/gay-cure-summit-comes-central-london100415\" target=\"_blank\"><strong>organized<\/strong> <\/a>by the Seventh Day Adventist Church, a Christian organization that believes\u00a0homosexuality is a sin and breaks God\u2019s Commandment.<\/p>\n<p>Kirsten Lundquist, the communications and media director of South England Conference of Seventh-Day Adventists, was disappointed by the decision to cancel the conference, <a href=\"http:\/\/www.thegayuk.com\/magazine\/4574334751\/London-Gay-Cure-Event-Cancelled-After-40-000-Say-No-Way\/9635449\" target=\"_blank\"><strong>saying<\/strong><\/a>:<\/p>\n<p>\u201cSeventh-day Adventists are a people of peace who believe in hope and dialogue. However, it appeared that rather than drawing people together the conference had the potential to divide. The Adventist Church recognises that the individuals invited to speak at the Holy Sexuality Conference have compelling life stories to share but equally appreciate that there are those who take a different point of view.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The entire statement can be found in <a href=\"http:\/\/www.pinknews.co.uk\/2015\/04\/14\/london-gay-cure-conference-cancelled-after-40000-sign-petition-against-it\/\" target=\"_blank\"><strong>this<\/strong> <\/a>article.<\/p>\n<p>However, many people took offense at the goal of the conference, saying that promoting the idea of curing homosexuality is \u201cdangerous.\u201d The UK Council for Psychotherapy even described \u201cconversion theory\u201d as abuse.<\/p>\n<p>The conference was also denounced by political figures. Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg said:<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIf anything needs curing, it is the outdated belief that being gay is wrong or something to be ashamed of. Sexuality is not an illness but an inherent part of who you are.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>In an article on Change.org, human rights activist Omar Kuddus called for the Government to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.change.org\/p\/ukhomeoffice-refuse-visas-for-us-gay-cure-preachers-stop-the-holy-sexuality-conference\/u\/10465766\" target=\"_blank\"><strong>refuse visas<\/strong><\/a> to people who seek to cure people of gay desires. Kuddus started the petition to cancel the Holy Sexuality conference, and he believes the Government should protect gay people from those who want to cure them.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe are disappointed that in a society that values freedom of speech and divergence of opinion that there are those whose wish it is to silence individuals who hold a different point of view to their own.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>That same week, a <a href=\"http:\/\/www.standard.co.uk\/news\/london\/13000-sign-petition-to-have-gay-cure-conference-in-london-axed-10175222.html\" target=\"_blank\"><strong>similar event<\/strong><\/a> called The Transformation Potential Conference took place in Westminster. It was held by Core Issues, a Christian ministry organization. Although more than 13,000 people signed a petition to cancel it, nevertheless the talks were held on 14 April.<\/p>\n<p>Ukip candidate Alan Craig, former leader of the Christian Peoples Alliance, was set to speak at this conference. However, organizers asked him to <a href=\"http:\/\/www.huffingtonpost.co.uk\/2015\/04\/13\/ukips-alan-craig-former-christian-peoples-alliance-leader-gets-iced-from-conference-on-unwanted-same-sex-attractions_n_7056420.html\" target=\"_blank\"><strong>step aside<\/strong><\/a> so the issues discussed at the seminar would not be \u201cassociated with any one political party.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Omar Kuddus also fought for the cancellation of this conference, believing these events are harmful to those who attend them. In a statement to the Evening Standard, Kuddos said:<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYou don\u2019t expect two gay cure conferences to take place in London at all, especially in the same week. I find it diabolical someone representing the group is allowed to preach hate in England. At the end of the day that is what conversion therapy is &#8211; sexuality is not a choice.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The irony in this is that the very people who claim Christians want to \u201csilence\u201d gay people are the very ones who cancel conferences and want to refuse visas to people coming to speak at these events. They are the ones trying to silence differing opinions, embodying a tactic that\u00a0prohibits free speech and cancels conferences.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\"><strong>Find out how to join Christian Voice and stand up for the King of kings (clicking on the link below does not commit you to join)<\/strong><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><a href=\"http:\/\/wp.me\/P1OVTZ-gb\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-3940\" style=\"border: 0px;\" title=\"Join Today!\" src=\"https:\/\/www.christianvoice.org.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/08\/Join_donate_Logo2.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"185\" height=\"180\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p><em>Please note that persons wishing to comment on this story must enter a valid email address. Comments from persons leaving fictitious email addresses will be trashed.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The \u201cHoly Sexuality\u201d Conference in London was cancelled after 40,000 people signed a petition calling for its abandonment. Dubbed the \u201cGay Cure Summit\u201d by GayStarNews, the 5-day conference was to be held from 21-25 April and aimed at helping people who struggle with unwanted same-sex attraction. According to the advert: &#8220;This conference will be invaluable [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":8547,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[144,380,11],"tags":[584,1477,1478],"class_list":["post-8544","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-freedom-of-speech","category-freedom-to-preach","category-homosexuality-trans","tag-alan-craig","tag-omar-kuddus","tag-seventh-day-adventist"],"aioseo_notices":[],"rttpg_featured_image_url":{"full":["https:\/\/www.christianvoice.org.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/04\/Cancelled.jpg",239,211,false],"landscape":["https:\/\/www.christianvoice.org.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/04\/Cancelled.jpg",239,211,false],"portraits":["https:\/\/www.christianvoice.org.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/04\/Cancelled.jpg",239,211,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/www.christianvoice.org.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/04\/Cancelled-150x150.jpg",150,150,true],"medium":["https:\/\/www.christianvoice.org.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/04\/Cancelled.jpg",239,211,false],"large":["https:\/\/www.christianvoice.org.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/04\/Cancelled.jpg",239,211,false],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/www.christianvoice.org.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/04\/Cancelled.jpg",239,211,false],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/www.christianvoice.org.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/04\/Cancelled.jpg",239,211,false],"td_0x420":["https:\/\/www.christianvoice.org.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/04\/Cancelled.jpg",239,211,false],"td_80x60":["https:\/\/www.christianvoice.org.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/04\/Cancelled.jpg",68,60,false],"td_100x75":["https:\/\/www.christianvoice.org.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/04\/Cancelled.jpg",85,75,false],"td_180x135":["https:\/\/www.christianvoice.org.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/04\/Cancelled.jpg",153,135,false],"td_238x178":["https:\/\/www.christianvoice.org.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/04\/Cancelled.jpg",202,178,false],"td_265x198":["https:\/\/www.christianvoice.org.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/04\/Cancelled.jpg",224,198,false],"td_300x160":["https:\/\/www.christianvoice.org.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/04\/Cancelled.jpg",181,160,false],"td_300x194":["https:\/\/www.christianvoice.org.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/04\/Cancelled.jpg",220,194,false],"td_300x350":["https:\/\/www.christianvoice.org.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/04\/Cancelled.jpg",239,211,false],"td_341x220":["https:\/\/www.christianvoice.org.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/04\/Cancelled.jpg",239,211,false],"td_341x400":["https:\/\/www.christianvoice.org.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/04\/Cancelled.jpg",239,211,false],"td_511x400":["https:\/\/www.christianvoice.org.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/04\/Cancelled.jpg",239,211,false],"td_537x360":["https:\/\/www.christianvoice.org.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/04\/Cancelled.jpg",239,211,false],"td_640x0":["https:\/\/www.christianvoice.org.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/04\/Cancelled.jpg",239,211,false],"td_640x350":["https:\/\/www.christianvoice.org.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/04\/Cancelled.jpg",239,211,false],"td_681x0":["https:\/\/www.christianvoice.org.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/04\/Cancelled.jpg",239,211,false],"td_681x400":["https:\/\/www.christianvoice.org.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/04\/Cancelled.jpg",239,211,false],"td_741x486":["https:\/\/www.christianvoice.org.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/04\/Cancelled.jpg",239,211,false],"td_1021x580":["https:\/\/www.christianvoice.org.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/04\/Cancelled.jpg",239,211,false],"ultp_layout_landscape_large":["https:\/\/www.christianvoice.org.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/04\/Cancelled.jpg",239,211,false],"ultp_layout_landscape":["https:\/\/www.christianvoice.org.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/04\/Cancelled.jpg",239,211,false],"ultp_layout_portrait":["https:\/\/www.christianvoice.org.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/04\/Cancelled.jpg",239,211,false],"ultp_layout_square":["https:\/\/www.christianvoice.org.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/04\/Cancelled.jpg",239,211,false],"woocommerce_thumbnail":["https:\/\/www.christianvoice.org.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/04\/Cancelled.jpg",239,211,false],"woocommerce_single":["https:\/\/www.christianvoice.org.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/04\/Cancelled.jpg",239,211,false],"woocommerce_gallery_thumbnail":["https:\/\/www.christianvoice.org.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/04\/Cancelled-100x100.jpg",100,100,true]},"rttpg_author":{"display_name":"Robin","author_link":"https:\/\/www.christianvoice.org.uk\/index.php\/author\/robin\/"},"rttpg_comment":3,"rttpg_category":"<a href=\"https:\/\/www.christianvoice.org.uk\/index.php\/category\/christian-freedom\/freedom-of-speech\/\" rel=\"category tag\">Freedom of Speech<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.christianvoice.org.uk\/index.php\/category\/christian-freedom\/freedom-to-preach\/\" rel=\"category tag\">Freedom to Preach<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.christianvoice.org.uk\/index.php\/category\/homosexuality-trans\/\" rel=\"category tag\">Homosexuality &amp; Trans<\/a>","rttpg_excerpt":"The \u201cHoly Sexuality\u201d Conference in London was cancelled after 40,000 people signed a petition calling for its abandonment. Dubbed the \u201cGay Cure Summit\u201d by GayStarNews, the 5-day conference was to be held from 21-25 April and aimed at helping people who struggle with unwanted same-sex attraction. According to the advert: &#8220;This conference will be invaluable&hellip;","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.christianvoice.org.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8544","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.christianvoice.org.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.christianvoice.org.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.christianvoice.org.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.christianvoice.org.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8544"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.christianvoice.org.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8544\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.christianvoice.org.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/8547"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.christianvoice.org.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8544"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.christianvoice.org.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8544"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.christianvoice.org.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8544"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}