Uni.news - tackling religious homophobia

Religious homophobia is something that we all need to be more aware of

“There is help out there for people who are suffering from religious homophobia.

Matthew Mahmood-Ogston is the founder and trustee of a charity called Naz and Matt Foundation, which aims to help parents accept their children for who they are.

Matthew’s determination to speak about religious and cultural homophobia deserves appreciation.”

“A 2009 survey of 1,328 accredited mental health professionals, published in the BMC Psychiatry Journal, found that more than 200 LGBT had been offered some form of conversion therapy, with 35 per cent of patients referred to them for treatment by GPs and 40 per cent treated inside an NHS practice.

Conversion therapy, also known as reparative or ex-gay therapy, has been extensively condemned as wrong and unproductive but it still continues in many parts of America, mostly through churches, and is a battleground issue for gay rights campaigners and those who argue that banning it would curb religious freedom.

Gay cure therapy is still legal in the UK and the government needs to do more to criminalise it.”

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