http://www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/liverpool-news/local-news/2011/11/15/liverpool-frontline-church-at-centre-of-row-over-gay-conversion-sessions-100252-29777774/#sitelife-commentsWidget-bottom"THE FRONTLINE Church in Liverpool is at the centre of a row over sessions it runs trying to convert gay people from homosexuality.
The Frontline Church has been running groups on “helping Christian men and women out of homosexuality” at its Wavertree base.
One of the city’s biggest housing associations, Plus Dane, has broken off links over material published on the Church’s website claiming people become gay as a result of “pain in childhood”.
The “Homosexuality Fact Sheet” – which Frontline leaders say they have removed from its website – includes tips on how to spot people “struggling with homosexuality”, including how “women may appear and dress in a more masculine way” and “men may appear somewhat effeminate, although this is not always the case”.
Church bosses today conceded the statements were “simplistic”, but insisted all were welcome to its Lawrence Road base and denied homophobia.
They added they believed “the ways a person chooses to express their sexuality can change” and that they had had success with some congregation members.
But that view was condemned by gay-rights campaigners as trying to “repress” people’s sexuality with “Dark Ages” views, while Merseyside Police has asked the Church to stop describing the Force as a partner organisation.
The Church received Home Office funding in 2010 to run projects helping young men at risk, and Prime Minister David Cameron and Nick Clegg have both “met staff to discuss grass roots issues in Liverpool”, according to the Frontline Trust’s accounts.
The national Lesbian and Gay Foundation’s Andrew Gilliver said: “The issues about ‘childhood pain’ are nonsense. The pain is often caused by people who don’t understand what they’re going through.
“We are born gay, but we learn prejudice. This is Dark Ages stuff.”
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Always worth pointing out the John 'misses the mark yet again' Harris article from the Grauniad from a few months back.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2011/jun/13/aetheism-church-sex-workers-liverpool
