'It made me hate myself' - OTN trustee shares experience of ‘conversion therapy’
Augustine Tanner-Ihm is an African-American activist, writer, speaker who recently trained for Anglican ministry at Cranmer Hall, St. John’s College, Durham, and is now a curate at St James & Emmanuel, Manchester, and a Doctoral Student in Leadership, Culture, and Practical Theology at Bakke Graduate University. He was also the winner of the 2020 Church Times Theology Slam competition.
THE CONTROVERSIAL practice of so-called 'conversion therapy' to try and change someone's sexual orientation or gender identity will be the subject of a public consultation next month.
The consultation is coming ahead of a legal ban in England and Wales, confirmed earlier this year by the Government, as the NHS and all major therapy professional bodies say it's unethical and potentially harmful.
In an interview with BBC Radio 4’s Sunday programme on 15th August, Open Table Network trustee Augustine Tanner-Ihm explained why he sought conversion therapy at church in north-west England a few years ago.
Augustine explained that the pastor of that church told him:
homosexuality is like cancer… and what we’re doing is we’re giving you a pill to get rid of that cancer which is homosexuality, and it’s going to be really rough. So I just thought, okay, well, this is just a difficult thing to go through in order to be normal.
Reflecting on the impact of ‘conversion therapy’ practices on his well-being, he added:
I think it made me hate myself. It made me think that I was not good enough on a regular basis.
The interview with Augustine was followed by a discussion between Ed Shaw, the Ministry Director of livingout.org, an online evangelical organization that helps ‘people, churches and society talk about faith and sexuality’, and Sue Monckton-Rickett, Chair of the Association of Christian Counsellors, which signed the Memorandum of Understanding on Conversion Therapy, a joint document signed by 20 health, counselling and psychotherapy organisations which aims to end the practice of conversion therapy in the UK.