Matthew Hyndman, who is currently appearing on the fourth season of The Traitors, has shared that he escaped so-called ‘conversion therapy‘ after his church discovered that he is gay.
Hyndman, who hails from Co. Tyrone, wrote about how his experience with the harmful practice led him to co-found Ban Conversion Therapy with Harry Hutchins in 2020.
In an article for The Independent, the creative director, who now lives in Edinburgh, shared that his church community discovered his sexuality while he was working as a missionary on board a ship in the Indian Ocean. He inadvertently sent a three-month-long WhatsApp conversation with somebody he had been chatting with to his entire congregation.
When he returned from the mission, his church leaders demanded that he undergo ‘conversion therapy’. He was also ordered to publicly confess and repent before his missionaries.
Hyndman managed to leave his hometown and church to build a new life in London. Six months later, he received a letter from his old church formally cancelling his membership due to his “lifestyle choices” and for refusing to undergo the harmful practice.
Today, his organisation is one of many LGBTQ+ groups in the UK calling for the end of conversion therapy. Ban Conversion Therapy is currently working with Stonewall to urge the UK government to keep their commitment to criminalise the practice.
As it stands, there is no legislation in the UK to ban conversion therapy, despite Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s promise to ban the practice, which his party made last year.
Similarly, Ireland also lacks legislation banning so-called conversion therapy, despite the government listing a ban as a priority bill for publication in 2024.
In the same year, the College of Psychiatrists of Ireland, the Psychological Society of Ireland and the Irish Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy signed a memorandum renouncing the practice. In a joint statement, the groups said there is “no place in a modern, progressive society for conversion therapy”. All three groups described it as “unethical, potentially harmful and not supported by evidence”.
You can catch Matthew Hyndman in The Traitors tomorrow night on BBC One at 8pm.
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