On today’s The Briefing, we speak to Kim Kemmis, a man who trained to be a Christian minister before going through gay conversion therapy.
Kemmis grew up in an Anglican church in the 70s, where he was told homosexuality is sinful.
“I am bisexual, so I convinced myself that the homosexual part of me wasn’t really important, and I could ignore it,” Kemmis said.
In the late 1990s, Kemmis was involved in an ex-gay ministry. He said these ministries try to “help” them become heterosexual because their religion teaches them that same-sex attraction is wrong.
“Fundamentally, you might think it’s about your religion, but it’s not a faith issue, it’s a health issue. This is damaging people psychologically. I hear both stories about people who have done self-harm…When I came out of it, I was not in good shape.”
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