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Gay News: A leading Tory has claimed that homosexuality is the work of demons, and that those demons can be driven out by the power of prayer.
By: Nigel Robinson
Philippa Stroud
Philippa Stroud
Top Tory: homosexuality the work of demons
According to the Observer, Philippa Stroud, who is standing for the seat of Sutton and Cheam at Thursday’s general election, has founded churches in Birmingham and Bedford which try to “cure” gays by driving out their “demons” with the power of prayer.
Philippa Stroud is the head of the Centre for Social Justice, a think tank set up by former Tory leader Iain Duncan-Smith, and which has an influential voice within the Conservative Party.
On its website, it claims to have provided seventy of the Conservative Party’s current policies.
The Observer piece cites the example of Abi, a teenager with transsexual issues who was counselled by the King’s Arms Project, a church and night shelter in Bedford which Stroud set up in 1989.
“She wanted me to know all my thinking was wrong,” the teenager told the Observer. “I was wrong and the so-called demons inside me were wrong.
“The session ended with her and others praying over me, calling out the demons.
“She really believed things like homosexuality, transsexualism and addiction could be fixed just by prayer, all in the name of Jesus.”
A resident of another hostel and church in Birmingham has claimed that she was given the choice of ending a lesbian relationship or leaving the church.
This news is just the latest in a series of incidents which seems to question David Cameron’s claim that the Conservative Party is a gay-friendly party.
Two weeks ago shadow Home Secretary Chris Grayling said that it was legitimate for B&B owners to turn away gay couples.
Last week shadow Defence Secretary Julian Lewis said that he was against the gay age of consent being lowered to sixteen, in line with the heterosexual age of consent.
Also last week, David Cameron suspended Philip Lardner, the Conservative candidate for North Ayrshire and Arran, after Lardner described gay people as “not normal”.
