Conversion therapy: Gay man talks of church 'exorcism' trauma

Matthew Drapper says he was subjected to a 20-minute form of "exorcism" at the church in Sheffield

A gay man says he was pressured into conversion therapy by a church and told prayer would rid him of the "demons of homosexuality".

Matthew Drapper said he had continuing trauma after undergoing a form of "exorcism" at Sheffield's St Thomas Philadelphia church eight years ago.

The practice is illegal in many European countries, with a consultation on a proposed UK ban ending on Friday.

St Thomas church has denied it engaged in any conversion therapy.

It confirmed it would participate in an independent review of Mr Drapper's case commissioned by the Diocese of Sheffield.

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Mr Drapper, 33, said he was told to repeatedly shout a prayer during the 20-minute session eight years ago, which left him "cramping up and struggling to breathe".

"They told me to speak to the gay part of myself as if speaking to a wild dog coming up to me - and for me to say to 'leave my body'," he said.

"The people I was with told me they could see demons leave me and go out of the window."

In the following weeks, he said he felt like a "skeleton", adding: "It left me feeling totally empty and not myself really, like a part of myself had been pushed away, but was still very much there."

The Sheffield church has denied it engaged in any conversion therapy

Mr Drapper told BBC Yorkshire he came from a strict Christian background and joined the church in his mid-20s, roughly a decade after he realised he was gay.

Once he'd realised it was possible to be Christian and gay, he said, the church took away his leadership roles and he decided to leave it altogether.

"If conversion therapy had been illegal at the time, then hopefully people would have known enough to intervene and I wouldn't have gone through that trauma and had eight years of recovering from it," he said.

A spokesperson for the church said: "St Thomas Philadelphia is a caring and generous church community which does not engage in conversion therapy.

"We welcome the independent investigation initiated by the diocese into these allegations of eight years ago and will participate in it."

The Diocese of Sheffield said Mr Drapper would be kept informed at all stages of its investigation, adding that it shared the Church of England's view that "conversion therapy is unethical, potentially harmful and has no place in the modern world".

The proposed UK ban on conversion therapy - which was first pledged in 2018 - is set to include both sexuality and gender identity in its definition and will protect people from "coercive and abhorrent practices".

Ministers previously said the consultation would ask the public and interested parties how best to address the problem, while still "protecting the medical profession, defending freedom of speech and upholding religious freedom".