Members of a church have apologised to a man forced into conversion therapy at their institution after he shared his experience with the ECHO.
Chris Butler endured physical violence, including having his head pushed into the church grounds by three men in a bid to 'release him of demons’ that supposedly caused his homosexuality.
After reading the article, one individual reached out to Chris via social media to apologise. The 54-year-old recalled how him and the individual at the time were personal friends and said he used to look up to them.
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He told the ECHO : "Historically, they caused me no direct harm but they were connected to one of the institutions that did and know full well what I went through.
"It was someone who had worked for one of the conversion therapy organisations I'd been referred to when I was younger.
"They commended my bravery in speaking out and gave me their support."
The freelance artist, who is originally from Warrington, says this made him feel hugely encouraged in knowing people can change and evolve.
Despite the last contact between the two having been in person over thirty years ago, Chris responded and thanked them for their support, telling them it meant "a great deal" to him.
As well as physical violence, Chris was subjected to psychological methods of conversion therapy.
He recently told the ECHO : "The worst part of conversion therapy for me was actually the whole of my private life basically being demanded from the church.
“I had to expose all the intimate details of my private life on a day-by-day basis to make myself accountable.
“The veneer of this is that the church would use the teaching of confession and making yourself accountable in front of the church and their leaders and Christ."
Other members of the churches also reached out to express their shock at what they had read.
Chris added: "They had no idea that this was what a gay person had been subjected to, either directly through their church or indirectly through their church referring me to a conversion therapy organisation.
"They were all very supportive and all of them had no idea their own churches were endorsing these kinds of practices.
"It shows that many people have heard the term 'conversion therapy' but have no idea what it has actually entailed. It came as a shock to them to discover this kind of abuse had been going on behind closed doors within their own local environment."
Chris said that only if it feels right in the future, he may reach out to arrange a meeting in person with them.
Chris is talking about his experience at National Museums Liverpool as part of their LGBT+ History Month alongside Kieran Bohan, a Christian who was once conflicted between his sexuality and faith.
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