Join ReportOUT and prominent conversion therapy activists on Thursday, 20th January, 6pm on Zoom to hear more about the impact on conversion therapy on LGBTQI+ community, the state of laws in the UK and globally and what you can do to fight against it. Book your ticket now!
Panel speakers:
- Jayne Ozanne is a well-known gay evangelical who works to ensure full inclusion of all LGBTI people of faith, particularly in the Church. She was appointed by the Archbishops of Canterbury and York to be a founding member of the Archbishops’ Council for the Church of England (1999 – 2004). In 2009, after years of personal struggle as an evangelical Christian trying to reconcile her faith with her sexuality, she came out as gay to her friends and family. Her story is documented in her memoir, Just Love. In 2014 she decided to become more publicly engaged with the sexuality debate within the Church and in 2015 she was elected back onto the Church of England’s General Synod. She has since been heavily involved in campaigning for equal rights for the LGBTI community, notably tabling a Private Members Motion in July 2017 that led to the General Synod condemning Conversion Therapy and calling on the government to ban it. In 2019 she was invited to be a founding member of the government’s LGBT Advisory Panel.
- Michael Bussee became a born-again Christian during his senior high-school year but he discovered that his faith was in conflict with his sexual orientation. He decided to start a small Bible study and prayer group for other “same-sex attracted” Christians like him hoping for a miracle of God. They called the group, “EXIT”, believing that they would find a way out. In 1976, with two other friends, he hosted a conference which resulted in the foundation of Exodus International where the term “ex-gay” was coined. Exodus International was a non-profit, interdenominational ex-gay Christian umbrella organization connecting organizations that sought to "help people who wished to limit their homosexual desires". Founded in 1976, Exodus International originally asserted that conversion therapy, the reorientation of same-sex attraction, was possible. In 2006, Exodus International had over 250 local ministries in the US and Canada and over 150 ministries in 17 other countries. Michael Bussee was married to a woman and even had a child but ultimately left Exodus International when he fell in love with another man. They divorced their wives and moved in together. Since that moment he has been active in organizing meeting for Conversion Therapy survivors and told his story amongst others in the Netflix documentary “pray away”.
If you're intrested in asking a question, there will be a Q&A at the end! If you'd like to submit your questions in advance, you can send them over to contactus@reportout.org.