Miriam Cates

[CassieMaddox]

New report says she was trustee at a church while gay conversion therapy was happening. The kind of conversion therapy that involves exorcism of demons.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c4ngprp5xdvo

As a director and trustee at the charity behind the church, external from September 2016 to September 2018, Mrs Cates, had safeguarding responsibilities for those who attended

Thought this might interest some posters on here. Not sure I would trust her with safeguarding after this, if indeed she retains her seat.

Well she doesn't seem to be amazing at safeguarding.

It sounds like she knew nothing about the conversion therapy that happened years ago.

The recent demands to ban 'conversion therapy' are aimed at banning sensible counselling to help people, especially young people, who think they may be something other than their real sex, to think things through.

Not a fan of religion so I'm not going to defend churches like this. I wouldn't be a member of one.

The article is a bit of a hit piece on Cates though. They even admit the alleged incident took place 2 years before she was a trustee. They don't seem to be able to directly link her to what was happening. Whether exorcism is something she believes I don't know. She says not.

In the interest of balance perhaps the BBC could also finally get around to an article about the WPATH files that they've been studiously ignoring.

Timing of this story is /highly/ suspect. Which makes me think the story is probably suspect too. Throw mud at a politician days before an election. If it was going to stick, they'd not have waited till this week.

This woman is a nightmare. Why we are allowing religious zealots to influence our culture and education (Cates report) I have no idea.

Interesting how there was a thread the other day about Fergus Walsh - he MUST be influenced by his wife's job. Yet when it's Miriam Cates - oh there's no way she was influenced by a church she was a member of and a trustee of. I see a lot of bending over backwards to defend people who are 'GC'.

I wonder why she left? As in, a member for a while, then briefly part of the governance structure, before she left.

It reads to me as though she became aware there was an issue, so left.

Some people see people of faith as being automatically suspect and unfit for public office. Isn’t that a breach of equality legislation?

Freedom of belief and all that?

She is one of the best politicians we have.

You're seriously saying that on a feminist forum, have you seen how she's voted on abortion issues?

righttolife.org.uk/votes/Penistone-and-Stocksbridge/Miriam-Cates

They even admit the alleged incident took place 2 years before she was a trustee.

generally speaking ppl aren’t responsible for things that happened at an organisation when they weren’t part of it.

If being part of an organisation that had dodgy dealings going on before you even joined makes you unfit well that's basically everyone who ever worked anywhere. I'd start with LGBT youth in Scotland, the Met, the Prison service, Hollywood, the BBC, a whole bunch of boarding schools, children's homes, sporting organisations,.....

Quite, the CEO of LGBT Youth ran the biggest paedophile ring in Scotland. So CassieMaddox I presume you condemn the Scottish Government for involving them in policy and schools?

The piece is quite simply a partisan hit piece on an MP just days before election.

Miriam Cates is very likely to lose on Thursday so I think this is more about the narrative that the evil Tories, who we are now finally free of, supported the widespread scourge of conversion therapy, and we should welcome a Labour government in banning it. (Whatever "it" ends up being in law and practice.)

An independent report has concluded that conversion practices were “endorsed and supported” by St Thomas Philadelphia church in Sheffield between 2014 and 2019.

Mrs Cates was a member of the church between 2003 and 2018, and a trustee from 2016 to 2018.

Makes it a bit clearer why she voted against the conversion therapy ban.

Pre election tittle tattle from 'non partisan' BBC......

Yet they are still to mention the WPATH scandal.

I don't think so. I think its highlighting an actual news story. She hasn't condemned the church and only says she has "no recollection" of whether an event she was at was an exorcism training event (the Post Office defence). While I'm GC, I'm not homophobic and find this absolutely shocking. There should be no place for this kind of practice in the UK.
At best for her it shows she wasn't enacting her safeguarding duties properly. At worst, well I'll leave it to people to draw their own conclusions.

While I'm GC, I'm not homophobic

Neat turn of phrase attempting to equate the two. I suspect that most sex realist people aren’t homophobic (though possibly most people who object to homosexuality are sex realist).

I'm a GC feminist, why would I equate the two?
I don't like the way GC issues and politics are being promoted by people who aren't GC feminists, like Cates. I believe the phrase is "forced teaming" when it's used about LGBTQ. I think a lot of what she proposes will be harmful to women. I also suspect based on this she is anti-gay.

I know a lot of posters on here follow her so I thought they would be interested.

Transparently so, from a supposedly impartisan national broadcaster

CassieMaddox you still haven’t told us if you condemn all the SNP MP candidates for their partiy’s involvement with LBGT Youth?

😂
Of course. Nothing to see here, all made up by the bad old beeb.

Derail. This thread is about Miriam Cates and conversion therapy. If you want to start another I'll comment.