The attack by gay Anglican activist Jayne Ozanne on parental rights in her campaign to ban conversion therapy should be a wake-up call to Christians who may be apathetic about the debate.
Ms Ozanne, a member of the Church of England’s General Synod, made her comment about parents being “the problem, not the solution” in counselling gender-confused children on The Gathering Podcast, hosted by an LGBTQ+ church in Cardiff city centre.
She attacked government ministers for expressing caution about including such children in a ban on conversion therapy.
She said ministers “have committed to ensuring that the ban will include, we’ve been told, transgender people who are twice as likely to be offered (conversion therapy) or to go through with the most horrific forms of abuse”. But she said the government has been telling campaigners that the legislation needs to be “very careful” in relation to trans children.
She complained that the government apparently wants to ensure that “parents have the upper hand here”. Arguing that parents’ rights should not trump trans children’s rights, she declared: “Parents, frankly, most of the time are the problem, not the solution.”
But what can be wrong with loving parents being concerned about their child harming themselves with puberty blockers and possibly embarking on a medical journey to bodily mutilation and lifelong suffering?
Ms Ozanne’s comment was highly revealing of the neo-Marxist mindset behind the drive to ban conversion therapy. She clearly believes that the growing transgender trend among school children trumps the biblical Fifth Commandment: “Honour thy father and thy mother: that thy days may be long upon the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee” (Exodus 20:12 – King James Version).
In her podcast interview she reiterated her view that the government must prevent pastors from praying with people who have asked for help and support to uphold the traditional Christian sexual ethic.
She said: “My biggest concern is that religious practices, i.e. prayer or deliverance ministry, will not be included in this ban or there will be weasel words to allow those practices because they’re seen as only prayer.”
Read it all at Christian Today
Julian Mann is a former Church of England vicar, now an evangelical journalist based in Lancashire.
