Facebook is shutting down accounts for Christian ministries and counseling groups that help men and women find freedom from homosexual and transgender sin. Many of the organizations also offer support and encouragement for family members of LGBT-identified individuals.
The big tech company recently removed organizations from its platform such as Mastering Life Ministries – Pure Passion Media, a Christian ministry that creates and provides books, films and videos for the sexually broken; Help 4 Families, which provides help for families affected by transgenderism; and Living Stone Ministries which offers support groups and resources for families affected by homosexuality.
Denis Schick, the executive director of Help 4 Families and Living Stone Ministries, told us she was not notified by Facebook when her accounts were deleted. She only found out when she went to the sites and found them gone, with the notice, “This content isn’t available right now.”
Facebook says it bans “hate speech,” which it defines as “a direct attack against people – rather than concepts or institutions on the basis of what we call protected characteristics: race, ethnicity, national origin, disability, religious affiliation, caste, sexual orientation, sex, gender identity and serious disease.”
It’s unclear how any of these ministries was engaging in “direct attacks against people” based on their “sexual orientation” or “gender identity.”
Instead, Facebook is violating its own policies, silencing groups based on their “religious affiliation.” These organizations share the foundational Christian beliefs that God designed humans male and female in His image and created marriage between one man and one woman as a lifelong, covenantal, faithful, one-flesh union.
The accounts were closed after two reports were released by the Global Project Against Hate and Extremism (GPAHE), targeting such specialized ministries and counseling centers. GPAHE labels help for unwanted LGBT issues “conversion therapy,” an all-encompassing, intentionally vague phrase, which is so broad as to have no meaning at all.
GPAHE demanded that big tech companies such as Facebook, Amazon, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube and Google silence any organizations offering help for those whose sexual attractions, identity and behaviors that conflict with their deeply held religious beliefs.
GPAHE is itself an extremist group; one of its co-founders, Heidi Beirich, worked for the widely discredited Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC). There, she led the SPLC’s Intelligence Report and Hatewatch blog. The SPLC regularly targets mainstream Christian individuals and groups, attacking them for their beliefs about biblical relationships, sexuality and marriage.
GPAHE is following in that tradition, labeling traditional biblical beliefs “anti-LGBTQ+.” The organization believes it’s “harmful” and “malicious” for Christians to believe that homosexual and “transgender” identities and behaviors are a sin and to help people struggling with these forms of sexual brokenness.
GPAHE lumps organizations with cornerstone Christian beliefs about marriage and sexuality with “far-right extremist and hate movements motivated by white supremacy, xenophobia, anti-LGBTQ+ beliefs, antisemitism, anti-Muslim sentiment, religious discrimination, anti-woman activity, and gender bias.”
As we reported earlier in The Daily Citizen, GPAHE’s reports were picked up by LGBT news outlets and then by Forbes, in an article titled “Tech Giants ‘Failing’ To Block Global LGBTQ Conversion Therapy Network.”
Shortly after this was published, YouTube caved to GPAHE’s demands, shutting down the account for the Reintegrative Therapy Association (RTA). Founded and directed by Dr. Joseph Nicolosi, Jr., the counseling organization says, “Reintegrative Therapy is entirely separate from so-called ‘conversion therapy.’”
Instead, the organization offers “established, evidence-based treatment interventions” to help clients work with a therapist “toward clearly defined objectives as defined by the client, and agreed upon by the client and the therapist.”
Others with platforms deleted by the tech giant include Core Issues Trust, X-Out-Loud, and the International Federation for Therapeutic and Counselling Choice.
The groups silenced by Facebook offer hope and healing for sexual brokenness, some with secular counseling, others with Christian help and support. Their websites give many stories from those who have found freedom and wholeness.
In shutting them down, Facebook is not just shutting down testimonies of change from homosexuality and transgenderism, but it is also silencing the gospel’s message of forgiveness and redemption for those struggling with unwanted LGBT attraction, identity and behavior.
Related articles and resources:
Facebook Bans Content Related to Change from Homosexuality – Calls it ‘Hate Speech’
Facebook Removes Restored Hope Network’s Page for Those Struggling with Unwanted Homosexuality
Focus on the Family: Resources – Homosexuality
Focus on the Family: Transgender Resources
What Do We Mean When We Talk About Change From Homosexuality?
Why We Support Therapy for Unwanted Homosexuality
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