SCOTTISH Labour’s equalities chief has been criticised for her involvement with a Christian charity that funded a conference which promoted a so-called “gay cure”.
MSP Rhoda Grant benefited from an unpaid internship provided by Christian Action Research and Education (CARE), despite other Labour parliamentarians distancing themselves from the body.
Veteran gay rights activist Peter Tatchell said: "I'm shocked that a Labour spokesperson on equalities would have an intern from CARE, given that the organisation was previously exposed as having helped fund a so-called 'gay cure' conference. It seems totally inconsistent with Rhoda Grant's commitment to LGBT and human rights."
READ: Scottish Labour leader under fire over anti-semitism row
In 2012, it emerged that CARE had sponsored an event three years earlier which included a session on "mentoring the sexually broken".
It was billed as having “a special focus on how religious professionals and friends/relatives can respond biblically and pastorally to those struggling with unwanted SSA (same-sex attraction)”.
The keynote speech was delivered by psychologist Joseph Nicolosi, who founded the National Association for Research and Therapy of Homosexuality.
Anglican Mainstream, which was later blocked from showing adverts on London buses promoting the idea that homosexuals can become "ex-gay", was one of the organisers.
Image: Tatchell
The revelations led to scrutiny of CARE’s internship scheme, which involves graduates working in the offices of politicians in the Westminster, Edinburgh and Brussels parliaments.
According to the charity, the CARE leadership programme lasts for eleven months: “Our graduates find themselves involved in speech writing, research, advocacy, media engagement and public relations. Most internships are London-based, but we also offer Parliamentary placements in Edinburgh and Brussels.
“For over 20 years CARE has been equipping a generation of Christians to be salt and light in our culture. We are looking to recruit Christian graduates who are ambitious to make a difference and who desire to put Biblical principles into practice in the workplace.”
After the negative media coverage in 2012, Labour MP Liz Kendall ended her association with the charity.
She said at at the time: “When I became involved with the CARE internship programme in December last year, I had no idea CARE had co-sponsored a conference in which ‘therapeutic approaches to same sex attraction’ appeared on the agenda”.
Labour MP David Lammy also said said he would take no more interns from CARE, which campaigned against equal marriage and argued against the repeal of Section 28 – legislation that banned the promotion of homosexuality in schools – by Holyrood.
Grant, a Highlands and Islands MSP who is in the Scottish Labour shadow cabinet, benefited from the services of a CARE intern from September last year to July 26th.
Her register of interest stated: “The post is unpaid, but the intern receives a bursary of £7,700 as a member of the educational Leadership Programme of the Christian charity CARE.”
An ally of party leader Richard Leonard, Grant is Labour’s Holyrood business manager and is the spokesperson for women and equalities.
A party source said: "This is completely incompatible with Labour's values, and raises serious questions about Rhoda's judgement. It's astonishing that she has continued to support CARE when other Labour politicians rightly distanced themselves from this programme years ago.
“She has now left us open to charges of utter hypocrisy whenever we criticise the SNP for accepting donations from Brian Souter."
CARE, which says it seeks to “uphold human dignity” and “support the most vulnerable people in society”, provided a statement to this newspaper on Friday:
“Graduates on our well-respected educational scheme take voluntary internships. The bursary is to fund the study programme – the lectures and the study weekends. CARE gave a small gift to Anglican Mainstream in 2009 but the gift was in no way intended as an endorsement of all that was discussed at the conference. It is entirely false to label CARE a gay-cure charity. We do not support or advocate for any so called ‘gay-cure’.”
A Scottish Labour spokesperson said: "We don't comment on staff."
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