January 19, 2019 01:29 PM UTC

Denver Archdiocese Hosts Conference Featuring A Notorious Proponent of "Healing" LGBTQ People

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• by: Interfaith Alliance of Colorado

(Promoted by Colorado Pols)

Activists Denounce The Archdiocese’s Alignment with Anti-LGBTQ Extremist; Giant Banner in Front of Conference Quotes Kenote Speaker, “There is no such thing as a gay person… Satan delights in homosexual perversion”

Event Comes As Colorado Is Poised to Pass Legislation Banning So-Called “Conversion Therapy”

DENVER: The Denver Archdiocese is hosting a conference Saturday led by Andrew Comiskey, one of the country’s leading anti-LGBTQ bigots, who’s stated, among other things, that “there is no such thing as a ‘gay’ person,” and that “Satan delights in homosexual perversion, because it not only exists outside of marriage, but it also defiles God’s very image as reflected in male and female.”

The event, titled “Gender Matters: Fighting for a New Generation,” is run by Desert Stream/Living Waters Ministries, founded and directed by Comiskey, which works with churches on “healing” the “sexually and relationally broken.” It will take place from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. at St. John Paul II Center for the New Evangelization, 1305 S, Monroe Street in Denver.

Desert Stream is listed as a resource on the website of Restored Hope Network, which promotes the “transformation” of “broken sexual sinners,” including LGBTQ people. Desert Stream’s online shop offers conversion therapy books and audio in English and Spanish.

“We do face a moral crisis,” said Rev. Amanda Henderson, Executive Director of the Interfaith Alliance of Colorado. “We face a moral crisis when people cause harm to others in God’s name. We are in crisis when we forget the opening chapters of our holy text, which name that all people were created in God’s image; good and worthy of love. Rather than preaching hate and bigotry, we should be speaking and acting with love and inclusion. We must honor the basic dignity and humanity of every person and assure that God’s unconditional love is experienced through our words and actions.”

“As the Executive Director of One Colorado, the state’s leading advocacy organization for LGBTQ Coloradans and their families, I know firsthand that LGBTQ Coloradans are living in every county of our great state” said Daniel Ramos, Executive Director of One Colorado & One Colorado Education Fund. “I hear stories from Coloradans all across our state about why gender matters – so every LGBTQ Coloradan can live their lives as their full, authentic selves. Which is why we added a third gender option for Coloradans on their drivers licenses. Which is why we will make is easier for transgender Coloradans to update their birth certificates. And which is why 2019 will be the year that we ban conversion therapy for minors in Colorado.”

The event comes as Colorado Democrats, who took control of state government in November, are poised to pass legislation banning the practice on minors of called “conversion therapy,” a science-free and abusive practice that aims to force LGBTQ people to become heterosexual.

Last year, such a bill passed the Colorado state house, mostly along partisan lines, but was killed by Republican leaders in the state senate.

The Archdiocese’s online announcement of Saturday’s conference did not mention “conversion therapy” specifically, but the public invitation to the event stated, “Desert Stream Ministries and the Archdiocese of Denver invite you to join Andrew Comiskey and friends as we discover together the compassion and clarity of Jesus towards persons facing gender and sexual identity issues.”

“We as Christians face an unprecedented moral crisis,” states the Desert Stream ministries website. “Sexual abuse (including clerical), and soft approaches to hard stuff like porn addiction, marital infidelity, ‘LGBT’-identification, and undisciplined Christian leaders have weakened our voice and allowed a generation to wander in an immoral wilderness.”

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* Andrew Comiskey (1989). “Pursuing Sexual Wholeness: How Jesus Heals the Homosexual”, p.101, Charisma Media