This is, allegedly, the case with people like Tryphena and Alessio. They wanted nothing more than to rid themselves of being gay, says the church.“No one has been encouraged, prescribed nor pressured to become heterosexual, to enter or re-enter into heterosexual relationships, or to remain single or celibate,” said Toh.There are many, however, who don’t believe this. A closer look at their promotional materials also proves problematic.“We have, however, discovered a small but growing group of people within the church who hold the belief that a change in their sexual orientation is possible and they claim to experience varying degrees of such change,” the pastor said.
“[True Love] chooses to ignore the substantial scientific evidence that establishes homosexuality as a natural, involuntary, and harmless variation in human psychology,” wrote the Medium author. “It chooses to resist the inevitable realization that life without ‘same-sex attraction’ is a viable mode of existence…”
“They wanted to show me the error of my ways,” she said, speaking of the weekly counseling sessions she had to go through at her church. “Because I was marked as being a ‘tomboy,’ which was a stereotype of being a gay woman, they wanted to get rid of it in me. I just had to go along with it, so I would just switch off [during the sessions].”
He also agreed with the criticism that True Love was not upfront about its real intentions.“I do think their marketing techniques are trying to mask what they’re doing,” Manvendra told VICE. “They talk about queer stuff in general. They use the rainbow flag at the particular church where the initiative is held. They are just trying to coerce people into coming to the church.”In his email to VICE, Toh again emphasised that the ministry does not practice conversion therapy, saying the church is aware of its critics, but stands by its cause. Their primary intention is to help Christians “to live in a way that's consistent with Christianity's life-giving design for our sexuality.”“The presence of an organization like this doesn’t represent the whole of Singapore, but it does allude to the fact that the Christian demographic does have a lot of power in Singapore,” he said.
He also insisted that the central idea of queer people needing to change is in itself unjust.“Queer people deserve to have love and experience a romantic and sexual connection with someone. It’s not a sin,” he said. “Don’t consider yourself a sinner.”Find Meera on Twitter and Instagram.“Looking at True Love, I think of all the queer people and vulnerable people who are just starting to figure out their sexuality,” he said. “Being that vulnerable and insecure is a make-or-break point.”