‘Healing’ gays qualifies for charitable tax status

Stories of former participants who have been harmed by gay-conversion programs are nothing new. But in Canada, efforts to revoke the charity status of such programs have been unsuccessful. At a 2011 NDP meeting in Vancouver, the party unanimously passed a motion to pressure the Canada Revenue Agency to investigate Exodus International, a gay reparative therapy charity, and similar charities. The motion said that these programs prey on gay Christians who are “at grips with depression and self-hatred.” The CRA would not confirm whether Living Waters has ever been investigated, citing privacy rules.

“I can only confirm that it’s still a registered charity,” said agency spokesman Philippe Brideau. Documents obtained by the Star show that Living Waters did not identify itself as a program that sought in part to “heal” homosexuals when it applied for charity status.

Rather, it said it was a religious charity that would “promote, support and encourage individuals to pursue healing for the areas of sexual and relational brokenness.” The words homosexual, gay and same-sex attraction did not appear in the application. On its website, Living Waters is clear that it helps Christians struggling with “self-identified unwanted same-sex attractions.” The CRA approved Living Waters for charity status in 1998. This granted it the power to provide tax receipts for donations. In the past three years, these donations have accounted for 62 per cent of the charity’s total revenue. Analysis of CRA documents shows that Living Waters has grown significantly in the past nine years, more than tripling its annual revenue from $227,035 in 2003 to $769,204 in 2012. Tax-receipted donations have always made up a significant chunk of the charity’s revenue. In 2011 it collected nearly 70 per cent of its revenue in this way. This money has helped Living Waters expand its program in churches across the country, run national conferences and train waves of new leaders at week-long retreats each year in Alberta. The charity also claims to have operations in Thailand, Philippines, Indonesia, Colombia, Africa and “Asia and Oceania.” In other countries, charities that attempt to turn gays straight have faced tougher scrutiny. In 2010, New Zealand revoked the charity status of Exodus International, a program that “healed” people with same-sex attractions. The New Zealand Charities Commission said the organization did not provide a public benefit by purportedly “healing” gays, and cited a report by the American Psychological Association that found that ex-gay programs are both unsafe and ineffective. The American branch of Exodus International shut down in July amid much publicity and apologized to all those it had hurt. “I am sorry that some of you spent years working through the shame and guilt you felt when your attractions didn’t change,” wrote the organization’s leader, Alan Chambers, in a statement titled “I Am Sorry.” “I am sorry that when I celebrated a person coming to Christ and surrendering their sexuality to Him that I callously celebrated the end of relationships that broke your heart. I am sorry that I have communicated that you and your families are less than me and mine.” Graham Slaughter