Tory candidate attempts to 'cure' homosexuals.

[HeadingNorth]

What baffles me is why anyone would consider that sexual orientation can be changed or 'cured' as though it's a disease.

 

Whether it's a disease or not is rather beside the point. If someone doesn't want to be gay but finds that they are, they're going to want to change their orientation. If someone wants to be gay but finds that they are not, ditto.

[Daven]

Whether it's a disease or not is rather beside the point. If someone doesn't want to be gay but finds that they are, they're going to want to change their orientation. If someone wants to be gay but finds that they are not, ditto.

 

I's not a disease - it's an orientation - one that can't be changed however much said person wants it to be changed. To even suggest that this is possible is misleading and cruel.

[Wildcat]

As always, it is the exceptions that prove the rule. Her views are hardly systemic.

 

How can you claim she is an exception, when she is responsible for around 70 of the Tory parties social policies and is allied with Nadine Dorries?

 

Philippa Stroud, who is likely to win the Sutton and Cheam seat on Thursday and is head of the Centre for Social Justice, the thinktank set up by the former Tory leader Iain Duncan Smith, has heavily influenced David Cameron's beliefs on subjects such as the family. A popular and energetic Tory, she is seen as one of the party's rising stars.

 

The CSJ reportedly claims to have formulated as many as 70 of the party's policies. Stroud has spoken of how her Christian faith has motivated her to help the poor and of her time spent working with the destitute in Hong Kong. On her return to Britain, in 1989, she founded a church and night shelter in Bedford, the King's Arms Project, that helped drug addicts and alcoholics. It also counselled gay, lesbian and transsexual people.

 

http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2010/may/02/conservatives-philippa-stroud-gay-cure

 

“Historically, there have been splits in the Conservative Party over religion. But the vast majority of the new MPs will be social Conservatives who have similar opinions to myself," Nadine Dorries tells the New Statesman. “I can think of half a dozen Conservatives that don't agree with me, but they're leaving at the next election - people like Andrew MacKay and David Curry. The new MPs that are coming in are all social Conservatives - people like Fiona Bruce, Philippa Stroud, Louise Bagshawe." She further added:"Cameron won't bring abortion to the forefront of the government agenda - that will take people like me - but he will support it. He could be like Tony Blair - he feels strongly about his faith, but doesn't feel he can bring it out until later."

 

Philippa Stroud, comes under special scrutiny for her involvement in The New Frontiers Church where her husband is one of the main leaders. Jonathan Bartley at Ekklesia (courtesy: Sunny Hundal, Pickled Politics) writes about the New Frontiers Church and highlights how it requires a wife to be subservient to the wishes of her husband in all things. Sunny and Jonathan, both seek clarification from Ms. Stroud, on whether she would be voting based on her husband's wishes and her Church's doctrines or on the basis of the Conservative Party manifesto.

 

http://www.egovmonitor.com/node/36115

[Wildcat]

Iain Dale has already commented on this and basically said its nonsense. It is worth noting that Stroud has said she is "deeply offended" by the article and claims it is false and insulting.

http://iaindale.blogspot.com/2010/05/easy-target.html#links

 

I wouldn't trust Iain Dale.

 

What you don't appear to have noticed is that she hasn't refuted the claims made in the observer that she supports the view that demons are responsible for homosexuality. She has simply said that it isn't a disease, something the observer never said.

 

Here as another example Iain Dale defends Nadine Dorries ridiculous claim that a foetus punched its way out of a uterus, which was part of her anti-abortion campaign a couple of years ago.

 

Iain Dale defends her based on the opinion of the photographer whilst failing to report the Doctor had said the story was an internet hoax .

 

SPECIAL FEATURE: BLOGGERS ONLY

 

Take a look at how Iain Dale handles this on his pseudo-blog:

 

Iain Dale - The Daley Dozen: Wednesday: Nadine tells of the Hand of Hope, is then slammed by Bad Science, who says it's a hoax, but he is then contradicted by the photographer, Michael Clancy, who took the picture. You pays your money...

 

1. Note how Iain gives the impression that the photographer has posted his account in response to Dr Ben Goldacre's bloggage, when this clearly isn't the case.

 

It's a pity it's semi-anonymous, but this comment just published on Iain's site covers the matter nicely:

 

When you say Ben Goldacre "is then contradicted by the photographer" that's extremely misleading. Ben Goldacre LINKED to the photographer's (old) story in his blog entry, that was part of Goldacre's story.

 

If you believe an emotive story from the man who took the photo, instead of the description of what happened from the very surgeon who did the operation, and does the operation for a living, then that's your affair. But to suggest that Goldacre has been responded to and shown to be wrong is as misleading as the original Nadine Dorries story.

 

 

2. The photographer, Michael Clancy, dedicates his entire website to telling his side of the story (and selling copies of the photo) and says himself; "I have become obsessed with proving to the world that I did capture the earliest interaction ever recorded." Iain Dale, who loves to claim that anyone who presses him more than once for a straight answer is 'obsessed' (or perhaps even a 'stalker') chooses not to dismiss a self-confessed obsessive in this way.

 

3. Iain doesn't like anyone doing the same to him, but like many political bloggers/writers, Iain will often point out affiliations and associations that might suggest that someone's version of events is less than objective. But Iain does not mention that this image and account, used widely by religious groups campaigning against abortion, comes to us from a devout and evangelical born-again Christian.

 

http://www.bloggerheads.com/archives/2008/03/people_of_mid_b.asp

 

Tory liars trying to take away women's rights.

[Tony]

Do you mean Iain Dale, the openly homosexual Conservative PPC?

 

Are we talking about the same Iain Dale?

[Wildcat]

Do you mean Iain Dale, the openly homosexual Conservative PPC?

 

Are we talking about the same Iain Dale?

 

I am talking about the mudslinging blogger. He has stood for election, is he doing so again?

 

If so then it is another good reason not to trust the Tories.

[Stormy]

I am talking about the mudslinging blogger. He has stood for election, is he doing so again?

 

If so then it is another good reason not to trust the Tories.

 

He is not standing for election this time around.

 

But if you are taking a story out of the Lib Dem leaning Observer, you can hardly dismiss Iain Dale as my source just because he is a Tory. He is openly gay and has dismissed the story as nonsense. Whilst he is also openly Tory, he is quick to criticise Tory PPCs where necessary and in this instance I believe him, not some Lefty reporter.

[Stormy]

You will also be interested to know, Wildcat, that his blog is the most read and one of the most respected in the political blogsphere, despite what you may think of him.

[Wildcat]

He is not standing for election this time around.

 

But if you are taking a story out of the Lib Dem leaning Observer, you can hardly dismiss Iain Dale as my source just because he is a Tory. He is openly gay and has dismissed the story as nonsense. Whilst he is also openly Tory, he is quick to criticise Tory PPCs where necessary and in this instance I believe him, not some Lefty reporter.

 

How can you believe him when what he reports as exonerating Philipa Stroud is a statement she has made that doesn't even address the claims made?

 

He could be anyone at all and his response to the story would make him look transparently biassed and involved in a whitewash.

[Stormy]

She has said the story is "false and insulting." Whats not to understand about that?