"This Court considers that the only intention the presenters of the program could have had was to provide a platform for discussion on this subject. There is no doubt that they did not have the intention of breaching this provision of the law."
"Grech described the experience in court testimony as 'not one of therapy but a spiritual one.' He was represented by Andrea Williams and the Christian Legal Center in London in his defense against the conversion therapy promotion charges."
"Now I call on the Maltese government and the European Commission to revoke the law around 'conversion practices'. It's simply a weapon in the hands of activists, and it needs to go."
Matthew Grech, a former X-Factor Malta contestant, appeared on the PM News podcast in 2022 with hosts Rita Bonnici and Mario Camilleri to discuss his spiritual journey away from homosexuality toward Christianity. The Malta Gay Rights Movement reported the program to authorities, leading to charges under Malta's 2016 Affirmation of Sexual Orientation, Gender and Gender Expression Act, which prohibits conversion therapy promotion. Magistrate Monica Vella ruled that the podcast hosts intended only to provide a discussion platform without intent to breach the law. Grech characterized his experience as spiritual rather than therapeutic. Following acquittal, Grech called for revoking Malta's conversion therapy ban, describing it as weaponized against Christian testimony.
Read at LGBTQ Nation
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