The campaign to warn young people against homosexuality, launched on Monday, featured the story of a girl whose faith helped her to stop being bisexual. She said that if murderers can be reformed, homosexuals can be too.
The campaign has drawn condemnation from the Archbishop of Finland's dominant Evangelical Lutheran church, who stressed that it was not organised by the church itself. However, thousands have resigned from church in response, since the organisations behind the campaign were partially funded by the national church tax.
Campaign organisers insist that their aim was not to hurt anybody's feelings or to protest against homosexuality, but to help those who wish to change their sexual oreintation.
Psychotherapists say that denying one’s sexual identity can lead to various mental problems or even provoke suicide. Sexologist Tarja Sandberg says that the Christian campaign has been dangerous for young people.
“This is exactly the problem for my customers—they don’t understand what they need to be cured of. Homosexuality has not been classified as a disorder for a long time. It’s not an illness that needs to be cured,” she says.
