A UK man reached a five-figure settlement with a Sheffield church after being subjected to a “gay exorcism” more than a decade ago, reports The Times.
Matthew Drapper, 37, was working as a volunteer at St Thomas Philadelphia, a joint Anglican-Baptist congregation in Sheffield, at the time of the incident. Invited to an “Encounter God Weekend” at the “contemporary, welcoming church,” Drapper soon found himself coerced into an exorcism ritual meant to purge the “demons of homosexuality.”
“Looking back, it seems like something out of a horror movie – for someone to be standing over you saying they can see the demons leaving your body, is quite terrifying,” he told The Times. “But when you are deeply tied into the church, as I was at that time, it is easy to believe anything they tell you.”
Richard Scorer, who represented Drapper in his lawsuit, believes the settlement marks “the first-ever payment of damages in respect of harm caused by conversion of exorcism practices.”
After the incident, Drapper was allegedly forced out of his volunteer position over his sexuality. He became depressed and experienced suicidal thoughts, leaving the church entirely two years later. In 2019, Drapper made a formal complaint about the exorcism and requested an apology from St Thomas Philadelphia. The parish claimed there was no evidence to support Drapper’s allegations, eventually commissioning the British children’s charity Barnardo’s to independently investigate the case in 2022.
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Barnardo’s concluded its investigation in November 2023, saying it was a “supported fact” that the ‘prayer session’ Drapper was subjected to constituted “a form of exorcism … administered with the intention of changing his sexual identity.”
St Thomas Philadelphia accepted the results, expressing sadness and remorse over the incident. Drapper went forward with his legal claim, resulting in the five-figure out-of-court settlement.
“It demonstrates that churches which engage in these abhorrent homophobic practices may face legal claims and damages awards,” Scorer told The Times, “and I hope it will encourage churches to ban such practices entirely.”
Bans on conversion “therapy” have become increasingly common in recent years, but often apply only to its practice by mental health professionals and on minors, exempting cases like Drapper’s. The UK has floated banning the practice since 2018, as advocacy groups push for change.
“Stop the delay and deliver the promise,” the UK-based Ban Conversion Therapy Coalition wrote in a May statement. “It’s been seven years since a ban was first pledged, yet LGBTQ+ people are still being subjected to degrading, abusive practices while the government dithers.”
