Iain Duncan Smith’s replacement at the DWP criticised for past links to ‘gay cure’ group
Iain Duncan Smith’s replacement as the Work and Pensions Secretary has in the past been criticised for links to a group which sponsored a gay ‘cure’ event.
The new Work and Pensions Secretary Stephen Crabb previously took interns from a religious charity which opposes gay equality and sponsored a ‘gay cure’ event.
Last year he was appointed Welsh Secretary, but has now been announced as the former Tory leader’s replacement at the DWP, after his shock resignation last night.
The Conservative MP for Preseli Pembrokeshire in 2013 voted against same-sex marriage legislation for England and Wales.
Crabb was previously the Parliamentary under-secretary of state at the Wales Office and a government whip.
He was known to have taken interns from Christian Action Research and Education (CARE), an organisation which co-sponsored the “Judaeo-Christian” event ‘Sex and the City: Redeeming sex today’ in 2012.
The £50-a-head conference included talks on “mentoring the sexually broken” from speakers including Jospeh Nicolosi, president of the National Association for Research and Therapy of Homosexuality and author of books on how to clinically “treat” being gay.
Arthur Goldberg, co-founder of controversial ex-gay group JONAH (Jews Offering New Alternatives to Homosexuality) was another speaker.
Crabb, who last received a CARE intern in 2010 was himself part of the scheme in the 1990s.
Earlier this week photos on Twitter appeared to show Crabb’s constituency office with the words “why do you hate the sick” spray painted on the side.
A spokesperson for the Department of Work and Pensions declined to comment.
