Coptic Church’s Anti-LGBTQ+ Conversion Therapy Programs Draw Scrutiny

Non-Islamic religious institutions in Egypt, including the Coptic Orthodox Church, receive little scrutiny for anti-LGBTQ+ actions, according to an analysis of the church’s role in the state’s approach to queer people. The analysis notes that Egypt has a worsening reputation for LGBTQ+ rights and that a 2013 survey showed 95 percent of Egyptians oppose homosexuality. Although Egypt does not explicitly criminalize queer identities, authorities often use morality and sex work laws to arrest and prosecute LGBTQ+ people.

The Coptic Orthodox Church is the largest Christian community in the Middle East and North Africa. Accurate population figures are difficult to obtain because the government has not released census data. In 2018, Pope Tawadros II of Alexandria, head of the church, estimated the community at about 17 million, or roughly 16 percent of the population, while the official state estimate is around 6 to 8 percent. The analysis describes the church as holding considerable influence over Coptic social and civil life, noting that Egyptian law gives it a role in certain civil legal matters. Miray Philips, an assistant professor of sociology at the University of Toronto, is quoted describing a long-standing relationship in which the state offers the church and Copts protection in exchange for political support.

According to the analysis, the church and other Egyptian churches use the term “homosexuality” rather than LGBTQ+, treating anyone who is LGBTQ+ as a homosexual. The analysis says it is unclear whether this approach is deliberate or reflects a failure to develop a specific understanding of transgender and intersex people, as the Islamic institution Al-Azhar has done. The church’s influence also extends to its branches abroad. The analysis states that in Coptic Christianity, as in other Abrahamic religions, being LGBTQ+ is considered a sin from which a person should repent, or otherwise be expelled from the community.

The analysis traces the church’s position to 2003, when Pope Shenouda III, then head of the church, convened a meeting of Egyptian churches to form a united front against the acceptance of LGBTQ+ people by some Western churches. The meeting issued a statement denouncing that acceptance, declaring that marriage is between a man and a woman and that the Coptic church and other Egyptian churches would not accept homosexuality. The analysis says that similar statements followed whenever a Western church announced acceptance. In 2017, after the arrest of 75 people following the display of a rainbow flag at a concert, the church said it supported the government’s actions and planned a conference on combating “homosexuality.” The analysis also reports regular conferences and trainings for social workers, therapists, priests and parents on the subject.

The analysis describes a network of priests and therapists that treats LGBTQ+ people through prayer, confession, therapy and family and church support. It names Boutros Samy, a priest and lecturer at the Orthodox Counseling Center in Maadi, Cairo, who in a 2018 interview attributed homosexuality to a lack of parental love and said he and other priests could help through “prayers of love” and by restricting “homosexual content.” Samy said the method works and that he had treated many people with it. The analysis also includes an account from a man identified as Mark, a queer Coptic Christian from Minya who spoke on condition of anonymity. He described being confined to school and church “treatment” for almost a year after his parents found material on the family computer, until a priest declared him healed. The analysis calls such “love prayers” conversion therapy, a practice it says human rights bodies consider a violation.

In 2021, the church’s addiction and mental health committee held a training course on “unwanted same-sex attraction” that featured Richard Cohen, an American who describes himself as an “ex-gay” and offers “Sexual Orientation Therapy.” The analysis notes that Cohen does not hold a license to practice psychotherapy in any American state. It also says that the church’s programs incorporate Western elements and that American Christians have lent their names or credentials to such efforts. According to the analysis, a queer Copt who wishes to avoid these practices must either leave or comply until the pressure ends, or may be expelled from the church.

The analysis also describes an awareness campaign aimed at children and parents in the church’s kindergarten and Sunday schools. Quoting Pope Tawadros II from 2023, it reports his statement that the church had implemented campaigns “to protect the child when they hear the word ‘homosexual,'” and that the child must understand what it calls abnormality. The analysis states that the church’s activity abroad has grown as LGBTQ+ rights advanced in countries with large Coptic communities, including Canada, the United States and Australia. It reports that in 2017 Pope Tawadros II, while visiting Australia, instructed the Coptic community there to vote against marriage equality in the national referendum.

The analysis says conversion therapy is banned in Canada, Australia and some parts of the United States, but that programs in those countries are branded as “love prayers” or “sexual orientation therapy.” Marcus Zacharia, a trained pharmacist and community health worker in Ontario, is quoted saying the church in Canada uses in-house “church-approved counselors” and vague terminology to avoid legal challenges. He also said Boutros Samy regularly visits Canada to lecture parents, priests and others on “sexual orientation,” and that “such branding is important to avoid any legal backlash from the Canadian government.”

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