Christian group fights UK High Court over 'gay cure' bus ad

A Christian group is fighting a High Court battle in the UK over a ban on its bus advert suggesting that gay people can be “cured”.

The Mayor of London, who is in charge of Transport for London (TfL), rejected the ad posters as “offensive to gays”.

The rejected posters say: “Not Gay! Ex-Gay, Post-Gay and Proud. Get over it!”

They are in response to a poster campaign by gay rights group Stonewall, which plastered on the sides of London’s red buses: “Some people are gay. Get over it!”

The banned ad promotes the view of the Core Issues Trust that homosexuals can be “reoriented” through therapy and prayer.

Today Dr Mike Davidson, the head of the trust, is asking Mrs Justice Lang to rule at London’s High Court that the ban unlawfully stifles the right to free speech.

He told Radio 4’s Today programme: “There is a group of ex-gay individuals who have moved away from homosexuality and they need to be respected.

“They have tried gay and for them this just doesn’t work... we simply wish to point out that this ex-gay community needs recognition.”

But Mayor Boris Johnson says the ad is not only offensive to gays but could lead to a retaliation against the wider Christian community.

A TfL spokesman said: “The advertisement breached TfL’s advertising policy as in our view it contained a publicly controversial message and was likely to cause widespread offence to members of the public.”

Dr Davidson is expected to point to a “controversial message” poster that did go on public view – and Christians found offensive.

Funded by academic Richard Dawkins and the British Humanist Association in 2009, it said: “There’s probably no God. Now stop worrying. And enjoy your life.”

Andrea Williams, director of the Christian Legal Centre, which is supporting Dr Davidson’s case, said: “The ban on these advertisements was the beginning of a kind of reverse discrimination which threatens to obliterate debate in the public sphere.

“Boris Johnson needs to realise his mistake and ensure there is freedom for all in the marketplace of ideas. He cannot prefer one group over another.”