17th March 2012

Dear Mr Streeter, Sever Links with Gay Cure Charity As you are aware, I have set up a petition on Change.org which now has over 8,600 signatures, calling on you and a number of other MPs who have made declarations of material support from the Christian charity CARE to sever links with the charity as a result of its sponsorship of a gay cure event in 2009. The MPs being petitioned have all received interns paid for by CARE. The charity was described as a bunch of homophobic bigots by Ben Bradshaw MP in the year 2000, because they refused to provide him with an intern after they found out he is gay. When told of the links between CARE and the gay cure event, David Lammy MP told the Haringey Independent I wont be taking another intern because I cant agree with their extreme views. As a direct result of the petition another MP, Liz Kendall, has severed links with the charity saying I completely disagree with such extreme views, and have therefore pulled out of the CARE internship programme with immediate effect. I was very surprised to read your statement to the Peoples Republic of South Devon website that the allegations against CARE are false because all of the information set out within the petition and the statements made above by your parliamentary colleagues, are a matter of public record. The conference programme for the 2009 event clearly shows the event was sponsored by CARE and Anglican Mainstream. The event discussed Therapeutic Approaches to Same Sex Attraction and Mentoring the Sexually Broken and, as the programme shows, sessions by Joseph Nicolosi were available to those affected by Same Sex Attraction. I have been in touch with one conference delegate who can confirm that this was a gay cure event. Anglican Mainstream, the co-sponsor of the 2009 event held another conference in January 2012 entitled The Lepers Among Us : Homosexuality and the Life of the Church which was co-ordinated by Dr Lisa Nolland who is also named as point of contact for the 2009 event which CARE sponsored. The conference flier explains the purpose of the event was to explore the notion that churches should keep the lepers among us to heal and cure same sex sins. According to an eyewitness report, one of the moderators at the conference was the Reverend Paul Perkin, who is a Trustee and Director of CARE and Care Campaigns as well as a Trustee and Director of Anglican Mainstream.

The brochure advertising CAREs Leadership Programme makes clear that interns must understand and be in agreement with the aims of the organisation. My Member of Parliament, David Burrowes, has stated that CAREs internship programme is distinct from its social policy work and that interns have not lobbied on behalf of CARE . Records at the Charity Commission and Companies House show that the Trustees of CARE are also Directors of CARE and CARE Campaigns. The Consolidated Annual Accounts for CARE show that Rev. Lyndon Bowring, Co-Founder and Nola Leech, Director of the Institute for Faith and Culture (IFC) which runs the CARE Leadership Programme are the Executive Chairman and Chief Executive of CARE respectively and attend meetings of the Council of Management by invitation. Whilst the interns may not lobby on behalf of CARE, the public records show that at the level of leadership and governance, the intern programme and CAREs social policy through its two limited companies and registered charity, are linked, through Mrs Leech and Rev Bowring. This matrix summarises the leadership and governance arrangements, as evident from the public records. As a Christian myself, an active member of my local church and a member of its PCC, I am not prone to aggression. I was surprised to read that you think my petition is an aggressive campaign based on falsehoods. I hope that the links above have clarified matters for you and that having seen the evidence, you will follow the example of David Lammy MP and Liz Kendall MP and publicly condone the gay-cure event that took place in 2009 and distance yourself from the Christian charity CARE which sponsored it and which is currently led by a Director and Trustee who was actively involved in The Lepers Among Us conference in January this year. Yours sincerely,

Phillip Dawson