The Traitors star Matthew Hyndman has revealed how he 'escaped conversion therapy' after a church tried to 'cure' him of being gay. The 35-year-old Faithful, originally from Northern Ireland but now living in Edinburgh, shared his experience in 2021.
The harrowing experience came after his private online conversations disclosing his sexuality were accidentally shared in an email to about 100 members of his religious community, including his family and pastor. Writing in The Independent, he said: 'Inwardly, I was wrestling with a growing awareness of a sexuality which, I had been told for as long as I could remember, would lead to my eternal damnation.'
In 2015, as a 24-year-old missionary sailing the Indian Ocean and South China Sea, his mission leaders demanded he undergo therapy and confess in front of 400 missionaries. He refused, saying: 'I am glad that I had the strength of mind to refuse, and recognise that I didn’t need to change or “cure” myself. Somehow I got myself to London, where I found people who would help me build a new life.'
Six months after his 'catastrophic coming out', one of his old churches sent a letter cancelling his membership due to 'lifestyle choices' and refusal to undertake 'counselling'. This led him to found the Ban Conversion Therapy movement in 2020, a coalition calling for a UK government ban. The government first pledged to ban conversion therapy in 2018, but legislation has yet to pass.
Now appearing on The Traitors, Hyndman shared his plans for potential prize money: buying a cottage in the Highlands and marrying his partner in Northern Ireland. He campaigned for marriage equality there, which was legalised in 2020. 'I think that I would probably say that I'm going to get married back home in Northern Ireland on my family farm. And then if I win, I might just have to do that,' he said.
