Five years ago, Isaac Banda attended a spiritual retreat, unaware that it would be the worst and most traumatic experience of his life. Neither he nor his parents were ever told that he would actually be subjected to sexual conversion therapy, which included psychological and physical violence, such as being burned with candle wax and… even being exorcised.
In an interview with MILENIO, Isaac recounted this painful experience. Today, as president of the organization Guanajuato Libre A.C., he has spoken out so that no other person from the LGBTQ+ community has to go through the same ordeal after being lured under false pretenses.
A spiritual retreat that concealed violence
According to his testimony, this occurred in 2020, when he was 23 years old. He stated that the orientation retreat was organized by the Pius X Temple, belonging to the Archdiocese of León. He said that, to this day, the Church still holds these kinds of “spiritual retreats.”
As a teenager, he participated in youth groups, but when they found out about his sexual orientation, they expelled him. A priest recommended that he and his parents attend the “spiritual retreat,” for which they paid 500 pesos, without knowing what was actually practiced.
The retreat began on a Friday afternoon and ended on Sunday with a Mass. A bus transported 15 young people, including Isaac. The destination was the Sierra de Lobos, north of the León metropolitan area.
“There were more young people there; we weren’t just there because of our sexual orientation, but also because of addictions. They present it to you as if being gay or part of the LGBTQ+ community is like an addiction; they instill the idea that, just as a person can be addicted to alcohol, men can be cured of being gay.”
The concept of time was lost while they were isolated in the mountains, without technology, waking up before dawn and attending “conversion talks” that psychologically disarmed them, repeating phrases like “You’re not going to the kingdom of heaven,” “Your homosexuality hurts your parents,” “God doesn’t like this,” until they were brought to tears.
He recalls that one of the most disturbing exercises was when they were made to simulate a wake; when the coffin was opened, it was filled with letters previously written by their parents, asking them to change their ways.
