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A Christian charity is demanding a major bank in the United Kingdom reinstate its account after the bank recently settled for more than £20,000 in compensation and legal fees after shuttering it in July 2020.
Core Issues Trust (CIT) and the associated International Federation for Therapeutic and Counseling Choice (IFTCC) received a payout equivalent to more than $25,000 last month amid allegations that the London-based Barclays Bank illegally discriminated against them because of their alleged support for "conversion therapy."
The Northern Ireland-based nonprofit trust seeks to help adults who voluntarily seek change in sexual identity and expression and is the only registered charity of its kind in the U.K. So-called conversion therapies aim to convert LGBT individuals to heterosexuals or traditional gender identities.
"Barclays has today agreed a commercial settlement with Core Issues Trust following our decision to cease acting as their Bankers in 2020," a spokesperson for Barclays told FOX Business in a statement last month. "This is a commercial settlement, predicated on our assessment of the costs of defending this claim to conclusion against the cost of settling the matter today."
"There has been no admission of liability by Barclays and there has been no decision by the Court calling into question Barclays’ actions including Barclays' decision to exit its relationship with Core Issues Trust and IFTCC," the spokesperson continued.
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Despite the hefty settlement, the charity has yet to have their bank account restored, prompting a peaceful protest outside the Barclays headquarters on June 29, according to the London-based Christian Legal Centre, which aided the trust in filing a legal claim against Barclays.
More than 72,000 people have signed an online petition demanding that the bank restore the ministry's account, as of Thursday.
The trust has claimed that Barclays, which sponsors London's Pride Parade and ranks as one of the most LGBT-friendly employers in the country, suspended their account amid a pressure campaign from LGBT activists. Other companies also reportedly took action against the group in 2020, including Mailchimp, PayPal, Facebook and Instagram.
The organization reportedly received more than 300 hostile text messages amid the pressure campaign that began following a tweet by an activist on July 3, 2020. Dr. Michael Davidson, who serves as chief executive of the trust, said he personally received a text expressing a desire for his family to be raped and killed.
By July 13, 2020, Barclays had informed the charity that its account had been canceled, according to Davidson's lawyers at the Christian Legal Centre.
Davidson told FOX Business last month that Barclays' action against the organization has harmed its ability to open accounts at multiple other banks.
"The impact of closing an account on a Christian charity is that there is immediately reputational damage, obviously," Davidson said. "And in this climate, all you have to say is, 'They're gay conversion therapists,' and that brings the thought police running."
LGBT organizations in the U.K. have called for so-called conversion therapy to be banned in the country. The Conservative Party-led U.K. government announced in January a plan to debate legislation that would add transgender identity to the country's proposed conversion therapy ban, which before applied only to sexual orientation.
"In terms of the implications, we just think that Barclays acted prematurely," Davidson said. "There's no therapy ban in this country, but they pre-empted it by really implicating us in a way that we believe is unfair and unreasonable. And we just feel that banks should not be taking this kind of initiative in bringing pressure on groups and responding to pressure from the LGBT."
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Davidson, who told FOX Business that professional therapy helped him deal with unwanted sexual feelings, pushed back against accusations that his organization is hateful.
"What we are doing is protecting personal freedom and autonomy," he said. "We don't think it's correct that therapists or politicians should mandate the direction that you can go in. We think this is a personal human right. You should have control as an autonomous human being in terms of the direction that you go in."
"And I guess what I would say is what we are suffering from here [in the U.K.] is a kind of death of ideological diversity," he added.
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Andrea Williams, who serves as chief executive of the Christian Legal Centre, said: "It is now high time, especially following recent revelations, that Barclays apologize and reinstate the accounts."
"If banks and other service providers placate hardened activists by removing bank accounts from good and law-abiding customers who are being targeted because of their Christian faith, then we're in a very dark place in this country," she added.
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Barclays did not respond to an inquiry from FOX Business by time of publication.
