Before a court decision in a three-year legal battle between Christians over charges of promoting sexual orientation “conversion therapy” was postponed, a former gay man in Malta said Christians around the world could face a similar ordeal.
“Anyone who cares about free speech should be alarmed by what’s happening to me,” Matthew Grech said on Facebook. “If the same thing happened to me in Malta, I guarantee you it will soon happen in the UK and other countries around the world.”
Grech, a former reality TV singing contestant who left his homosexual lifestyle to follow Christ and was targeted by Maltese prosecutors for allegedly supporting a sexual orientation transition, could face five months in prison if found guilty.
Rights group Christian Concern said Grech was scheduled to appear in court in the island’s capital, Valletta, on Thursday (6 November), but the judge did not issue an expected verdict. The group said the delay in sentencing was the result of more than three years of legal uncertainty.
In 2016, Malta became the first country in the European Union to ban what the LGBTQI+ lobby calls “conversion therapy,” according to Christian Concern. Grech, a church worker, could be charged with “promoting proselytism” under Malta’s Sexual Orientation, Gender and Gender Expression Affirmation Act.
The group said the charges stem from a 2022 interview with free speech media platform PMnews Malta, in which Grech shared testimony that he had become a born-again Christian and voluntarily abandoned his homosexual lifestyle.
Grech’s lawyers claim the charges violate his fundamental rights under Article 41 of the Maltese Constitution and Article 10 of the European Convention on Human Rights. His defense team argued that Grech was expressing his personal beliefs and identity in the interview and was not advertising his treatment.
Christian Concern said Grech spoke about his personal faith in the interview but did not encourage or suggest treatment. Media presenters, who could also be prosecuted, asked Mr Greci for his views on “conversion therapy”, which Malta has banned.
Gretsch responded by sharing his own experience. He cited scientific evidence about using “talking therapy” to deal with trauma, which “may reduce same-sex attraction and gender confusion,” Christian Concern said.
Grech reportedly dismissed the term “conversion therapy” and explained his views on Biblical faith.
“I understood that in the Bible, homosexuality was not an identity as it is today,” Grech was quoted as saying. “And it’s not a feeling, it’s a practice. This means that no matter what sexual feelings a man or a woman experiences, if they have sexual relations with a person of the same sex, they have committed a homosexual act in the eyes of God, and it is a sin.”
Like any other sin, a person can repent of it, ask God for forgiveness, and ask God for the strength to overcome, he said, adding, “I’m speaking from a Christian perspective here.”
The program introduced him as a representative of the International Federation for Treatment and Counseling Choices (IFTCC). Mike Davidson, founder of IFTCC and Core Issues Trust, testified in Grech’s defense at the previous hearing. According to Christian Concern, he clarified that Grech has never received therapy related to his sexuality and has not engaged in such behavior.
“Freedom of speech, conscience and religion is under attack,” Davidson said at the hearing, according to Christian Concern. “The fact is that the choice of treatment and counseling is a fundamental right. Governments that promote a monocultural perspective – the idea that sexual orientation is innate and cannot be changed, and that gender is independent of biological sex – are denying people who do not want to identify as LGBT the right to leave behind an identity and customs that no longer relate to them. This is a human rights issue.”
The group said Sylvain Agius, an LGBTQI+ activist and the European Union’s senior equality official, had filed a police report accusing Grech of illegally promoting “conversion practices”. Agius, who is a member of EU Commissioner Helena Dali’s equalities cabinet and was instrumental in Malta’s ban on conversion therapy in 2016, filed the complaint along with activists Cynthia Chirkop and Christian Attard.
Andrea Williams, chief executive of the Christian Legal Center, said in a recent statement outside court that prosecutors had failed to define “conversion therapy” and that the state had deliberately targeted Grech because of his Christian beliefs about human sexuality.
“It is extremely unfair that they have criminalized Matthew for so long simply because he shared personal testimony,” Williams said. “In an online interview in Malta, he spoke to a small audience about his joyful conversion to Christ and his voluntary decision to renounce his homosexual lifestyle.”
He also answered candidly questions from journalists regarding the efficacy and safety of the treatment.
“The real threat here is not just to Matthew, but to free speech itself,” Williams said. “Even broadcasters who sympathize with LGBT perspectives and openly challenged Matthew in debates are facing prosecution. It’s unreasonable. For Matthew’s sake, for Malta’s sake, and for freedom of speech around the world, I hope the courts will acquit him now that they have fully heard the evidence.”
Grech became a Christian after pursuing his ambition to become a master of Reiki for the purpose of transmitting healing energy. He moved to London at the age of 19 to attend the College of Light and become familiar with the energy of Chi. However, his father’s Christian friends warned him that the practice was part of the occult.
“The rest of the students described the circles of energy they saw in the spirit. I was the only one who didn’t see anything,” Grech said in a 2019 interview with this reporter. “I was left disappointed and very hungry for the supernatural. But when I met the first Christian woman who shared the gospel with me, she warned me that not all energy comes from God and that I must begin to exercise discernment. That’s when I was led to the church and gave my life to Jesus, the ultimate healer.”
Raised as a traditional Roman Catholic, Grech grew up in a stable family on the island of Malta, where his grandmother handed him written prayers to recite, some of which evoked the Holy Spirit.
“I loved her dedication and piety,” he recalled. “Growing up in an all-boys middle school, I had a musical bent. Most of my friends were into sports, but it was hard for me to fit in. I would hide away and get lost in my own fantasy world. I had one friend who was into DJing, and that comforted me. Finally, I had a friend who understood me!”
At the age of 11, Grech discovered pornography on the Internet and television, and a book containing graphic images in the local school library. He became obsessed with such material as soon as he became a teenager.
“When I was 14, I felt a lot of peer pressure from my closest friends. I was hanging out with girls and going on dates to try to fit in,” he said. “I tried so hard to be a normal teenage boy, but I found myself fantasizing about men.”
Friends said he joked that he was gay and was attracted to boys.
“Doubt and insecurity started to define me, to the point where I started doubting my sexuality. Is this true?” Grech said. “Did I sexualize my unfulfilled desire to bond with people of the same sex? Were there other factors in my upbringing that led me to believe that I was an inferior man?”
Around the same time that he began engaging in homosexual acts, Grech realized that he was good at singing and playing the piano. Music became a means of escape for him, allowing him to “dream big and escape from dark reality for a while.”
“I developed my talent and recorded my own music at the age of 16,” he added. “Little did I know that local radio stations would find my music so appealing.”
The young singer was nominated for Best Newcomer, Best Solo Artist and Best Male Artist at the Malta Music Awards and Bay Music Awards from 2006 to 2008.
“I was hiding behind my alter ego, Jay O’Maro (his stage name at the time). It was so nice to be appreciated, appreciated and appreciated,” he said, but after growing tired of “weekend life,” he found himself renting a school hall to attend prayer meetings.
“I encountered a family of believers who were freely worshiping and praying to a God who was present in the room and a God they knew personally,” he said. “It felt authentic and alive. I was drawn to the words of their prayers and the seamless fruition of their lives. I loved their eagerness to bring the Bible to church.”
Grech then attended a church service and received supernatural healing from his migraine, he said.
“As I knelt before receiving Holy Communion, I was powerfully touched by the Holy Spirit and knew that my life was being changed for the better,” Grech said. “I bought my first Bible and spent my days filled with a strong desire to know more about God and His ways.”
He said that in his personal journey of reading the Bible, God revealed his sins and he felt the God-given sorrow that he was a sinner.
“I was taught that if I believe that Jesus is the Son of God and make Him Lord of my life, I can solidify my commitment to follow Him through the ordinance of baptism,” he said. “I completely surrendered my life to the Lord.”
Greci, whose story was the subject of a documentary film called Once Gay in February 2019, believes that people have a fundamental human right to leave the gay lifestyle, and that that should be respected by the wider community. This belief has drawn criticism not only from Maltese politicians but also from some members of the gay community.
Still, Greci said her heart is set on getting to know Jesus better and sharing God’s love with others, no matter their background.
“Now I know that Jesus lives, that He loves all sinners, and that He calls them to repentance in order to receive the gift of eternal life,” Grech said.
