Prosecutor Investigates Bishop Munilla Over Statements on Sexual Conversion Therapies

The Provincial Prosecutor's Office of Madrid has initiated pre-procedural investigation proceedings following a complaint by the citizen platform 'Your Town and Mine' against the Bishop of Orihuela-Alicante, José Ignacio Munilla. The complaint alleges that several public statements made by the prelate regarding sexual conversion therapies may constitute a hate crime, according to documents accessed by Europa Press.

The complaint, filed by the president of this association, Lucas López, and received by the Hate and Discrimination Crimes Section, points out that Munilla's words "both in media outlets and radio programmes" could constitute this offence, as outlined in Article 510 of the Spanish Penal Code. The group argues that the statements "exceed the protection of freedom of expression or religion."

The entity highlights that, "on May 3, 2024," during a programme on Radio María, the bishop stated that "psychologists who accompany individuals with homosexual inclinations are threatened [...] if the support they provide appears to help redirect their homosexual attractions, then it is considered conversion therapy and is prohibited." He added, "here, any support to a person to help them address their inner wounds and live the virtue of chastity as any Christian is called conversion therapy."

The complaint has been forwarded to the Provincial Prosecutor's Office of Madrid, "as the city is where the headquarters of the radio station that broadcast the reported statements is located and is territorially competent" to "assess the legal-penal significance."

The platform also adds in the complaint filed with the Public Prosecutor's Office that Munilla's "statements" amount to an explicit defence of so-called conversion therapies, which are banned in Spain under multiple regional regulations. At this point, it refers to Article 14 of Law 8/2017, of April 7, integral to the recognition of the right to gender identity and expression in the Valencian Community.

Similarly, it indicates that "in statements collected by various media," the prelate "publicly justifies these therapies, denying that they are coercive and suggesting that their prohibition" is an "LGTBI liberticide."

The group believes that "such statements not only trivialise a practice widely considered harmful by the scientific community," but also "symbolically legitimise interventions that violate the dignity and psychosocial health of LGTBI individuals" and "foster a discourse of stigmatisation under religious cover."