While P-FOX seeks federal bailout money for antigay parents in the United States, and the Assemblies of God seek government support for their ex-gay Teen Challenge programs, a Dutch official has revoked a handout to one of two antigay Christian groups that sought to raid the pockets of that nation’s taxpayers.
According to NRC Handelsblad:
[Dutch minister for education, culture and equality Ronald Plasterk] said that the Onze Weg (Our Way) foundation was in fact attempting to ‘cure’ homosexuality. Protecting minority interests is part of Plasterk’s portfolio.
Earlier in the week Plasterk had defended his decision to subsidise the organisation, prompted by written questions from two opposition members of parliament. Boris van der Ham of the left-wing liberal party D66 and Anouchka van Miltenburg of right-wing liberal VVD, quoted an article in the Revu weekly that claimed the group is targeting homosexuals in order to alter their sexual orientation. The organisation is mainly active among evangelical Christians and was granted a 50,000 euro subsidy in September 2008.
Another ex-gay organization, RefoAnders, received a government subsidy of 84,000 euros, according to Religious Intelligence. That handout is now being reconsidered.
According to Rene van Soeren, who commented at Ex-Gay Watch last year:
Onze Weg and RefoAnders are both closely linked to Different [an orthodox Christian foundation] — and that foundation is a member of Exodus International.
Both organizations falsely claimed to be gay Christian organizations.
The web site of the Exodus Global Alliance profiles Johan van de Sluis, 70-year-old board member of Onze Weg, who thanks Exodus for helping move European ex-gay organizations out of isolation.
