The video-hosting platform Vimeo canceled the account of a church that posted videos of a Bible conference that included teaching on homosexuality.
Vimeo informed Fairview Baptist Church of Edmond, Oklahoma, that the videos violated the company’s ban on posting “content that promotes Sexual Orientation Change Efforts,” reported the website Reform Charlotte.
“We apologize for any inconvenience and wish you luck in finding a video hosting platform more suitable to your needs,” wrote Marty of Vimeo’s Trust and Safety department.
Janet Mefferd, who hosts a program on American Family Radio, wrote via Twitter that all of the church’s sermons host on Vimeo were removed, along with videos of the conference.
Mefferd called it a “blatant admission of Vimeo viewpoint discrimination, not just objections to specific content.”
She said removed sermons that had nothing to do with “SOCE.”
“They removed Christian testimonies of people who left LGBT lives. They removed other talks on Scripture.”
Not the first time
In December, WND reported, Vimeo abruptly shut down the page of Church United, a non-profit in Newport Beach, California, because some content dealt with the issue of counseling people who want to overcome same-sex inclinations.
Church United said in a Facebook post that its founder, Jim Domen, received an email from Vimeo stating his organization had only 24 hours to download its videos, because the account was being closed permanently.
“Out of the 89 uploaded videos, the problem (according to Vimeo) was with five videos that spoke of SOCE (Sexual Orientation Change Efforts), with a primary focus on Assembly Bill (AB) 2943,” Church United said.
The reference was to the California bill, ultimately dropped, that would have made such counseling consumer fraud.
The non-profit legal group Liberty Counsel is battling laws and ordinances in court that ban or restrict conversion therapy.
“These counselors provide life-saving counsel to minors who desperately desire to conform their attractions, behaviors, and gender confusion to their sincerely held religious beliefs,” Liberty Counsel said. “The sacred trust between counselors and clients establishes a unique relationship that permits the clients to inform the counselors of their goals and receive counseling consistent with those goals.”
The restrictions and bans, Liberty Counsel said, are “invading the private space of counselors and clients, forcing the government into the therapeutic alliance, and violating the privacy and fundamental rights of counselors and clients.”
