A Christian group in Beijing, China warned ‘unhappy’ and ‘unhealthy’ home environments turn people gay.

The group took known only as Zhuyutongxing posted its musings on the instant messaging service, WeChat.

‘Family must be put first to prevent juvenile homosexuality. Both gay support and anti-gay studies show that homosexuality reflects unhealthy and unhappy parent-child relationships,’ it wrote on Monday.

The Christian group said it plans to hold church services for people ‘burdened with gay issues’.

Zhuyutongxing released the statement to ‘let people know that juvenile homosexuality can be prevented and early intervention is required when the child is young’.

‘Many young people attracted to the gay lifestyle are seeking an identity… Many young people who struggle with the homosexuality issue and questions about self-image start from their family,’ the statement read.

China’s conversion problem

China decriminalized homosexuality in 1997, but the LGBTI community still faces discrimination.

Many LGBTI people still marry members of the opposite sex due to family pressures. Specific apps designed to match gay men and lesbian women together in matrimony are big business in China.

The government banned ‘homosexual content’ on most media platforms, including online. On the same day Zhuyutongxing released its statement, the LGBTI won a historic victory after microblogging site Sina Weibo agreed to reverse its decision to ban homosexual content on its site.

Conversion therapy is big business in China. A recent report revealed people are given electric shocks, forced or put into solitary confinement to try and convert them.

But that might all change after one man successfully sued a psychiatric facility where he was forced to undergo conversion therapy. It was the second successful legal lawsuit against conversion therapy with advocates hoping it establishes a precedence away from the practice.