A gay former member of the congregation told The Guardian in 2010: "It is categorically the case that homosexuality in that church was regarded as a sin, the inclination to which could be cured through prayer and counselling." The practice of "praying away the gay" has been widely condemned by every major mental health body in Britain as ineffective and dangerous.



Eve Burt, a friend of Adams who is married to former Tory minister Alistair Burt MP, has confirmed Adams' involvement in a "healing" church but said Adams "never talked about" the incident at the 2009 Vitality Show – a new age health exhibition – where the alleged curing of a deaf man took place. There is no mention of Adams' association with King's Arms Church on her official website.

The church publishes material about "expelling demons" – detailing how to recognise demonic symptoms, sells DVDs and MP3s for "healing", and states on its website: "We believe every Christian is called to see the sick healed". Along with other churches, it puts on the popular evangelical Alpha Course, which has been the subject of accusations of homophobia and which promotes healing through prayer.

Adjacent to Brighton, Hove and Portslade in East Sussex is known for its prominent LGBT population, and its most recent MP, Labour's Peter Kyle, is gay. But with a majority of only 1,236, his seat is a major target for the Tories in the general election next month.

When approached by BuzzFeed News about her time at the church and her beliefs about LGBT people, Adams did not answer any questions posed.

"The most offensive thing that someone standing for high office can do is not give somebody a straight answer to an honest question," Kyle, her opponent, told BuzzFeed News. "And regardless of how many LGBT people live locally this is a central issue to public debate and it is absolutely fair that a member of the public should know what somebody who aspires to parliament holds as their core views regarding equality."

He added: "Somebody who runs away from debate that is this central to who we are, I think speaks of somebody who is unfit for office. Exorcism and expelling demons ... is an issue of morality. In general terms, people who think in the 21st century that being gay is something that needs 'curing' themselves need to take a very long, hard think about their own grounding in modern life."