VANCOUVER—An “LGBT” youth conference sponsored by a church has been booted out of a scheduled venue, and one of the speakers is vowing to fight the decision.

The Let God Be True conference — advertised on rainbow-coloured posters as “LGBT” — drew ire from members of Metro Vancouver’s LGBTQ community. The conference for teens planned by New Westminster’s Grace Chapel was scheduled for July 21 at the city’s Anvil Centre and July 22 at the church.

The event is supposed to feature guest speaker Kari Simpson, well-known for her opposition to LGBTQ advocacy. But as of Thursday afternoon, the municipally owned Anvil Centre said it has cancelled the booking, leaving the fate of the conference uncertain.

“We made the decision after becoming aware of one of the headliners,” said Heidi Hughes, director of sales and marketing at the Anvil Centre. Grace Chapel, she said, has been notified of the cancellation and issued a refund.

No one at the church was made available to comment on the cancellation.

“Our policy clearly states that we won’t host events of this nature in our facility,” Hughes said, calling Simpson a particularly vocal opponent of the LGBTQ community.

According to numerous media reports, Simpson filed a human-rights complaint against the Ministry of Education in 2009 because it wouldn’t fund “sexual reorientation therapies.”

In 2003 she sued the late radio host Rafe Mair for defamation after he called her a bigot, comparing her to Hitler, the Ku Klux Klan and skinheads. Simpson lost the case at the Supreme Court of Canada in a 2008 ruling that called Mair’s description “fair comment.” The ruling described Simpson as a “widely known social activist opposed to any positive portrayal of a gay lifestyle.”

In an interview on Thursday, Simpson said she is not against LGBTQ people, but “the LGBTQ has become ... a powerful political lobby now, who gets really well funded by B.C. taxpayers.”

Simpson said she has spoken to lawyers about fighting New Westminster’s decision to bump the event from the centre.

“I’m not sure that will be their position after they hear from our lawyers ... Once they understand the precariousness of their position, let’s hope that they’ll just rethink things,” she said.

Simpson has been at the forefront of a campaign to stop the new B.C. school curriculum that recognizes sexual orientation and gender identity, including those of trans youth. The presentation she intends to give at the conference — which she assured will happen — will teach youth “how to survive in this culture of politics.”

Colin McKenna, director of the Vancouver chapter of Parents and Friends of Lesbians and Gays (PFLAG), is concerned that the event is “anti-LGBTQ in nature” and is upset both that Simpson is being given a public platform and that the event appropriated the “LGBT” acronym.

“One of the facilitators has been known to cause harm in the LGBTQ community in the past, over the last 20 years, so that pretty much is the first giveaway,” McKenna said.

McKenna also thinks the poster is misleading. LGBT — lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender — is “an internationally recognized acronym,” he said, and that, combined with the poster’s rainbow background, will confuse people.

“Anybody in today’s society is going to assume it has something to do with the LGBT community,” McKenna said.

In an interview before the cancellation was announced, church administrator Brother Ronald Brown told StarMetro the conference is not directed specifically at the LGBT community and that the use of the acronym is a coincidence.

“Is there a patent on that acronym?” Brown said. “It’s just incidental that that’s the acronym we chose.”

Brown said he’s happy people are questioning the unusual use of the acronym because it draws attention.

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“It seems to be stepping on some toes,” he said, which “shows that something is amiss in society.”

Asked what LGBTQ youth who might attend the conference could expect to hear, Brown said they would be presented with the “word of God,” and those who might disagree would be free to leave.

“Our teaching is based on the word of God, and whatever the word of God says, that’s what we’re going to be expounding,” he said. “We see ourselves, the church, as a hospital, right? That’s where people who are sick and in need of help come.”

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