The New Zealand affiliate of US-based Exodus Global Alliance, which claims "change in homosexuality is possible through the power of Jesus Christ", states in its application that the group considers homosexuality to be “morally wrong” and that a “homosexual can change from homosexuality to heterosexuality”.
New Zealand’s Stuff.co.nz reported that although the group had enjoyed charitable status (exempt from income tax) for more than a decade, that status was not renewed by the government's Charities Commission.
In its 15-page statement dated 18 August 2010, the Charities Commission gave various reasons for denying the group’s 2008 application to be registered as a charitable entity saying that the Applicant’s purposes were not “exclusively charitable” and the Commission was unable to determine whether the Applicant provided a “public benefit."
The Charities Commission is not convinced that the
Exodus Ministries Trust Board, which advocates reparative
therapy, is performing any public benefit. The commission
also found the groups's aims to "teach and present the view
that a homosexual can change from homosexuality to
heterosexuality" amounted to "propaganda".
The Commission said in the statement that same-sex attraction is no longer classed as a mental disorder and that the American Psychiatric Association had removed homosexuality from its list of mental disorders in 1973.
It also quoted the American Psychological Association and American Medical Association as saying that a wide majority of current scientific data suggests that sexual orientation can not be changed and that so-called conversion therapies are unproven, ill-supported and have been known to be potentially damaging to the "patients" involved.
While the Commission also considered if the group could qualify under merit of the group's educational value as stated in its application in which Exodus said it aimed to "teach and present the view that a homosexual can change from homosexuality to heterosexuality and that he or she is not born homosexual", the commission however found the information provided by the Applicant to be “not neutral or objective” and “amounts to /propaganda or cause under the guise of education/ which is not charitable under the advancement of education”.
Last year, the American Psychological Association adopted a resolution stating that mental health professionals should avoid telling clients that they can change their sexual orientation through therapy or other treatments.
New Zealand decriminalised sexual relations between men aged 16 and over in 1986, and today recognises civil unions between same-sex couples.
Stuff.co.nz also reported that the commission has struck off or rejected more than 2600 prospective charities since 2007 and is now locked in multiple legal battles defending its decisions. It has declined 1406 organisations while another 1224 have been deregistered for being too political, too commercial or not having the required paperwork.