Western Australia set to make gay conversion therapy a crime

Gay conversion therapy will be banned in Western Australia after a bombshell report into a church group.

The Esther Foundation is at the centre of harrowing claims from people who describe their experiences as living hell.

A group of former Esther House residents gathered at state Parliament today as the report was handed down.

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In need of help, the former residents turned to the Esther Foundation in Kalamunda, which is a faith-based rehabilitation centre with links to the Pentecostal church.

"What I experienced was being held down by groups of people and them commanding spirits to leave my body," former resident Gabriel Osborne said.

"(There was) screaming, chanting, music and drums."

Former resident Gabrielle Rowe said she went to the centre "with issues but came out with more".

Meanwhile another former resident Lucy Lorenti recalled being "held down, speaking in tongues, shouting".

"She'd also push your head down so you would fall, supposedly overtaken by some spirit," she said.

A parliamentary inquiry savaged the foundation's practices, including claims of gay conversion therapy.

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Inquiry chair Chris Tallentire referred to "all sorts of ideas around deliverance exorcism, strange ideas and damaging".

The McGowan government has wasted little time vowing to criminalise conversion therapy in religious settings, with the Attorney-General aiming to introduce the laws next year.

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"I know that the religious right will oppose all of this but we're moving on ... this is debunked," Quigley said.

The Esther Foundation has gone into involuntary administration.

Its managing director said residents were never told homosexuality was caused by demons and denied performing exorcisms.