Christian man who faced jail for ex-LGBTQ testimony found not guilty

A Christian man in Malta who faced jail time after publicly sharing his testimony of leaving the LGBTQ lifestyle has been acquitted after a three-year legal battle.

Matthew Grech, 33, faced up to five months in prison and a fine of 5,000 euros ($5,400) for an interview he gave to the media outlet PMnews Malta in 2022. During the segment, Grech discussed his personal journey of leaving a homosexual lifestyle to become a born-again Christian.

On Wednesday, Magistrate Monica Vella ruled that Grech and journalists Mario Camilleri, 44, and Rita Bonnici, 45, who were also prosecuted in the case, were not guilty of violating Malta’s "Affirmation of Sexual Orientation, Gender and Gender Expression Act," Malta Today reported.

The 2016 legislation, the first of its kind in the European Union, criminalizes the performance and advertisement for practices aimed at changing or suppressing a person’s sexual orientation or gender identity.

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Grech became the first person prosecuted under the act, according to the Christian Legal Center, after LGBTQ activists filed police reports after the interview aired.

The reports were filed by Silvan Agius, a former senior EU equality official who helped draft the original legislation, and former and current activists with the Malta Gay Rights Movement, Christian Attard and Cynthia Chircop. 

They alleged that the interview served as "marketing" for the International Foundation for Therapeutic and Counseling Choice (IFTCC), an organization Grech represents.

However, the court found that Grech sharing his personal story did not constitute a criminal offense under the act.

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The judgment held the prosecution failed to prove the offense beyond reasonable doubt, particularly that the broadcast amounted to "advertising" a prohibited "conversion practice," and that any services referenced actually fell within the legislation's definition.

According to Malta Today, Vella compared the TV interview to public debates on other controversial issues and said discussing these topics does not amount to criminal conduct. The court also pointed to the legislation's carve-out for "free exploration and development" through counseling/psychotherapeutic services, cautioning against treating public discussion of contested issues as criminal conduct.

"Today, I thank God that justice has prevailed," Grech said in a statement following the verdict. "This prosecution should never have been brought. I believe it was politically motivated and entirely without merit."

Defense attorneys at the Christian Legal Centre argued that the charges violated fundamental rights to free speech under the Maltese Constitution and the European Convention on Human Rights. They also maintained that Grech never offered or promoted conversion therapy during the broadcast.

According to his attorneys, Grech was targeted after he shared his faith story on television as a contestant on "X Factor Malta" in 2018.

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Andrea Williams, chief executive of the Christian Legal Centre, called the verdict a "decisive victory" for free speech.

"The attempt to criminalize him has collapsed because the prosecution could never coherently define what ‘conversion therapy’ even means," Williams said. "It should never have been used to target a young man simply for sharing his Christian testimony."

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According to a transcript of his interview with PMnews Malta, at no point did Grech invite anyone to attend therapy to change their sexual orientation or gender identity, though he was critical of the Maltese legislation banning conversion therapy and explained how he came to believe that homosexuality is not an identity, but rather a practice that was incompatible with his Christian faith.

The case carries international significance as nations, including the United Kingdom and several Australian states, have drafted or enacted similar bans, often modeled after Malta’s landmark 2016 legislation.

Agius, Attard and Chircop did not respond to Fox News Digital's request for comment by time of publication.

Fox News' Jon Brown contributed to this report.