Eindhoven hotel drops event by faith healer who "cures" homosexuality, cancer & autism
The Eindhoven hotel set to host controversial Christian faith healer Tom de Wal has cancelled the event amid ongoing concerns about the evangelist's claims he can "cure" people of medical conditions, including cancer and autism, as well as promises he can turn a homosexual person into someone who is heterosexual. The Dutch preacher and his Frontrunners Ministeries started a tour of the Netherlands in mid December, managing to fill about half of the 800-seat theater when they opened in Dussen.
After several weeks where civic leaders, residents, and activists took issue with the tour stop, Van der Valk Hotel Eindhoven cancelled the event dates, the Eindhovens Dagblad reported. They said they were not involved in organizing the faith healing meetings, and are allowed to cancel an event that could trigger social unrest after consulting with police, municipal leadership, and others.
The tour raised concerns from a number of advocacy groups who believe De Wal is not only making false claims about his ability to rid people of Parkinson's Disease, muscular sclerosis, and cancer. His claim to essentially exorcise "demons" like homosexuality and autism only serve to persecute and discriminate, they believe.
"We want to emphasize that the intended 'cure' of homosexuality has no medical or scientific basis, but can actually be harmful to LGBTQ+ people," said Kay Sachse, chair of the Eindhoven branch of COC, an organization advocating for gender and sexual minorities. "The Netherlands has been a leader in protecting LGBTQ+ rights. The Tweede Kamer recently approved legislation criminalizing homosexual conversion therapy, precisely to protect people from these pseudoscientific and potentially traumatic practices," Sachse told the Eindhovens Dagblad.
De Wal's planned four-day stop in Eindhoven also drew notice from City Council, including the ire of politicians from both left- and right-wing parties. "I ordered a ticket on Thursday to see for myself what happens there, but Friday morning I received a message that the ticket had been canceled," Labour Council Member Rosa van den Nieuwenhof told the newspaper.
"Being turned away as a council member in your own city? I find that quite odd." The organization also cancelled tickets ordered by GroenLinks Council Member Bart Habraken, and several other activists who told the newspaper they wanted to observe first-hand what goes on at De Wal's services.
"This just raises more alarm bells for me," Habraken said. "This is about something which we already do not consider to be inclusive. The fact we are being denied access only reinforces that perception."
De Wal's first event on the tour was in Dussen, Noord-Brabant, and 15 minutes before the start, the venue was still largely empty, according to AD. In the end, people sat in roughly half of the 770 seats during the Dec. 12 performance.
The event was organized at De Rietpluim, a former conference and party center. De Wal is from the village, and wants to build a massive 12-million euro church facility using donated money at the location.
