The Madrid Provincial Prosecutor's Office has opened an investigation into the Bishop of Orihuela-Alicante, José Ignacio Munilla, for a possible hate crime in justifying conversion therapies for homosexual people. The statements, made on Radio María on May 3, 2024, were reported by the citizen platform Tu Pueblo y el mío. Munilla rejects the probe and calls it an attempt to intimidate the Church.
Bishop José Ignacio Munilla, head of the Orihuela-Alicante diocese since 2022, faces an investigation launched by the Madrid Provincial Prosecutor's Office for a possible crime against fundamental rights and public freedoms, either as hate speech or injury to dignity. The complaint comes from the citizen platform Tu Pueblo y el mío, based in Orihuela (Alicante), which sent the prelate's statements to the Attorney General's Office. This deferred the case to Madrid, home of Radio María, where Munilla made his remarks on May 3, 2024.
On the station, Munilla defended conversion therapies, describing them as 'accompaniment' to help people with 'homosexual inclinations' redirect their attractions and live chastity. “Psychologists who accompany people with homosexual inclinations are threatened”, he stated. “If the accompaniment has any hint of helping them redirect their homosexual attractions, then it is understood as conversion therapy and it is prohibited”. The platform argues that these statements trivialize practices deemed harmful by the scientific community, legitimize interventions that attack the dignity of LGTBI+ people, and foster stigmatization under religious cover. The complaint is based on article 510 of the Penal Code, which penalizes the promotion of hate or discrimination, and on Valencian Law 8/2017, which expressly prohibits aversion or conversion therapies.
Spain's Congress of Deputies is currently processing a law to ban these therapies nationwide, against which Munilla has spoken out. After the news broke, the bishop responded on social network X: “Obviously, this has no judicial recourse and only seeks to intimidate the Church so that it does not dare to preach the Good News of Christian love”. He added four considerations: he denies criticizing LGTBI collectives, questions if criticizing the Government is a crime, ironizes about banning therapies while allowing sex changes, and claims he has not received official notification, suggesting greater media than judicial interest. Tu Pueblo y el mío, born to defend Miguel Hernández's legacy and promote human rights, sees Munilla's interventions as exceeding freedom of expression or religion.