Traitors UK hunk Matthew Hyndman opens up about escaping conversion therapy
The Traitors castle will never be the same if things go according to plan for this queer Irish hunk.
Mark
The Traitors castle will never be the same if things go according to plan for queer Irish hottie Matthew Hyndman.
While Thursday nights in the U.S. are currently devoted to the American edition of the reality competition show, starring our favorite Bravolebrities and hosted by the fabulous Alan Cumming, the “normie-only” UK version is simultaneously airing Series 4 on BBC One.
In the first few episodes, the 35-year-old, who lives in Edinburgh, kept a relatively low profile until last Friday, when a challenge win allowed him to shed his otherwise “shy” image and step more into a leadership role.
That said, a recently resurfaced op-ed Hyndman penned for The Independent is shedding light on why he might have started so quietly, and just how riveting a reality show contestant he is.
How about we take this to the next level?
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The 2021 piece is titled, “I escaped LGBT conversion therapy, but not everyone is so lucky – ban it now to stop more damage to lives,” and recounts how Hyndman was nearly forced to undergo the harmful practice.
As he explained, when Hyndman was 24 years old, he was working as a missionary while “wrestling with a growing awareness of a sexuality which, I had been told for as long as I could remember, would lead to my eternal damnation.”
He was outed after intimate WhatsApp conversations he shared with another man were accidentally shared with his entire congregation, including his family and pastor, who demanded that he “undergo therapy and publicly, in front of [his] 400 fellow missionaries, confess and repent.”
“It has its funny side, looking back now, but at the time, it felt as if everything that I knew had imploded, and everything that I feared so dreadfully was happening,” he wrote. “I had nobody to turn to.”
That said, Hyndman added that he “had the strength of mind to refuse” and recognized he “didn’t need to ‘change’ or ‘cure’ myself.” Instead, he moved to London, where he built his own chosen family and community, although he acknowledged how this type of escape isn’t an option for everybody.
“While people might think that conversion therapy is consensual, or something that people willingly seek, this must be questioned when someone’s whole life is at stake,” he wrote. “It can seem impossible to even imagine another life. You do not have free will with a loaded gun to your head.”
Six months after his coming out, he even received a letter from one of his churches canceling his membership due to his “‘lifestyle choices’ and [his] refusal to go through counseling and change.”
“These degrading and discriminatory ‘treatments’ ruin the lives of LGBT+ people,” he wrote at the time. “We must outlaw them now.”
Unfortunately, conversion practices in the UK are still legal today, though the government has stated it’s committed to drafting a bill to ban them in cases of both sexual orientation and gender identity.
Thankfully, it appears that Hyndman was living his best gay life, even before joining The Traitors Series 4.
As he wrote in his op-ed, he reconnected with his immediate family in Northern Ireland two years after coming out.
And based on his Instagram, the outdoorsman spends a lot of time out in nature with his gay hike club, has an adorable dog named River, and really enjoys taking shirtless and sweaty selfies in the sauna. No complaints on our end!
Most importantly, he’s got some passion projects to keep him busy, like this Instagram page that seems to be solely devoted to pics of him completely nekkid doing handstands across the world.
BUTT, we’ll let you dive into that one at your own leisure!
Check out more posts from the Irish hunk on Instagram below.
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