British woman 'being held captive so her family can cure her gayness'

A British woman is being held captive in the Democratic Republic of Congo because her family want to “cure her of her gayness”, her friends allege.

Christina Fonthes, 27, a translator and LGBT activist from Manchester, visited Kinshasa with her mother and younger sister on 11 August. But shortly into a stay with her aunt, friends say, her passport was taken by her mother. She was told the family wanted to keep her in Congo so that her sexuality could be “fixed”.

Ms Fonthes’ partner of three years, the BBC sports presenter Jessica Creighton, has been trying to raise awareness of her partner’s plight on Facebook and Twitter. She is now travelling back to the UK from China, where she was covering the Youth Olympics when she heard the news.

Ms Creighton told i: “It became apparent that her family were unhappy with her decision to be an out lesbian. They took her passport and want to... ‘cure her of her gayness’.”

She added: “Chris is a British citizen and should be under the protection of the British government. So far, their so-called protection has been utterly useless.”

A spokesman for the Foreign and Commonwealth Office said: “We are providing consular assistance to a British national in the DRC.”