Category: LGBT rights

What is a ‘shared conversation’?

WHAT IS a conversation if it’s not shared? Talking to myself? Enjoying the sound of my own voice? Only hearing views I agree with? This odd phrase was chosen by the Church of England to describe its facilitated listening process to seek some reconciliation, or at least ‘good disagreement’ over diverse views on sexuality and same-sex …

Continue reading

Permanent link to this article: https://abravefaith.com/2015/10/26/what-is-a-shared-conversation/

LGBT hate crimes in UK ‘more likely to be violent’

HATE CRIME AWARENESS WEEK has just ended in the UK. The Home Office release the latest statistics on hate crime, which showed that: the number of hate crimes (motivated by race, religion, sexual orientation, disability or transgender identity) reported in England & Wales was up 18% on the previous year (52,528 in 2014/15, 44,471 in …

Continue reading

Permanent link to this article: https://abravefaith.com/2015/10/18/lgbt-hate-crimes-in-uk-more-likely-to-be-violent/

Coming home – My story for #NationalComingOutDay

WHEN AN LGBT PERSON speaks of coming out, it often involves the moment of revelation to those closest to you, especially parents and family. October 11th is #NationalComingOutDay – so here’s my story: Coming out was certainly a major milestone on my journey, delayed and complicated by the fact that I spent three years in my twenties …

Continue reading

Permanent link to this article: https://abravefaith.com/2015/10/11/comingoutday15/

Kim Davis – Let me show you what persecution looks like

ON US TV today (Sept. 22), the clerk who refused to issue marriage licenses to ANY couple because she didn’t believe in same sex marriage has said what hurts her most about how she has been treated since she defied the Supreme Court ruling on marriage in June – being called ‘a hypocrite’. Kim Davis …

Continue reading

Permanent link to this article: https://abravefaith.com/2015/09/22/kim-davis-let-me-show-you-what-persecution-looks-like/

A very queer* time – Bishop goes viral, Quest continues, Love in the dock, God loves hugs & Michael’s mates

*Queer – originally meaning odd, used as a term of homophobic abuse, reclaimed by activists as a defiant act of liberation, now interpreted to mean radical transgression of norms – see my comments on Keith Sharpe’s book The Gay Gospels below. IT’S BEEN an extraordinary couple of weeks since my last post about the Bishop of …

Continue reading

Permanent link to this article: https://abravefaith.com/2015/08/04/a-very-queer-time/

Bishop shares ‘absolute welcome’ with LGBT Christians

A CHRISTIAN community which warmly welcomes Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender (LGBT) people, their friends and family, celebrated its seventh anniversary on Sunday 19th July, with the Bishop of Liverpool as their guest. The inclusive service, known as ‘Open Table’, meets on the third Sunday of each month at St Bride’s Anglican Church on Percy …

Continue reading

Permanent link to this article: https://abravefaith.com/2015/07/20/bishop-shares-absolute-welcome-with-lgbt-christians/

‘Rainbow profile pictures for sex offenders’ – Homophobia NOT satire

IT’S LATE – my phone rings. It’s someone I haven’t heard from in a while. I answer. His greeting is warm, but it sounds like he’s been drinking. He chats about Facebook – he says he doesn’t use it much but he’s logged in and noticed the rainbow filter on my profile picture, the only …

Continue reading

Permanent link to this article: https://abravefaith.com/2015/07/12/rainbow-profile-pictures-sex-offenders-homophobia-not-satire/

Pride – the opposite of prejudice: From New York to old York

THIS SUNDAY is the anniversary of the Stonewall Riots, heralded as the birth of the international LGBT rights movement. Pride marches in cities across the world, including New York and London, are taking place this weekend to commemorate the struggle for equality that began in New York’s Stonewall Inn in the early hours of June …

Continue reading

Permanent link to this article: https://abravefaith.com/2015/06/27/pride-opposite-of-prejudice/

WATCH: United Nations ‘Free & Equal’ campaign video marking #IDAHOT2015

In at least 76 countries around the world, loving someone of the same sex is illegal and, in ten countries, it is even punishable by death.  In many more countries citizens are denied their right to live as their preferred gender identity. As well as legal discriminations, social homophobia, biphobia and transphobia daily serve to deny millions …

Continue reading

Permanent link to this article: https://abravefaith.com/2015/05/16/watch-united-nations-free-equal-campaign-video-marking-idahot2015/

A Coward with courage – challenging the Church, changing our image of God

LAST WEEKEND, director of Changing Attitude Colin Coward came to our church to give a series of reflections inspired by twenty years working towards a more inclusive church around the world. Colin is an Anglican priest who originally trained as an architect and subsequently as a psychotherapist.  He ministered for 19 years in inner-city parishes.  …

Continue reading

Permanent link to this article: https://abravefaith.com/2015/04/25/a-coward-with-courage-challenging-the-church-changing-our-image-of-god/

Load more