Category: Human Rights

The Trouble With The Pope: On Benedict XVI’s 2010 visit to Britain

POPE EMERITUS Benedict XVI died on 31st December 2022, and was buried in the Vatican this week. His legacy is long, though he resigned in 2013, the first Pope to do so for 600 years. In September 2010, as Pope Benedict visited Britain, I was the Convenor of the Liverpool branch of Quest the LGBT+ …

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Permanent link to this article: https://abravefaith.com/2023/01/07/the-trouble-with-the-pope-on-benedict-xvis-2010-visit-to-britain/

An introspective retrospective – 10 years of blogging

TEN YEARS AGO today (as I turned 42) I began this blog. I wrote a brief retrospective after five years. Here’s an update on the next five: having ‘come out of the Catholic church‘ in 2011, then authorised as a lay leader in  Church of England, I have now become a Methodist thanks to its commitment …

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Permanent link to this article: https://abravefaith.com/2022/08/31/an-introspective-retrospective-10-years-of-blogging/

LGBT+ asylum seeker podcast shares stories of faith, exclusion and inclusion

IN THE LATEST episode of a podcast ‘for migrants by migrants’, two people with experience of seeking asylum share their stories, one who won leave to remain in the UK with support from an Open Table community, and another who is afraid to get support from an LGBT-affirming Christian community because she fears that the …

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Permanent link to this article: https://abravefaith.com/2022/08/04/lgbt-asylum-seeker-podcast-shares-stories-of-faith-exclusion-and-inclusion/

We boast in our hope of sharing the glory of God – A reflection for #PrideMonth

AT A SPECIAL communion service to celebrate the 14th birthday of the first Open Table community in Liverpool on Sunday 19th June 2022, I shared this reflection on Pride Month and how the origin of Open Table is linked to Liverpool’s first official Pride event. Readings: Romans 5: 1-5, Mark 5:1-20 “We boast in our hope …

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Permanent link to this article: https://abravefaith.com/2022/06/27/we-boast-in-our-hope-of-sharing-the-glory-of-god-a-reflection-for-pridemonth/

What needs to be healed – On Franklin Graham’s UK tour & support for ‘conversion therapy’

AS CONTROVERSIAL US preacher Franklin Graham began his UK tour in Liverpool on Saturday 14th May, the Open Table Network worked in partnership with others in Merseyside to offer an alternative event which showcased the Liverpool City Region as a safe, friendly and welcoming place for LGBT+ people of all faiths and none. At an …

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Permanent link to this article: https://abravefaith.com/2022/05/21/what-needs-to-be-healed-on-franklin-grahams-uk-tour-support-for-conversion-therapy/

God’s work of art – A reflection for LGBT+ History Month

THIS REFLECTION was my offering as part of the Open Table Network celebration of LGBT+ History Month which premiered on YouTube on Sunday 30th January 2022. LGBT+ History Month in 2022 marks 50 years since the first Pride march in the UK, which happened in London on 1st July 1972. The date was chosen because …

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Permanent link to this article: https://abravefaith.com/2022/02/01/gods-work-of-art-a-reflection-for-lgbt-history-month/

Under the Peace Doves: A vigil for justice at Liverpool Cathedral

SINCE MAY, Liverpool Cathedral has been home to a spectacular art installation called Peace Doves, featuring 18,000 paper doves created by renowned sculptor and artist Peter Walker. Peace Doves features around 18,000 paper doves suspended on 15.5 miles of ribbon from the ceiling of the Cathedral. Visitors to the cathedral, along with local school children …

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Permanent link to this article: https://abravefaith.com/2021/08/23/under-the-peace-doves-a-vigil-for-justice-at-liverpool-cathedral/

Declaration of gay survivors of the Holocaust 50 years after their liberation #HolocaustMemorialDay

ln 1995 – for the first and only time – a group of gay survivors of the Holocaust issued a declaration demanding recognition as part of a project of the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington D.C. Here is what they wrote:

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Permanent link to this article: https://abravefaith.com/2021/01/27/declaration-of-gay-survivors-of-the-holocaust-50-years-after-their-liberation-holocaustmemorialday/

The possibility of life – A reflection for International Day Against Homophobia, Biphobia, Intersexphobia & Transphobia #IDAHOBIT 2020 – #BreakingTheSilence

This is a reflection on two Bible texts: Isaiah 43:1,4 and Mark 5:1-20, created for an online gathering of LGBTI+ Christian groups on Friday 22nd May 2020

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Permanent link to this article: https://abravefaith.com/2020/05/23/the-possibility-of-life-a-reflection-for-international-day-against-homophobia-biphobia-intersexphobia-transphobia-idahobit-2020-breakingthesilence/

#ComeAsYouAre – Christians At Pride In Liverpool

For the past three years, the Open Table LGBT+ Christian community based at St Bride’s in Toxteth has coordinated the Christians At Pride group in the Liverpool march.

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Permanent link to this article: https://abravefaith.com/2019/08/22/comeasyouare-christians-at-pride-in-liverpool/

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