Skip to main content

Faith, Homophobia and Human Rights Conference

I was at this conference last weekend. It was organised by LGCM and supported by over 50 organisations, including the Unitarian General Assembly, (I think) the only actual denomination to support the conference.

The conference was initiated because of a report by the Gay Police Association that there had been a 74% increase in homophobic incidents, where the primary motivating factor was the religion of the perpetrator. When the Gay Police Association released this information they were themselves attacked virulently by conservative religious organisations. I blogged about that here.

The workshops I attended were on the 'Religion and gay friendliness' and one on lobbying againist the religious right by someone from the British Humanist Association. The most powerful speaker by far was Ali Hilli from Iraq, who spoke about how BGLT Iraqis are under constant persecution, often in the form of torture and murder by religious militias in Iraq, including elements that have infiltrated the police. He spoke of an organised and systematic campaign of ‘sexual cleansing’ – execution of BGLT people. There is an underground network of activists working to record homophobic attacks. This comes closer to home when BGLT asylum seekers from Iraq come here to the UK to avoid such persecution. There is a great need for us to support such asylum seekers.

The main thing I took from the conference was the need to build coalitions. We Unitarians are a tiny group and passing resolutions at General Assembly in reality does very little to change the world. What are needed are coalitions around issues that we care about, such as the elimination of homophobia. We should more actively build coalitions with natural partners such as humanist organisations, Quakers, and liberal Jews to lobby parliament and Whitehall and give messages to the press. Alone we do not have the clout, resources and money to do so, but together it may be possible. I had a long conversation with someone from the British Humanist Association which got me excited about building coalitions around agitating for same-sex marriage and the separation of church and state. Podcasts and pictures can be found here.

Giles Fraser of Inclusive Church
Vic Codling of the Gay Police Association



Chris Smith


Malcolm Duncan of Faithworks


Me and Andrew Copson of the British Humanist Association

The conference declaration in full is below:

The Faith, Homophobia, & Human Rights Conference, gathered in London on 17th February 2007, calls on all people of goodwill, of whatever faith or none, to affirm and celebrate human equality in all its dimensions and particularly to work for the elimination of any faith-based homophobia and institutionalised prejudice towards lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people.

We reject the activities of certain religious leaders, seeking exemptions from equality legislation, and attempts to base this on the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion, such a right being for all, not just for some. We deplore the internalised homophobia within religious institutions that fails to confront prejudice and hate. We encourage and support those faith organisations, which express their commitment to diversity and equality in practice and policy. We believe that full civil rights for LGBT individuals are not only consistent with the right to religious freedom, but are rooted in the best and fundamental teachings of all major faiths; love, justice, compassion, and mercy, such values being shared by all who seek the common good.

We call for further progressive public policy that will deliver comprehensive and effective anti-discrimination legislation, including positive duties, on the basis of race, gender, disability, age, sexual orientation, and belief. We call on the newly formed Commission for Equality and Human Rights to listen to the experience of LGBT faith networks and those who have suffered homophobia from and within religious organisations.

Today, the alliance of over fifty faith and secular organisations supporting this conference affirms and celebrates the values of human equality and social justice, rooted in the best of faith traditions, and shared by all who are committed to a fully human vision of a transformed society.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Radical?

When I started this blog nearly 4 years and nearly 300 posts ago one of the labels I used for it/me was "radical." Perhaps I used it a little unreflectively. Recently I've been pondering what radical means. A couple of things have made me think of this. Firstly this blog series from my friend Jeremy, which explores a distinction between "radical progressives" and "rational progressives." There is also this definition of radical, liberal and conservative from Terry Eagleton quoted at Young Anabaptist Radicals : “Radicals are those who believe that things are extremely bad with us, but they could feasibly be much improved. Conservatives believe that things are pretty bad, but that’s just the way the human animal is. And liberals believe that there’s a little bit of good and bad in all of us.” What interests me is finding a way to express the tension I feel sometimes between myself and the wider Unitarian movement. One way to express this is to say I tend

What does it mean to be non-creedal?

Steve Caldwell says "The problem here isn't humanism vs. theism for theist Unitarian Universalists -- it's the non-creedal nature of Unitarian Universalism" This is a good point. We need to think much more deeply about what it means to be a non-creedal religion. The first thing I want to say is that there is more than one possible understanding of non-creedalism. The Disciples of Christ are a non-creedal church, they say here : " Freedom of belief. Disciples are called together around one essential of faith: belief in Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. Persons are free to follow their consciences guided by the Bible, the Holy Spirit study and prayer, and are expected to extend that freedom to others." Quakers are also non-creedal and say here : Quakers have no set creed or dogma - that means we do not have any declared statements which you have to believe to be a Quaker. There are, however, some commonly held views which unite us. One accepted view is that th

What is Radical Christianity?

Radical Christianity is about encountering the God of love . It is first and foremost rooted in the discovery of a universal and unconditional source of love at the heart of reality and within each person. God is the name we give to this source of love. It is possible to have a direct and real personal encounter with this God through spiritual practice. We encounter God, and are nourished by God, through the regular practice of prayer, or contemplation.  Radical Christianity is about following a man called Jesus . It is rooted in the teaching of Jesus of Nazareth, a Jewish prophet living under occupation of the Roman Empire two thousand years ago. It understands that's Jesus' message was the message of liberation. His message was that when we truly encounter God, and let God's love flow through us, we begin to be liberated from the powers of empire and violence and encounter the  "realm of God" - an alternative spiritual and social reality rooted in love rather th