Yesterday, on the Christians for LGBTI+ Equality Facebook group , Oscar posted a picture of the new rainbow Lego set that was released in June for pride month placed on the nave altar of St Stephen’s Norbury and Thornton Heath parish church, south London, with a crucifix lying in front. Oscar feels that he, with his civil partner Geoffrey have been a model of what a "real" gay relationship and a "real" LGBT++ Church can become. They are not there but St Stephen's seeks to model inclusivity for the rest of the Church.
Jeremy commented that he was afraid they are not an inclusive Church. Under current Church of England rules no church can have a same sex married priest, nor probably lay minister, cannot bless same sex unions and cannot conduct same sex marriages. Until that becomes and we demand this from our bishops then all rainbow colouring effects are just tokenism.
Bryony thought this was a bit harsh, when people are trying to bring about change and to make public their desire for the church to be fully inclusive. Every church that declares themselves inclusive is a small step towards victory. She fears it may take a very long time, but each small step matters to keep hope alive.
Andrew thought Jeremy had pissed on everyone's fireworks and suggested he piss off and let US celebrate a glimmer of HOPE.
Nick said he was pleased that he wasn’t involved in Shared Conversations if this is the level of vitriol spat by those he would hope are allies supporters and fellow Christian LGBT+ folk.
Andrew said we all know that the C of E has an awfully long way to go, but individual parishes trying to be as inclusive as they can be is surely a good start.
Gemma said she would be sharing the picture and it’ll be ignored by everyone from her church. She was told it wouldn’t join the inclusive church movement ‘because there are problems with it’. Instead they just don’t talk about anything relating to inclusivity. It is not enough just to tolerate. They meet and pray on how to grow the church again but they are not willing to be inclusive and move forward.
Inclusive Church
Inclusive Church was founded in 2003, following the forced withdrawal of Jeffrey John, a celibate gay priest and friend, as Bishop-designate of Reading following a bitter conservative campaign opposing his appointment. The Inclusive Church supporting Jeffrey achieved nearly 10,000 signatures. I was at the launch meeting of Inclusive Church in St Mary’s Putney organised by the vicar, Giles Frazer.
Jeremy raised the question about what it means to be an Inclusive Church. Some people reacted defensively, and I understand why. The idea of a local church being inclusive is a nice idea. But the Church of England is not inclusive, it is abusive, prejudiced, homophobic and transphobic but most of us find it very difficult to see that this is the culture of the Church, let alone acknowledge this. Oscar is prohibited from having sex because his partner is ordained. That is the most deeply abusive prohibition against all partnered lesbian and gay clergy. Maybe every church that declares itself inclusive is a small step towards victory, as Bryony posted, but for me, campaigning for over 30 years, eighteen years after Inclusive Church was launched, these are rather futile victories in 2021.
Storm in a rainbow Lego set
Why did Oscar’s post and Jeremy’s comment result in such strong reactions? Why do we, LGBTIQ+ people become so quickly disputatious and defensive among ourselves? Because we have been living in an incredibly unhealthy, abusive, toxic environment in Church and Society for centuries for starters. And because the environment in the Church has become even more intensely hostile at the same time as civil society has granted us legal recognition and protection. And because we idealise the Church because it is intensely important to our faith, our social networks, and our hopes and dreams of a better future. Because of our hopes and dreams, we find it difficult to be critical of the Church. We are reluctant to admit that the Church is a worse environment today than it was three decades ago. There are fewer people left of my generation who endured decades of secrecy to survive and many new younger Christians who either happily find a genuinely inclusive church or have been damaged by worshipping with an apparently welcoming congregation only to discover that the leaders quietly press “reparative therapy” on those they discover to be “same-sex attracted”.
I understand why Christian LGBTIQ+ people are so committed to organisations such as Inclusive Church, OneBodyOneFaith, Open Table and the Ozanne Foundation, each developing in their own way healthy, enriching, pastoral support, meeting places, worship, and resources and for some groups, action to end abusive practices. Many posts to the Christians for LGBTI+ Equality group ask for recommendations to a safe church in their area, or report the toxic ways in which they have experienced church, or offer pastoral care and support. This demonstrates a need and highlights how unsafe and unwelcoming the Church of England is.
We don’t seem to recognise that this unhealthy, toxic, abusive environment continues to dominate nationally, however much our local church seems to be welcoming and valued. More difficult for me than the failure to recognise the dominant unhealthy culture is a reluctance to organise ourselves to campaign actively for the radical transformation of the homophobic and transphobic culture of the Church of England, its teaching and practice. There is an unwillingness to confront the ideology of those who believe the Bible is a manual that defines homosexuals as less than equal in the Kingdom of God, an abomination to some, as defined by Leviticus and Romans. If you need reminding just how destructive conservative ‘orthodox’ Christian teaching can be, read the testimonies on ViaMedia News or read Will Young’s book To Be A Gay Man published in 2020.
Changing Attitude England is committed to campaigning for a radical new Christian inclusion FOR LGBTIQ+ people, an ambition far greater than the Archbishops’ understanding of what radical inclusion means. Join us and help educate the bishops and Archbishops and challenge them to a really radically inclusive outcome to LLF.