Reflections on #DollyParton & #LondonPride weekend ...

It's been a few weeks now since London Pride weekend. I really should have reflected on the whole experience a lot more quickly, but time and emotions ran away with me, and here we are.

The weekend started for us, with two tickets to see Dolly Parton's Blue Smoke Tour at the O2. Dolly always amazes me with how down-to-earth she comes across, and how musically talented she is.  She didn't disappoint. She filled the O2, started the show on time - with no support act - and performed solidly, taking only a 20 minute break during the interval, she played several musical instruments, and interjected with stories from her life that were open, honest and endeared herself to her audience.

One of the things that always amazes me about Dolly Parton is that she quite openly and proudly speaks of her faith in God, but does so in a way that shares the unconditional love of God with her audience, and the audience respond well.  She told at least 12,000 of her faith in God, and how much God loves her & them, & they listened and responded positively.

I recognise I may be a bit biased when it comes to Dolly Parton, but I am in awe every time we see her live, at her talent, her warm faith and her authenticity.

Dolly comes across as real, as genuine, but more importantly for me, as inclusive. She is inclusive of all people, irrespective of gender, sexual orientation, race, colour or creed. The LGBT community love her and the faith community loves her & she loves them.

So when she says that she loves God, and that God loves us all so much ... people respond with warmth.  Those that don't have a faith listen patiently, while those who do are encouraged, and all are affirmed.

I was quite emotional by the end of the show, because I was both massively affirmed by hearing faith expressed in such an affirming and inclusive way, but also because I was saddened that much of the leadership of the Church couldn't manage to express faith like that, preferring instead to push people to the outside.
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On the Saturday, we made our way into Central London for Pride, where Mike joined me in marching with the Christians at Pride group - a collaboration between the various LGBTQII+ Christian charity & campaign groups.  The group was made up of people from LGCM, Diverse Church, Metropolitan Community Church, Two:23, Accepting Evangelicals, Changing Attitude, Quest and Inclusive Church.

With the vile homophobia coming out of some parts of the Church at the moment, and the very real threat of discipline faced by those clergy in same-sex relationships who marry their life partners, we felt it particularly important this year to be a part of an LGBTQII affirming faith voice.

We were joined by a 14ft Jesus with a rainbow sash, who worked the crowd like a pro, and we marched along to the Sister Act soundtrack, some of us handing out leaflets apologising for the pain that the Church had caused, others with leaflets with an LGBTQII-affirming message of faith or details of some of the LGBTQII-affirming faith organisations.

I was amazed at how appreciative the crowd was at finally hearing something positive from people of faith. Some people even wept openly at hearing an inclusive message for the first time, several people mouthed their thanks to us and for us there was a real pride in being a Christian and in being able to bring something positive to the day because of faith, not despite it.

I found the weekend hugely positive and emotional, receiving more affirmation from strangers over Pride weekend than I have from the leadership of my own denomination in a long time. It was a reminder of what is important in faith, but also a reminder of how much of the Church is getting it so wrong.
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To summarise:

I heard more about the love of God from Dolly Parton, and saw more of Christ among the outcast at Pride, than I have from many of our Church leaders.

But that's nothing new, is it? Christ has always existed outside the institution - with it's neat rules, dotted i's and crossed t's - and we lose something when we assume that theology and faith is the preserve of those with a qualification.

If you're LGBTQII and have been hurt by religion, I apologise. So have I ... repeatedly. If you have questions or comments, I would encourage you to find an LGBTQII inclusive faith group (try the links above), and have a conversation with them.  If you have a faith and are looking for an inclusive worshipping community, again, try the links above.

If you don't identify as a person of faith, rather than speaking against religion, would you consider speaking against homophobia & bigotry in religion instead and encourage inclusive faith groups to help them bring change from within our faith communities?

Inclusive faith groups need you ...

It never ceases to amaze me how much money is apparently around to both sponsor, and be made from, bigotry and bigoted causes.

The language used by organisations that support bigoted views often claims to support what is holy, sacred, or core to our values as a society.  They use scare tactics and a series of untruths to attempt to label those they're seeking to oppress and to gain support and finances from people who don't wish to see their lifestyle or value system threatened.  In my opinion this is less of a faith issue, but more of a power issue, and occasionally a financial issue.

By contrast, the groups that seek to promote full inclusion often work with very limited budgets and payrolls, but work very hard.

This is especially true in the case of so-called faith groups fighting against the LGBT community.  There are plenty of groups working very hard to fight the full inclusion of LGBT people, to campaign against marriage equality & marriage equality in faith communities, and most recently - often campaigning for bills which allow discrimination on the religious grounds.

I don't believe the answer to fighting bigotry in faith groups is to silence the voice of faith. If we allow ourselves to go down that road, we effectively silence all faith voices, including those fighting hard to bring full equality and inclusion.  People of faith who believe in equality for all often speak out in favour of full inclusion at the risk of their careers, and sometimes even their homes and families.  If we're to bring change in faith communities and have faith communities that affirm and include all and advocate for equality, we're going to need to support them and help them find their voice. If we give them back their voice, it removes some of the power of the oppressive groups that seek to silence everyone that doesn't submit to their control.

I wish to draw attention to some of the groups working for the full inclusion of the LGBT community, in faith groups, in society, in law and in our culture.  They need your support, your time, your gifts and talents, your prayers and your donations.

Faith Groups

• LGCM - the Lesbian & Gay Christian Movement.
  Find out more about them here
  Donate to their ministry here
• Changing Attitude - Changing Attitude works for the full inclusion of gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender people in the life of the Anglican Communion.
  Find out more about them here
  Donate to their ministry here
• Two:23 - an evangelical Christian with a LGBT inclusive ministry
  Find out more about Two:23 here
• Diverse Church - Diverse Church is a supportive community of 250+ young 18-30yo LGBT+ Christians, predominantly in UK evangelical churches. They aim to be a pastoral/mission resource for the wider church.
  Find out more about them here
  
• Inclusive Church - working for a church that is welcoming and open to all, and also holds a directory of inclusive churches nationwide.
  Find out more about them here
  Support their ministry here
• Accepting Evangelicals - Accepting Evangelicals is a open network of Evangelical Christians who believe the time has come to move towards the acceptance of faithful, loving same-sex partnerships at every level of church life, and the development of a positive Christian ethic for gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender people.
  Find out more about them here
• Metropolitan Community Church - a global inclusive church movement
  You can read more about them here
  Find their Western European & United Kingdom ministry groups here (you can support their ministries on their respective pages)
  Support their global ministry here
• Matthew Vines' Reformation Project
  Matthew is a remarkable young man. There are plenty of people who have explained the theology behind inclusive Christianity, but Matthew is perhaps the first to make it available in a YouTube video, in the form of an hour-long lecture, that provides a brief summary of all Scriptural views of homosexuality. Matthew's page is here.
  This video, and it's growth in global popularity, gave rise to a ministry by the name of
  The Reformation Project - a Bible-based, Christian non-profit organisation that seeks to reform church teaching on sexual orientation and gender identity.  Read more about this ministry here.
  The Reformation Project is only available in the USA for now, but is hopefully coming to the UK soon.
  Support Matthew's Reformation Project here.
  I'm hoping to get the chance to meet Matthew at some point over the course of my Sabbatical, but obviously time-permitting for both of us.

Community / campaigning groups

• StonewallProbably the group many people think of first when thinking of a group working towards equality for LGBT people.
  Find out more about Stonewall here
  Find out about the many ways you can support Stonewall here.

This list is not exhaustive, but a brief introduction into a few of the groups I've had the pleasure of being in contact with - and supporting - over the last year or two.  The people in these groups are extremely hard-working and dedicated, but they desperately need support - in whatever form you can offer it - to continue to fight for equality for the LGBT community in our government and in our faith communities.

I regularly tweet about Equality and Equal Marriage (although not exclusively) ... you can follow my twitter feed here.