Categories: uncategorized
Date: 24 April 2008 08:58:22
Next week I am heading off to the European Conference for LGBT Christians. I am really looking forward to it as it will give me the opportunity to spend a weekend with some people I don't' see very often, and as it is just down the road from my house I thought it was a great opportunity. There are a whole load of different people speaking and performing The Very Reverend Jeffrey John, Richard Howitt (MEP), Revd Prof June Boyce-Tillman (who I am sure I must know as she was at King Alfred's College when I was a student) and of course the very fabulous Peterson Toscano will be touting for business.
The blurb on the flier says ”As Christians we are invited to live life to the full, but the struggle to find our welcome place in society and the church can leave us running on empty, feeling drained. In this conference we will consider the resources available to us as LGBT Christians to help us take better care of yourselves, as we learn to love ourselves better, we will be able to love God and out neighbour.”
It seems to me that regardless of sexual orientation, gender, race, class, ethnicity or disability many people struggle to find a place in society, and the church can be an even more difficult place to find somewhere to fit in. I often wonder if that is why as a straight, single woman I feel more at home surrounded by LGBT people. Whatever people think of the queer community the one thing is does have is a sense of identity (or identities if you wish). The queer community is (generally) a welcoming place, regardless of how you identify your gender and sexuality. Being single in church can be as isolating as anything else, and yet somehow the ability to grasp this concept eludes so many people who slot into the ‘smug married' category. I can't wait to get to this conference. Hopefully it will be a safe space and I am really looking forward to spending time with people. I need to feel connected.
So this afternoon, once I have been to a funeral I am going to go and get my eyebrows threaded. Next week I will have my hair cut. For some reason being surrounded by gay men increases my need to look and feel fabulous! I love Gok Wan to pieces, but in so many ways I have my own versions of this fabulous man. I am a very lucky girl.