Categories: uncategorized
Date: 12 November 2012 11:12:46
Really looking forward to the LGBT History Month Pre-Launch event on Thursday over at Bletchley Park. This coming year there is going to be a focus on Maths, Science and Engineering. The venue of course links in with Alan Turing whose centenary is being celebrated this year in a range of ways including a special exhibition at the Science Museum in London and Monopoly set.
Whilst I was on the LGBT History Month site I spotted an article about the appointment of the new Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby. Reading it I was relieved to see what he had been said relating to sexuality had been accurately reported and that it was not full of the "anti-gay" language I had been seen in various bits of the LGBandT media earlier in the week.
It sent me looking further and I found out something wonderful had happened; those earlier reports which had sent me a strange colour of non-ecclesiastical purple had been edited and the language being used was not the same. It appears that the LGBandT media has woken up to the fact that being against equal marriage is not automatically the same as being anti-gay and that an Archbishop who says I want to listen and engage in dialogue is somebody to be welcomed rather than automatically cast as an enemy.
I hope what this represents is the beginning of a turning point where language is softened and the debate is allowed to happen beyond the soundbite and beyond the Coalition For Marriage vs. Stonewall (Equal Marriage Campaign) arguments which are both in their own way reductionist and which ignore totally the trans aspect of the debate and proposed legislation.*Have to point out here that even if the trans element weren't in there I believe 100% in the concept of equal marriage and I support the aim of the campaign whole heartedly, it is just the language used in some of the campaigning and the simplification of the issues involved which I have objected to.
I also hope it represents a point where the voices of certain groups get muted slightly as a wider community (on both sides) gets listened to. A recent article in the Baptist Times from Nigel Wright (principal of a major Baptist training college) and the appendix to the Methodist Church response to the governments consultation on Equal Marriage both represent different aspects of what could be described as "the missing voices" from the public, polarised debates.
This moving beyond stereotypes and full community engagement is something which I welcome with my whole heart. One of the things which I really like about the LGBT History Month site is that it really does engage with all the sectors of the LGBandT community including trans. Admittedly there is room for improvement in some areas for example the religion section of the links is very limited and doesn't appear to go beyond LGCM and their youth wing in terms of the Christian religious groups. Whilst understanding that with growing multitude of groups not all can be linked to the denominational ones I believe should certainly be on there.
The movement to softening the language and thinking beyond the battle lines of the last few years is one of the reasons I think it is vital that as many people as possible read or listen to the whole of Justin Welby's speech and not just the bits about gender and sexuality. Within it he talked about where he was coming from and his own spirituality as well as about the Church of England and the wider Anglican Communion.
He has been portrayed by the LGBandT media as well as others as being quite a conservative Evangelical but the speech shows that is an overly simplistic label to apply. Yes he is from the Evangelical wing of the church but the conservative tag is misleading. It falls into the trap of believing that you simply have "conservative" and "progressive" Evangelicals. This is overly simplistic and in the case of Welby it is also downright problematic.
His "acceptance speech" had the following within it: "We were nurtured and shaped as Christians in the churches in Paris and London. I had the privilege of serving as a curate amongst wonderful people in Nuneaton and making many mistakes as a rector in Southam. Coventry Cathedral opened my eyes to the church overseas and gave me a passion for reconciliation, and Liverpool humoured me, teased me and quietly taught me. Above all the providence of God has surrounded us in so many ways through tragedy and joy. Learning from other traditions than the one into which I came as a Christian has led me into the riches of Benedictine and Ignatian spirituality, the treasures of contemplative prayer and adoration, and confronted me with the rich and challenging social teaching of the Roman Catholic Church."
What this shows is that he was nurtured within fairly conservative Evangelical churches but life and listening to as well as working with others he has developed a much broader approach to faith and recognises himself to be on a ongoing spiritual journey where experience plays a part as well as reason, scripture and tradition. His interpretation of the bible appears to be "mainstream" rather than "conservative" Evangelical.
As you may be able to tell I'm a bit of a Justin Welby fan and am really glad he got the job, his whole speech (and not just the pro-women bishops and being on a listening process re LGBandT issues) give hope. And for me hope is what I see from the editing which took place in certain LGBandT reports too. Not naive enough to believe that whether we're talking secularisation, gender, sexuality or lots of other things that it's all going to be easy or plain sailing but there is hope.
And hope to me is what LGBT History Month is about too. Hope comes from looking to the future, from the position of the present, recognising the past.hat's what LGBT History Month is doing in relation to Science and Maths particularly and what the event at Bletchley Park I began by referring to is about.