support for ‘unite sporting weekend’ 15-17 october

Ongoing support against hate crime

I am delighted that the IFA, GAA, and Belfast Giants are continuing to support the Unite against Hate campaign with the next Unite Sporting Weekend taking place this weekend coming.

As Vice Chair of the LGBT Independent Advisory Group to the PSNI, I appreciate the work that the PSNI put in to this cause. Combating hate crime in our country and throughout the world is an important work. I know that many will support this campaign. I hope that they will wear the campaign bracelet that is available as a visible sign of uniting against hate.

The UNITE AGAINST HATE embraces the Northern Ireland Government’s vision for the future of Northern Ireland as:

“A peaceful, inclusive, prosperous, stable and fair society firmly founded on the achievement of reconciliation, tolerance, and mutual trust and the protection and vindication of human rights for all”.

UNITE AGAINST HATE objectives:

1. To inspire and to unite. Change to a more tolerant and peaceful Northern Ireland is both desirable and possible. We need to have the optimism, hope and confidence that we can work together to bring it about
2. To sensitise general public to the problem of hate crime and its real costs. Hate crime destroys the lives of all of us through the damage it does to the quality of life, our reputation and our economy.
3. To create a climate of zero tolerance for hate crime and discrimination. Hate crime is violent and wrong; it will not be tolerated. There is no room in Northern Ireland for sectarian, racist, homophobic, transphobic, religious or disability related hate crime. This will continue to be vigorously implemented through the promotion of equality and the enforcement of rights.
4. To promote diversity. Living with diversity is an integral part of modern life and we all need to take responsibility for creating an atmosphere where diversity is accepted as normal. We need to recognise benefits of diversity.

I urge everyone attending any sporting events over the weekend to look out for the Unite against Hate campaign, if you want to get involved you can visit its website by clicking on the logo to the right.

Conflicting Freedoms

It is a truism, but in a free society, like the one we aim for, the freedoms of one group of people may sometimes infringe on the freedoms of another group. Balancing these conflicting freedoms is a complex task. For example, I believe the following things.

• People should be allowed to express their religion
• People should be allowed to be open about their sexuality

To me, these freedoms are equal: expressing your love for your god is of the same importance as expressing your love for your partner.

Here in Belfast there is an interesting example of a clash between those two freedoms. In 2008, the Sandown Free Presbyterian Church published an advert with the headline

THE WORD OF GOD AGAINST SODOMY

Following complaints, the ASA found that the advert did cause serious offence to some readers. The church is now appealing against that ruling.

It is clear that the Sandown Free Presbyterian Church believes that same-sex relationships are forbidden by the Bible. Should they be allowed to believe that? Of course: freedom of religion means that people are allowed to believe what they wish. Should they be allowed to express their beliefs? Again, the answer is “of course”.

But let’s consider the specific details of the advert here. As well as being generally hostile to gay people, the advert used words and phrases like

a perverted form of sexuality,

vices, and

Gods judgement.

Speaking as an openly gay man (who is also an openly gay Christian) the advert is intimidating. I would have not felt comfortable living in any community where those attitudes were not challenged.

So whose rights should win? Should the Sandown Free Presbyterian Church be allowed to express their religion as they did, or should gay people be allowed to freely express who they are?

The key question is who gets harmed most when one group has its rights restricted at the expense of another’s. The ASA didn’t find that the Sandown Free Presbyterian Church had to change their beliefs, only that in future adverts they had to be careful to not cause offence with the language they use. The infringement on their right to express their religion was extremely minor. Nobody is harmed if I walk down the street hand-in-hand with my boyfriend. The right to express sexuality freely is a right that harms nobody.

Homosexuality and Faith

Cross posted on Stephen’s Liberal Journal

There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear, because fear involves punishment, and the one who fears is not perfected in love.
1 John 4:18

Tonight a number of Northern Irish Liberal Democrats were in a backed room in Grosvenor House, Belfast for a meeting organised by Irish Peace Centres in association with Changing Attitude Ireland and the Methodist Church in Ireland. Of course I realised I had no paper to make notes, but did have my iPhone. The key speaker was David Walton, a lay Methodist preacher from Eccles, who was a past VP of the British Methodist Conference. The subject was sexuality and faith, here are some rough notes of the areas covered..

After starting with some personal anecdotes about his own sexuality David went on to say we have to acknowledge there are a number of issues that the Churches still face when it comes to homosexuality

1. There is a sense of disgust about the act and the subject itself
2. There is the argument about promiscuity (but looking around us this is not confined to the LGBT community)
3. There is the matter of cohabitation, sex outwith marriage, divorce etc all leading to the break down of marriage as the church sees it.

Sexuality has become a test of orthodoxy in the eyes of many churches, both for themselves and for others faith. However, what is slowly breaking that down is when there is someone, a grandchild, child, sibling etc that you know who is openly gay.

In 1993 the Methodist Church started what they called their pilgrimage to understanding human sexuality. In the end they came to accept relationships and civil partnerships, but stop short of allowing blessings in church (and therefore by default also equal marriage).

There is discussion going on in most churches about diversity. Although some are coming to conclusions without meeting LGBT people, or acknowledging that there are some within their congregations.

One thing that all sides of those with faith can agree on is the need of strong and stable relationships, based on honesty, fidelity, self control etc. Especially in the light of the world we are living in.

When it comes down to the acts of sex, which we too often focus on, we are ignoring the core of what loving relationships actually are.

There was then a time for question and discussion within the people present. One highlight was from Gerry Lynch who said, when the church is seen as being less accepting that our secular society we [the church] have a real issue.

This is only part of the initiative that Irish Peace Centres is running. They are seeking to have conversations that difficult conversations across social divides but had in a way solid debate and not name calling from opposing camps.

There will be two series one for LGBT people who love their faith

October 15th & 29th, November 12th and 26th, December 10th

The other for parents and friends of LGBT people

November 8th, December 6th, January 10th, February 7th, March 7th

Both series attendance at all 5 meetings is requested and if you are interested email padraig@cooperationireland.org who will provide details of the venue in Belfast where the discussions will take place.