As part of the UK's Inter Faith Week, we attended an event co-ordinated by the Leeds Faith Forum exploring attitudes towards the LGBT+ community within different religious groups. Faiths in Colour: Sexuality, Sexual Identity and Scripture saw three key speakers of different faiths talking about what their religion has to say about LGBT+ people and their own personal journeys in acceptance.
It's part of a new initiative to open a dialogue regarding faith and queer issues, and create a safe space for people of LGBT+ Faith communities to express themselves and help bring about change and tolerance. Kicking off the LGBT+ Faith Action Plan is this event in which we address scriptures regarding sexuality in different religions.
Christianity and sexuality
Representing the Christian faith was Marvina Newton; the CEO of Leeds charity Angel of Youths and organiser of the first BAME (Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic) Pride March in Leeds in 2015. She admitted to not always being as tolerant as she is today, but through her spiritual journey she has identified that God preaches love above everything else.
One of the Bible's most prominent teachings is "Do not judge, or you too will be judged" (Matthew 7). Of course, many Christians choose to overlook this philosophy, instead justifying their homophobia with the less forgiving biblical scriptures.
"You shall not lie with a male as with a woman; it is an abomination" (Leviticus 18:22). This is probably the most commonly referenced line in the Bible with regards to sexuality. Next to that you have Romans 1, which describes God's wrath against the sins of humanity ("Men committed shameful acts with other men").
Instead, Marvina asks us to consider how the Bible cites all mankind as brothers and sisters, regardless of ethnicity, faith, gender or sexuality: "For in Christ Jesus you are all sons of God, through faith. For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is no male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus." (Galatians 3:26-28).
Even the Bible has its own version of the phrase "Love is Love". 1 Corinthians 13:4-8 explains, "Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails."
Islam and sexuality
Islam has a similar approach to sexuality. While there are verses within the Qur'an that do denounce same-sex relationships, the first line of the holy text is the Basmala, a phrase which translates to English as: "In the name of Allah, Most Gracious, Most Merciful."
Our speaker Imran Shah, Chair of the Leeds District Police Independent Advisory Group and South Leeds Hate Crime Scrutiny panel, knows only too well how religion can cause communities to ostracise people who are different having growing up with a transgender uncle. He argues that LGBT+ people are surely part of God's creation, and nobody has the right to question God's creation. He expresses how persecuting others, regardless of your beliefs, by no means brings you closer to God, for the only route to salvation is through compassion.
Such teachings do not apply only to attitudes towards people of different sexual identities. The same goes for people of different faiths: "To you be your religion, to me be mine". The Qur'an preaches tolerance in all forms.
Sikhism and sexuality
A slightly different take on sexuality can be found within Sikhism. Dr. Bhajneek Kaur Grewal from the Dementia Friendly Gurudwaras Project explains that sexual identity is largely irrelevant within Gurbani (the word of Guru/God).
Lust is mentioned in terms of it being something that distracts from the pursuit of one's devotion to God, but that refers to empty desires for short-term satisfaction rather than building healthy relationships, and it certainly doesn't specify a particular preferred lifestyle.
Bhajneek explained also that huge importance is placed on context. To them, quoting any one line from Gurbani without the context in which it is written diminishes its meaning.
The Consensus
One thing that all these faiths can agree on is that it is not for any one person to judge another person, regardless of one's opinion of someone else's lifestyle. Nobody has the right to reject a person in need.
Everyone also seemed to be in agreement that scripture is open to interpretation; that the way we live our lives should not be dictated by written philosophy, but by how we perceive that philosophy.
It's wonderful to see an interfaith network working towards providing a more inclusive environment for LGBT+ Faith communities, especially when it's not just queer people that face being marginalized in their own community. Many allies struggle to speak out on their support out of fear of judgement from people who may challenge those ideas, including their religious group.
So how can Leeds Faith Forum and similar organisations best achieve this concord with the LGBT+ community?
It seemed to me that the movement could strongly benefit from simple things like learning the queer glossary; there's a lot more to LGBT+ than most realise and an in-depth knowledge of terms is a step towards building trust and respect.
Other important actions include approaching schools - particularly those with a religious focus - as educating children is the ultimate way of achieving a future of tolerance.
The goal should be to present religion as a source of succer rather than as a threat, which many members of the LGBT+ community unfortunately view it as. Faiths in Colour is an exciting new opportunity to change views and preach acceptance, and it stands a real chance of positively impacting the way society views religion as much as will benefit the queer community.
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