Lesbian and Gay Christians celebrate 30th Anniversary at Cardiff Conference 28-30th April 2006

Religious groups present a deepening threat to the lives of gay and lesbian people in today’s world. While this tragically remains the case in many third world and developing countries, the Pope and other leaders of faith communities within western democracies are now determined to reverse the legal changes and social tolerance that have embraced lesbian and gay people and their families over recent years.

Since 2003 with the election in America of the first openly gay bishop [Gene Robinson] to a mainstream Christian denomination lesbian and gay Christians have experienced an increasingly ferocious attack on their presence within the Churches and society at large.

Next weekend the Lesbian and Gay Christian Movement’s 30th Annual Conference in Cardiff, Wales will be assessing the increasing danger that sections of their own faith community represent to the lives of the tens of millions of lesbian and gay people in the world.

“The response from some faith communities to an increasingly secular world has been to seek out scapegoats for their institutional failure and gay people are usually amongst the first. The culture of the Church has traditionally blamed the victims of its abuse for its own ills. Paedophile priests were moved on and promoted while their victims were made to feel they were the criminals.” said the Revd Richard Kirker, General secretary of the Lesbian and Gay Christian Movement (LGCM).

“The response from some faith communities to an increasingly secular world has been to seek out scapegoats for their institutional failure and gay people are usually amongst the first. The culture of the Church has traditionally blamed the victims of its abuse for its own ills. Paedophile priests were moved on and promoted while their victims were made to feel they were the criminals.” said the Revd Richard Kirker, General secretary of the Lesbian and Gay Christian Movement (LGCM).

“While people are increasingly aware of the dangers of a skewed fundamentalism in other world religions they are unaware that there is huge growth in a similar Christian fundamentalism, often perilously close to the mainstream. It seems that it is easier to pack your churches with a message of hate and violent condemnation rather than a message of peace and reconciliation” he said.

Welsh Priest and Director of Communication for LGCM, the Revd Martin Reynolds welcomes the return of LGCM’s national conference to Wales for its 30th anniversary. “We always have a warm welcome in Wales and we are particularly delighted to be using the award-winning facilities available in Cardiff Bay. We are honoured to be welcoming the Presiding Officer of the Welsh Assembly, Lord Dafydd Elis-Thomas; the Archbishop of Wales, Dr Barry Morgan; and the Leader of Cardiff City Council, Rodney Berman to a Civic Reception on Saturday at the Cardiff Millennium Centre.”

“We want all people, but particularly the lesbian, gay and bisexual community to know that God loves them and welcomes them as his children despite the distorted messages they often hear from our troubled , compromised religious leaders. But this is also a wake-up call to gay people, they should be aware of the rise of the religious and political Right who would destroy us.” said Mr Kirker. ENDS

Notes:

1.   Information about the work of the Lesbian and Gay Christian Movement can be found at www.lgcm.org.uk and further details of the conference can be found by following the link on that page.

2.   The BBC in Wales opened its coverage of the LGCM conference with “All Things Considered” dedicating the whole programme to a major interview of Communications Director Martin Reynolds by Roy Jenkins. Listen again from here:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/wales/radiowales/shows/allthingsconsidered.shtml?focuswin