‘No-one is silent but many are not heard’ – Why I work to change this
This quotation, from a poster called ‘How To Build Community‘, was part of the inspiration that led me to start this blog around nine months ago.
I have written about my experience as a gay Christian, as part of the first same sex couple to register our civil partnership in a place of worship in the UK, and as a youth worker and volunteer for the LGBT community in Liverpool, knowing I have the ability to speak on these issues where many feel unheard.
But as the pace of life has changed, and I have taken on a new role as Development Worker for the Michael Causer Foundation, to provide accommodation and support for vulnerable LGBT young people, so I have fallen silent. Not because there is nothing to say – on the contrary, there is almost too much. In the last few months, the number of countries around the world which have achieved marriage equality for same-sex couples has risen rapidly to 14, not including other states whose regional government has also voted for it, including twelve states in the USA, an increase of one a month for the last six months. As the Youtube campaign to support vulnerable LGBT youth has said more than 50,000 times, It Gets Better.
But in the wake of progress the spotlight falls on how much more there is to do to eradicate the prejudice that permits discrimination and prejudice towards LGBT people to flourish.
‘He was killed because he loved another boy’ – Why I support LGBT youth
Michael Causer
(9 October 1989 – 2 August 2008)
MARCH 1st was the third anniversary of the first meeting of the Michael Causer Foundation.
Michael Causer, from Whiston, Merseyside, died on 2nd August 2008 aged just 18 after being brutally assaulted and left for dead eight days earlier. The parents of the murdered gay teenager have set up a Foundation in his name to provide housing and support for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) young people at risk in north-west England.
Much work has been done behind the scenes to prepare MCF to achieve its Vision, Mission and Values, and 2013 looks set to be an exciting year for the Foundation.
I have been involved as a volunteer trustee of MCF since the beginning. Why do I volunteer for another LGBT youth organisation when I already run Liverpool’s LGBT youth group?
Are We There Yet? – The Road To Marriage Equality
THE HOUSE of Commons vote in favour of same-sex marriage on Tuesday 5th February was a landmark for equality, but it’s not the end of the journey - As Liverpool prepares to host the UK’s first National Gay Wedding Show next month, this is my personal response to the marriage equality debate, written for the March issue of Seen magazine, for Merseyside’s LGBT community.
Five years ago my partner and I had our first date. Little did we know that we would make the news in May 2012 as the first couple in the UK to register a civil partnership in a place of worship.
Recently we found ourselves in the news again, commenting on plans to allow same-sex couples to marry and to permit churches to ‘opt in’ to offering marriage services for same-sex couples within two years.
Nine Ways To Understand Yourself And Others
HAVE YOU EVER wondered why people are so different? Why they can’t all be like you? Why people don’t understand where you’re coming from or what makes you tick?
Welcome to the human race – questions like these have preoccupied us for centuries, and no doubt will for generations to come.
There have been many attempts to explain the diversity of personality, but few as enduring as the Enneagram (from the Greek for ‘nine ways’.)
Keeping Faith In Pride – Part 1
TONIGHT I was invited to share my story at the local meeting of the Lesbian and Gay Christian Movement, which describes itself as:
a UK-based international Charity which challenges homophobia and transphobia, especially within the Church and faith based organisations, as well as working to create and praying for an inclusive church.
The timing seemed apt, as I planned to speak about our civil partnership last year being the first to be registered on religious premises in the UK, and to encourage members to write to their MPs to express their views on marriage equality, as the newly proposed legislation was published and read in Parliament for the first time today.
Unfortunately the weather had other ideas, and as the snow fell horizontally on windscreen of the taxi that took us to the meeting, it became clear that only the hardiest souls would venture out to join us.
There were four of us: a United Reformed Church minister, a Catholic who runs an ecumenical worship group, my Anglican partner and I (loosely affiliated Christian, aka Jack With No Box). All of them had heard my script in one way or another so we decided to postpone it to another day and instead plan for this year’s Spectrum of Spirituality event, an interfaith celebration on the eve of Liverpool Pride, and the only official Pride event of its kind in the UK.
A Letter To Our MP, Love Equal Marriage
The Lesbian & Gay Foundation have launched a new campaign to encourage people to fight for equality and support same-sex marriage.
They are calling for people to contact their MPs to offer a message of support for same-sex marriage and encourage them to vote in favour of the proposed legislation.
Here is our letter:
Enduring Love? Couple Relationships in the 21st Century – part 1
Words associated with love and relationships made with wordle.net
TONIGHT WE HAD a visit from an Open University Researcher who is working on a project called: Enduring Love? Couple Relationships in the 21st Century.
My partner completed an online questionnaire a few months ago and we were selected from more than 5000 people who completed the questionnaire to be one of 60 couples who are interviewed for the second stage of research into the development of personal and family lives in contemporary Britain.
