Minister: We will stand firm against faith groups on equality legislation
By Judy West, Religious Intelligence
The British Government Equalities Minister, Maria Eagle (pictured) pledged that she and other Ministers would stand firm against any attempts by faith groups to get out of the demands of LGBT legislation and the forthcoming Equality Bill.
Addressing a cutting-edge UK conference, Faith, Homophobia. Transphobia, & Human Rights – building positive alliances for equality and sexual diversity, Ms. Eagle pointed out: “Values of equality and social justice are held by many within as well as outside faith communities.
“The circumstances in which religious institutions can practice anything less than full equality are few and far between. While the state would not intervene in narrowly ritual or doctrinal matters within faith groups, these communities cannot claim that everything they run is outside the scope of anti-discrimination law. Members of faith groups have a role in making the argument in their own communities for greater LGBT acceptance, but in the meantime the state has a duty to protect people from unfair treatment.”
The Minister’s position was reflected in the views of other Conference speakers from a variety of faith, spiritual, and non-religious backgrounds. Bringing greetings from TUC General Secretary, Brendan Barber, Peter Purton from the TUC Equality & Employment Rights Department, warned that people resisting progress towards rights for all “have stolen the language of religion.”
“Principles of faith are being twisted to foster irrational fears of human rights, sexual diversity and social equality, to pit people of faith, including LGBT people, against all who seek the common good,” said Conference Chairs, Maria Exall, Sharon Ferguson, Richard Kirker and Martin Pendergast.
Canon Giles Fraser, newly appointed Chancellor of St. Paul’s Cathedral, said, “Hateful attitudes towards LGBT people, sometimes aired on football terraces, are no different to those found in supposedly religious settings. We must not allow homophobia to disguise itself as any sort of legitimate religious belief – it isn’t! Homophobia is a sin and its eradication from churches, mosques and synagogues is one of the most urgent challenges for people of faith in the 21st century.”
Amanullah De Sondy, Islamic theologian and newly-appointed Assistant Professor in World Religions at Ithaca College, New York, offered a progressive view of the Qur’an, highlighting the significance of diversity in God’s submitted creation: “Human rights and social justice are pivotal points in Islamic theology and religious practices; we need to be led by God’s love, not our own narrow minds.”
Marilyn McCord Adams, Regius Professor of Divinity at Oxford University asked: Why does biblical religion that sees every person created in God’s image so easily become a sponsor of human rights violations when it comes to sex and gender? Adult believers have a responsibility to weed tradition, to identify systemic evils that are ripe for uprooting, pre-eminently human rights violations, and to go after them with a shovel and trowel.”
Trevor Phillips, Chair of the Equality & Human Rights Commission, spoke candidly about his position in the face of the controversies over the appointment of the Rev Joel Edwards, former General Secretary of the Evangelical Alliance, to a Commissioner role for faith issues.
Responding to tough questioning, he told the conference that had he known at the time of the appointment what he knew now, how deeply people had been hurt and alienated over this, maybe there would have been a different outcome.
Phillips’ apologies for Edwards’ appointment left a number of unanswered questions which the Conference Steering Group will continue to pursue. Recognising the human cost of social exclusion, Trevor Phillips admitted that LGBT people had in the past not felt that their concerns were being taken seriously enough. He expressed his own commitment and that of the Commission to striving for rights for all.
Supported by over 30 organisations, including financial support from trades unions, the Equality & Human Rights Commission, and the Consortium of LGBT Voluntary & Community Organisations, the Conference followed a ground-breaking 2007 Faith Homophobia & Human Rights Conference which unanimously affirmed and celebrated values of equality, sexual diversity and social justice as rooted in the best of faith traditions and the integrity of everyone committed to a transformed vision of a fully human society. Progressive Muslim voices came out in force at the2009 Conference, alongside Sikh and Jewish speakers in workshops and plenary sessions.
It was announced that a post-Conference think-tank, Cutting Edge, will work on an action-plan to strengthen alliances between people of all faiths and none, to defend and extend hard-won legal rights for LGBT people. Drawing from Conference attendees, it will show that national and local government, trades unions and professional bodies, faith communities and their agencies, LGBT networks, human rights bodies and those concerned with the law, can develop and promote good practice that will challenge persistent homophobia and transphobia in our society.
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