Welcoming LGBT2IQ+ Seekers and Friends

We held an evening of discussion and learning on welcoming seekers and Friends of all sexual orientations and gender identities in our faith community.  

 

Mylène DiPenta facilitated, based partly on related work they do with the Valley Youth Project, a social group supporting youth around these issues.  Mylène’s concern is especially for those who, like them, find their identity or orientation marginalized in our society.  This includes lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, two-spirit, intersex, queer, and many more people.  Although it is inadequate, sometimes the term “LGBT2IQ+” is used as a collective description. Anyone interested who is or has been connected to Quaker communities is welcome to join the conversation.

 

 

Topics

• What does it take to go beyond an intention of acceptance, to an effective welcome?  What are the unintentional things that accidentally discourage LGBT2IQ+ seekers, reducing our ability to build the beloved community and weakening our solidarity with each other?

• What are some of the barriers to the full participation of LGBT2IQ+ people in faith communities generally, and Quakers in particular?  What can we do to reduce them?

• How can we as a faith community work toward a world without homophobia, transphobia, and related sexualized violence?

• How can this strengthen or weaken our struggles for peace, earth-care, and transformative justice?

Your ideas, concerns, and questions are welcome.  There will be opportunities for individual reflection, small-group conversation, and whole-group discussion.  If you have never attended a Quaker meeting for worship but you are interested in this topic, please contact us — we would love to hear from you.  We can also help organize carpooling if desired.  We look forward to seeing you there.

Resources

1. Participant Handout
2. Assigned Male Comics, a webcomic about gender non-conforming children by Sophie Labelle (NOTE: the facebook page is down as of May 17, 2017 due to a co-ordinated attack by white supremacists who filled it with neo-nazi imagery and death threats, and published her home address online.  You can still find Assigned Male Comics on her Tumblr page)
3. Women and Honour: Some Notes on Lying, by Adrienne Rich
4. Using the F-Word (Fascism), from Shifting Phases
5. Maintaining Personal Boundaries in Relationships, by David Richo
6. Spiritual Destiny vs. Psychological Task, by David Richo
7. Sex, Gender, and Mental Health: with a history of 2SLGBTQ+ social control
8. The Lie of Entitlement, by Terrence Crowley
9. A Developmental Model of Intercultural Sensitivity, by Milton J. Bennett (see also Summary Poster)
10. Excerpt on “Accountable Communities” from The Revolution Starts at Home (Chen, Peipzna-Samarasinha eds.)