Re: Church must be safe for gays, Archbishop Williams says

I've always wondered why it is so difficult for Anglican leaders to internalise queer equality. There is only one Anglican parish where I've been a member and truly welcomed. It's not in America, but in London, England!

To: Bishops of the Anglican Communion:
Subject: Re: Church must be safe for gays, Archbishop Williams says
From: Louie Crew
Date: Wed, 28 Mar 2007 14:12:16 -0400 (EDT) --

Exxon and many of the other biggest polluters of the environment routinely pay huge advertisement fees to tell us on the evening news about how
carefully they protect the environment.

Ask Jeffrey John how safe the church is for gays under Archbishop Williams'
archepiscopric. Ask +Gene Robinson.

Or go to a town where you are not known and introduce yourself as
lbgt to the local Anglican leadership. Move among them for a week incognito
and then ask yourself how safe Anglican space is.

LGBT Anglicans have taken to the bank Lambeth's promise to dialogue dozens
of times only to have the cheque bounce leaving us to pay -- some with
unemployment, all with increased stigma -- the fee for the Communion's
insufficient commitment to its promises.

Look at the price the Anglicans in Nigeria are asking lgbts to pay in the
church's vociferous support of fierce criminal penalties even for those who
advocate on our behalf.

Believe the Archbishop of Canterebury this time only when local lbgt
Anglicans are heard with respect and kindness by Anglicans in Abuja,
Kigalie, Kampala, Buenos Aires, Pershawar, Nairobe, Kitwe, Dhaka, Kinshasa,
Antananarivo, Nicosia.....

The Archbishop of Canterbury himself has steadfastly refused to meet with
lesbian and gay leadership in The Episcopal Church, against whom the
primates have led major charges naming us anathema.

Perhaps the Archbishop's promises this time will not be cheap window
dressing. We live in hope.

Louie
Louie Crew, Ph.D., D.D., D.D., D.H.L.
Founder of Integrity
Chair of the Newark deputation to General Convention

Anglican Communion News Service via Anglican Church of Canada - Church must be safe for gays, Williams says:

MAR. 28, 2007 -- The Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams, has said that the churches of the Anglican Communion must be safe places for gay and lesbian people. His comments come in a welcome to an interim report on the Anglican Communion's Listening Process, a commitment to listen to the experience of homosexual people. Archbishop Williams warns that the challenge to create the safe space for their voices to be heard and for their dignity to be respected is based on a fundamental commitment of the Communion.

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