tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6220039663584229297.post3179112289193081500..comments2023-10-14T18:29:53.268-07:00Comments on Queer3: Quaker homophobiaQueer3http://www.blogger.com/profile/04723863583093845558noreply@blogger.comBlogger6125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6220039663584229297.post-5670510459426464922009-04-13T17:16:00.000-07:002009-04-13T17:16:00.000-07:00Hystery: Here's an interesting site that tells abo...Hystery: Here's an interesting site that tells about early Quakers and slavery. Evidently Penn himself owned a few.<br /><br />http://www.slavenorth.com/pennsylvania.htmAgingstonerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00489710108253351058noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6220039663584229297.post-68517289580349703052009-04-07T12:52:00.000-07:002009-04-07T12:52:00.000-07:00Hi John, I'm glad that you are carrying this c...Hi John, I'm glad that you are carrying this concern! I am a lesbian who was blessed to marry my wife in the manner of Friends in our Grand Rapids Friends Meeting (& then also married by a gay JP in California). Good luck with the panel.Kim Rangerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17162070006884922210noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6220039663584229297.post-27102373215858593762009-03-24T09:25:00.000-07:002009-03-24T09:25:00.000-07:00I've actually experienced several instances of hom...I've actually experienced several instances of homophobia among liberal Friends.<BR/><BR/>Perhaps we should take the plank out of our own eyes before pointing out the splinter in others' eyes.Jeannehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00905850036743973387noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6220039663584229297.post-40392945698712716952009-03-24T08:06:00.000-07:002009-03-24T08:06:00.000-07:00I share this concern. I look to Friends' antislav...I share this concern. I look to Friends' antislavery history as indication that in the past, those who knew that deep and grave injustice was ineffectively addressed by their meetings provided a jeramiad for their times. Historians link Friends with abolition as if it were an inevitable development. However, if you look at the history more critically, it becomes clear that the early, middle, and late years of Quaker abolitionist activity was led by only a few Friends who were willing to marginalize themselves from their own communities because what Justice demands is often unpopular. <BR/><BR/>I notice a great deal of ineffective "niceness" among Friends that acts to effectively stifle troubling but necessary conversation. We have to get past this cowardice with one another if we are to labor together as a people of peace, justice and unconditional love. This is perhaps the greatest civil rights issues of our generation. I maintain that we have been called and we know what our answer must be. <BR/><BR/>HysteryHysteryhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02044678910937934731noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6220039663584229297.post-79366949842827803742009-03-23T19:25:00.000-07:002009-03-23T19:25:00.000-07:00Hey John,An interesting post. My own primary conce...Hey John,<BR/>An interesting post. My own primary concern, as a member of a dually-affiliated yearly meeting, has been the question, "How do we (as Quaker queers and allies, as a yearly meeting) engage homophobia in transformative and challenging ways, without breaking fellowship?" I wrote an open letter to my yearly meeting and interested Friends that shared my perspective on some of those issues. <BR/><BR/>I wanted to add some further information about the incident you describe at the FUM General Board meeting in Kenya two (?) years ago. I've talked to several people who were there. Some told me a story like the one you report. Others, particularly folks who have more experience with the theological understandings and cultural context of east African Friends, have a different interpretation. <BR/><BR/>What I have heard is this: The clerk of the Ugandan yearly meeting was asked to give an invocation, and read from the first chapter of Romans, which includes the statement that [long list of behaviors, including homosexuality] are worthy of death. No one responded immediately, because of the context of worship and scripture reading, but several Friends approached the speaker afterward.<BR/><BR/>I have heard (here is where I can't really be sure) that the Ugandan Friend was very upset that his words were interpreted as advocating physical violence. He has publicly renounced that interpretation in a letter of apology that was published in Quaker Life magazine (I wish I could find it online), but affirmed his anti-homosexuality statements.<BR/><BR/>So it's definitely a story about homophobia, but in my opinion, not a story about Quakers advocating violence (which is how it has been told and re-told, with very detrimental effect in some cases). I think it merits great care in the telling.Kody Gabrielhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06854767742535483301noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6220039663584229297.post-89622051336932836962009-03-23T15:20:00.000-07:002009-03-23T15:20:00.000-07:00Go for it, John. Good thinking. AhaviaGo for it, John. Good thinking. <BR/>AhaviaAhaviahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12139186639904155149noreply@blogger.com