Public Forums in Anglican Churches 'Not a Safe Place' for Gays
Despite a call by the head of the Anglican Communion to make churches a safe place for gays to speak openly about their lives, one rector pointed out the insensitivity in many churches towards homosexuals.
"It's different from diocese to diocese but in some places homosexuality is dismissed out of hand so for people who are gay it is not a safe place for them to come out," said the Rev. Gwilym Henry-Edwards, rector of St. Luke's Anglican Church in Enmore, Australia, according to Sydney Star Observer.
In the Anglican Church of Australia, the "Listening Process" – the commitment to listening to the experience of gay people mandated by the worldwide Anglican Communion - has largely not been adopted at the diocesan or national level. And where they have been adopted, they have faced some difficulties, according to the Australia church's summary report.
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In some cases, homosexual persons felt too vulnerable to speak publicly and in other cases, responses to gay people who attempt to communicate their experiences have been insensitive, the church report stated. Thus, some dioceses have hesitated to introduce the listening programs.
"The Church, it seems, is not a safe place for gay people," the Australia church stated.
"As one diocesan spokesperson has commented, the 'listening process' in his diocese 'became a time of 'shouting' rather than listening.'"
The church report was compiled by Dr. Muriel Porter, an Anglican laywoman and a member of the governing body of the Anglican Church in Australia.
While Porter recognized some churches which are safe places for gay people, "in public forum, no, it is not a safe place and that is a matter of deep shame for the church," she told Sydney Star Observer.
Last month, Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams, the spiritual leader for the Anglican Communion, challenged churches to show that they are truly a safe place for people to be honest and where people can feel confident that they will have their human dignity respected. His call came amid a "Listening Process" that Anglican provinces worldwide committed to at the 1998 Lambeth Conference.
In the Anglican Church of Australia, most bishops have taken the listening process seriously and were very caring in listening to gay persons, said Porter.
Negative voices, however, were higher up the church. Although they comprise a minority, they are enough to "make bishops very wary because they are concerned they don't want to hurt gay people in the name of listening," according to Porter.
Controversy over the issue of homosexuality heightened in 2003 when the Episcopal Church – the U.S. wing of Anglicanism – consecrated its first openly gay bishop. The Anglican Communion reaffirmed its position in February that homosexuality is incompatible with Scripture and also called churches to minister pastorally and sensitively to all persons, irrespective of sexual orientation.
