Page 1 Newsletter of the Quaker Lesbian and Gay Fellowship No. 120, February 2008 Lead Article: Our choices, ourselves ... This year's Spring Gathering will address 'Quaker values and sexual behaviour'. We are at the friendly Unitarian conference venue, the Nightingale Centre, Derby-shire, surrounded by lovely scenery, and where we had a very good Gathering a couple of years back. Time for fellowship and fun is guaranteed, but we will also be looking at how we feel about these profound choices, which are both personal, and which can matter to other people around us. It will be about what we do, but also how we decide, and how we feel led if we make certain decisions ... The assumption is not that we must all think the same, or indeed like the same things, but that our Quaker decision making and community can help us. We are not with those who believe in Quaker discernment with your trousers on, and a list of historically inherited rules with your trousers off. The team preparing the Gathering have given particular thought to creating a safe space where we can speak truth and love appropriately. The last Gathering held here was when our speaker came from Outrage. Universally, people who had thought 'that sounds a bit heavy but I will risk it' reported a Gathering which was enjoyable, challenging, and memorable. We aim for the same. While the Society flounders and flannels a little over committed relationships, we are testing where we as individuals and a Fellowship might stand. Like all our ethics, a bit of a work in progress. It will be fun to progress it. Page 2 Index: Our choices, ourselves ...-1 Editorial-2 Dates for your Diary-2 Your letters ...-3-5 Committee meets ...-5 Quaker ethics ...-4-5 Anglican stands up-6 Progress in Nepal ...-6 Progress in Uraguay-7 Secret Worshippers-7 Scribes and Pharisees ...-7 East Africa and more ...-8-9 Blair goes to Rome-10-11 Bullied for being straight-11 Ship of Fools ...-12 What members are up to-12 Witches galore ...-13 Book review-14 Mild kinkiness ...-15 Man in Tights ...-16 Paying the Piper-17 Quaker Affiliates ...-18 DN strikes back-18 The Divine OFCOMEDY-19 Vox Populi ...-19 More Science news ...-20 Make me a Muslim-21 EHRE and legislation ...-22 Evangelicals clash ...-23 Your Committee-24 Classified Ads-24 Dates for your Diary QLGF Spring Gathering 2008 4 - 6 April Nightingale Centre, Derbyshire. 'Quaker values in sexual behaviour.' QLGF Autumn Gathering 2008 11 October St Katherine's , Limehouse, London. Day gathering with overnight option. Editorial: Now we are Six ... This issue is the sixth anniversary of the current editorial team of Stephen, Sarah and Nick, which has provoked a little reflection. The newsletter strives to be what Quaker publications ought to strive to be; committed, funny, spiritually searching, broadminded, and a believer in telling truth to power. It is Quaker, but willing to see truth anywhere and everywhere, even when those hostile to us are right. It has little bursts of self doubt, and little bursts of ego ("Take over the Friend! Unleash Quaker satire on an unsuspecting world...!!!) But it needs to be a conversation not a monolog. What Quakers say is tested by their experience, so the news-letter needs to arise from a broader experience than just the Three Stooges. We print nearly every-thing we get, we do not demand great length or literary talent, and if nothing else, just hearing that we are, or are not, on the right track helps. We plough on, if you will have us. If there is too much of us in this issue, write us something else. With our love The Editors Page 3-5 Your Letters ... QLGF Gatherings Officer wanted The Fellowship has two Gatherings Officers - Betty Hagglund who recently took over from John West, and myself. I have now decided that at the age of 75 and after more than five years in the post I will resign, with effect from this year's Spring Gathering. Your Committee will be looking for candidates and hope to appoint someone at the residential weekend at the Nightingale Centre, in Derbyshire (4-6th April). My time as GO has been very rewarding and it has been a great pleasure to meet and get to know so many of you - something I wouldn't have been able to do as an ordinary QLGF member. Gatherings - residential and one day - are the means, together with the newsletter, by which the fellowship keeps itself glued together, as it were, and we have been lucky in finding friendly and attractive venues in which to meet. Some weighty topics have been discussed along with other lighter matters and after all the talk, we have fun at the Saturday evening entertainments and relax in the bar or at a local pub. So, if any of you, wanting to be of service to the Fellow-ship, fancy the job of organising us at a Gathering, think about putting your name forward. I can promise that the rest of the committee will be lovingly supportive and helpful to you. A job description for the post can be got from our clerks. I hope to see many of you in April. In Friendship Alex Yeats ------------------- §------------------- Dear Stephen, Sarah and Ruth, Items for the QLGF powers that be to consider, and probably discard. If short of copy, you may use these somehow, for the next Newsletter, if you wish. The last item is for the Newsletter administration to deal with ! I see from The Friend, that the 'East Africa (north) Yearly Meeting' has sent an "Epistle to Friends Everywhere", in a rather homophobic tone. (I have not seen this, though I would like to.) However it occurs to me that maybe QLGF should reply to this fairly publicly, saying briefly, either in letter form or a leaflet. To say how long we have been around, how we have come to lay aside 'Leviticus' and how we prefer John Henderson's paraphrase of Romans I. to the more standard versions. Maybe the committee has already considered this; or perhaps thought about dis-cussing it at the next gathering. What ever happens, I think QLGF should not let this pass by without comment, if only in The Friend. (Incidentally, on re-reading the above, do we have any contact with other groups similar to QLGF? Eg. in USA, Canada, Australia, New Zealand/Aotearoa, South Africa, Etc. If only to exchange newsletters). The posting arrangements of the Newsletter seem some-what awry: I received 2 separate copies of the December issue. Since we, have no Meeting House I could not just leave it on the table. However, I gave it to the local ex-member of QLGF. Yours, Martin There is various going on about East Africa (see Page 8); the text was printed in the spring [summer?] newsletter as I recall, there has been some 'process' centrally about responding, and also some area meetings have responded (see Robert and Susan's letter.) We do exchange news-letters with sympathetic groups in Europe, America and Australia. I have to say that I think it is important some reply comes from the broader society, and that we in QLGF do not have to stand alone. If in 2008, it falls to us alone to say homophobia is wrong, we're in trouble. Whether the Fellowship wants us to respond is an interesting one... comments please! This is a mystery deep as the sea. We'll investigate. We're not sure we own the idea of being 'powers that be'...! ------------------- §------------------- So enjoyed the last newsletter. Some great pieces of writing. Thank you to Stephen and Sarah. One or two things....I wrote the 'Yes, I'm reading' and you omitted to put my name or initials at the end (am only slightly peeved ...). Also the review of the book by Jenni Murray was nameless and left me wondering ... (1 or 2 acronyms also took me a while to figure out - LGCM on p 23 and CSU p 19. Maybe just a bit slow ...) Great to read people's experience of the Autumn gathering. Look forward to seeing in print some of Betty's material on Anne Lister, which sounded so interesting. So again, thanks for the brilliant and hard work you do putting this together for us. Susan G (Susan, very sorry to leave your name off. It looked like your booklist was Gill Coffin's! I picked this up in proofing but an email whizzing between North London and Oxford late one night went astray, as happens. LGCM is Lesbian and Gay Christian Movement and CSU is the rightwing Bavarian Christian Social Union. The Anon article was indeed by Anon. And we managed to put the wrong Dot's phone number down for the Quaker Lesbian Group contact, which is baffling us. Anyway, Dot (QLG)'s correct number is on the back page. Eds) ------------------- §------------------- I see from the shiny new Woodbrooke brochure that Wbk and QL Central Committee are putting on a Committed Relationships Conference (2-4 June, not expecting many people who have to go to work then...). Do we know about this? It says invites will be sent to AMs and interested groups. Rodney The Woodbrooke brochure is clear that invites will be sent to AMs and interested groups but it is not an open event. Given the way AM clerks edit their postbag - perhaps out of mental self preservation - might be worth checking that sending someone is on the agenda locally. This is part of 'finding a way forward... ' Eds Dear Stephen and Sarah, You may like to alert readers that I have an article in the Friends Quarterly (Jan 08 issue). This is entitled "Musts, Oughts, and Shoulds". The piece not only reveals my gayness but also discloses about my having psychic gifts. I have tried to explain how having to keep these two secrets much of my life made it difficult for the Spirit to 'get through'. Thus I could not be my true authentic and whole self until relatively recently (I'm now 73 young.) This article, therefore, may help others who have been unable to 'come out' about things, to consider how that is affecting their being 'Whole'. Or perhaps preventing them being open to the Spirit, and thus not able to fulfil their true meaning and purpose. In Friendship, Elizabeth Angas (It also raises the lesser question as to whether it is better to write articles for broader Quaker publications than just the newsletter. When I have time I try to do both ... Ed.) ------------------- §------------------- London QLGF discusses ... I suggest that we discuss the role of QLGF at our meeting on 12 Jan: Are we simply a social group, or do we seek to influence the wider SoF Friends, and other religious groups? Roy Dear Friends, I am sorry that I could not get to Westminster last Sat. but I had to work. Hope to meet you on another occasion. I have been following the correspondence/discussion over the purpose of QLGF etc. My own Meeting (Harrow) has always known, accepted me as gay and my partner, Alan, over a period of nearly twenty years. I am one who is always 'upfront' about being gay, not in a particularly assertive way, but just to let people know where I stand. Maybe it has caused problems for others, but I have to say that I am not aware/don't feel alienated in any way, even when I mix with Catholic/Anglican friends and many others of no faith. My own experience among Friends has been universally helpful, not that every Friend necessarily under-stands/accepts gayness easily, but stands/accepts gayness easily, but I have never felt disliked/left out/unsupported in Meetings I have belonged to. Perhaps I should add that I have undertaken several forms of service in my own Meeting, clerk, elder, overseer etc. and have been active on and off in wider Quaker circles too. I take it as read that I will find whole-hearted love and support in the SoF in our age. I would be sad to think that there may be other Friends who don't feel as I do. With loving greetings, Robin ------------------- §------------------- Dear Friends Though Quakers have a Testament to equality and most do what they can to implement it, there are some gay men and lesbians at meetings who do not feel equal. Whether this is because they are used to being treated unequally in the outside world and bring this sense of inferiority with them to meeting, or whether their meetings have somehow failed to show them that they are equally welcome, or even a combination of these factors, I don't know. But I do know that such people find real support within QGLF. Coming from a very accepting and loving meeting which has always treated me as an equal, I rejoined QGLF to contribute to this support. But what I found, as a bonus, was a forum to discuss issues which are particularly relevant to lesbians and gay men. Our discussion on same-sex marriage, for example, led us to explore how Quakers might seek to change the law which currently prohibits Civil Part-nerships from being made in religious premises. In areas such as this, we have a unique Quaker voice. QLGF has branches throughout Britain. We might usefully use these to find out how lesbians and gay men are prospering across BYM. Where difficulties are revealed, support can be given and perhaps educative sessions (like Wood-brooke-on-the-road) could be offered. I think this would be worthwhile. We are pushing an open door! Your Friend, Dugan ------------------- §-------------------On Saturday the 16th Jan the interfaith exhibition I have been taking the photographs for is to open at Hampstead FMH, 120 Heath Street, London NW3. I was sending a message about this event to people in my e-mail address book. I came across the address of Peter Tachell the Gay rights campaigner and member of Outrage, as I had met him and connected with him at some past event. I invited him to the preview. He is the Ghandi of lesbian and gay groups, who has brought gay issues to the notice of law makers via peaceful protest. Is his example not the role of our QLGF in the world of faith or inter-faith for that matter? Mike Committee meets ... The committee is always keen to keep costs to a minimum, and as such has acquired a deep knowledge of some dodgy meeting places. We've met in a pacifist photocopier room last dusted between Aldemarston marches, a couple of fine Quaker basements, that church in Birmingham under a railway arch, and best of all, the nursery attached to a church in Camden, with street vendors playing their ghetto blasters at two million decibels. All hosts gracious, welcoming, supportive and cheap, but it made a nice change to find Paul's elegant flat, with elegant views over the water and the Docklands skyline. The geography of the committee is shifting northwards so cheap meeting places easy to reach from Scotland, Birmingham and London, please. As ever the minutes are available for those who want them, but key points not covered elsewhere are: Email - we propose to email everyone (or ask you now) and ask whether they want a mailout alert system, or a discussion group, or both. If we set up either or both, you would need to opt into which you wanted. Most of us suffer too much Quaker spam already, but uses might include discussion of speedy actions; alerts to events and news of interest; reminders around the newsletter dead-lines; etc. Money and membership; the subs have gone up, many standing order people have yet to action this. The 3 year supporting meeting membership is popular, goes to show our cunning plan to cut meeting admin worked. Around 400 local meetings are not yet supporting meetings ... booo We make the sort of modest surplus one slight misfortunate on Gatherings would wipe out. Autumn Gathering: we are going with the Foundation of St Katherine in Limehouse, London, a conference centre known to be welcoming. 11th October 2008. We plan to produce a new edition of Part of the Rainbow, we plan to have literature at Britain Yearly Meeting, we're making sure people know about the 'closed' way forward conference on a theology of relationships (whatever that might be), - QLGF nominated one member of the Quaker Life working party on this, which was open of them; Much time spent on what we hope will be a memorable and fun Gathering in the Spring! Page 6 Anglican stands up for gay people ... The head of the Anglicans in the United States has accused other churches, including the Church of England, of double standards over sexuality. The Presiding Bishop of the Episcopal Church, Katherine Jefferts Schori, told the BBC her church is paying the price for its honesty over sexuality: "He is certainly not alone in being a gay bishop, he's certainly not alone in being a gay partnered bishop," she said. "He is alone in being the only gay partnered bishop who's open about that status." She said other Anglican churches also have gay bishops in committed partnerships and should be open about it. "There's certainly a double standard," she told Radio 4's PM programme. The US church also faces criticism over its stance on services of blessing for gay couples. The consecration of Gene Robinson led to a huge row in the church. The church has stated it will not officially authorise such services, but Presiding Bishop Jefferts Schori admits they do take place. "Those services are happening in various places, including in the Church of England, where my understanding is that there are far more of them happening than there are in the Episcopal Church," she said. Presiding Bishop Jefferts Schori refused to criticise US parishes that carry out services of blessing for gay couples, saying that it was a decision for each individual church. In July, Anglican bishops from around the world are due to attend the Lambeth Conference, convened by the Archbishop of Canter-bury once a decade. Some African churches are threatening to boycott the conference - particularly if Bishop Robinson receives an invitation. But Presiding Bishop Jefferts Schori says she thinks he might yet be invited. "We're still hoping that that might be the case," she said. BBC Online Progress in Nepal ... Nepal's Supreme Court has ordered the government to scrap laws that discriminate against homosexuals. The court ordered that sexual minorities should be guaranteed the same rights as other citizens. Campaigners said the ruling was a 'huge victory'. Homosexuality is frowned upon in conservative South Asia. Nepalese laws do not explicitly criminalise homo-sexuality, but an 'unnatural sex act' currently carries a prison term of up to a year. Human rights campaigners say the provision has been used to justify arrests of men who have sex with men and transgender people. Gay men and women and members of other sexual minorities have long complained of discrimination in Nepal. In their ruling, two Supreme Court judges said: "The government of Nepal should formulate new laws and amend existing laws in order to safeguard the rights of these people. "Lesbian, gay, bisexual, transsexual and intersex are natural persons irrespective of their masculine and feminine gender and they have the right to exercise their rights and live an independent life in society." "It's a very encouraging and progressive decision. We all feel we are liberated today," Sunil Babu Pant, the president of the Blue Diamond Society which campaigns for Nepal's sexual minorities, told the AFP news agency. "There were no specific laws to protect the rights of sexual minorities but the Supreme Court's decision has opened the doors to enjoy our rights." Mr Pant said education, citizenship papers and jobs could now be given to people without them having to identify themselves as male or female, or giving their gender as 'third sex'. There was no immediate response from the government to Friday's ruling. BBC Online Page 7 First Latin American country backs gay unions Uruguay's congress has approved a bill which would allow civil unions for both gay and unmarried straight couples. It is the first country in Roman Catholic-dominated Latin America to approve such a measure nationwide. The Uruguayan President, Tabare Vazquez, is now expected to sign the bill into law. Under its provisions, couples who have lived together for five years will have rights similar to those already enjoyed by married couples. Couples will have to register their relation-ship with authorities to gain the cohabitation rights - covering areas such as inheritance, pensions and child custody - and will also be able to formalise the end of their union. Several cities across Latin America, including Buenos Aires and Mexico City, have recently adopted similar measures. Gay marriage remains illegal in Uruguay. BBC Online Secret worshippers ... I heard today on that bastion of liberal thinking Five Live, that the Anglican Church is employing Secret Worshippers to visit their congregations and give them marks out of ten. The unnamed researcher was given a briefing paper which he was expected to read in advance and then fill out his report as soon as he got home from church. What an edifying way of spending Sunday. SJD To Heaven with the Scribes and Pharisees - by Lionel Blue This book was written in 1975, and appears to predate feminism, gay liberation and the green revolution. However, as with all Blue's books, it has wit and insight and surprising theological depths. He sets out to explain the Jewish spiritual path, and as he tells it, some similarities with Quakers immediately spring up in my mind. As he has it, Jews are socially active, argumentative and opinionated, theologically rather diverse not to mention diffuse, and rather given to being highly educated and working in the professions. It is a religion, he says, of affluence and the challenges of affluence. It is a religion which is more about what you do, than at root what you believe. Asking a Jew what they believe, he says, is a Christian question, not a Jewish one. Throw in a belief in love your neighbour but vagueness about the afterlife, and considerable debate about the spiritual basis for traditional practice, and at least some resonances should be obvious! There are however striking differences. Nearly all Jews didn't choose their religion, it chose them. Quakers like to see themselves as free spirits, but we have 'right ordering' and Jews have such of the 613 commandments that they are following. The Jewish experience of Diaspora, Shoah and the foundation of Israel are very different from Quakerism. As he tells it, Jews are less guilty about success (committees and giving to charity solve that). Blue offers some interesting insights. In Judaism, he says, the home is a stronger centre of spirituality than the synagogue, which he calls the town hall of the faith. He is insightful on religious experience, saying that it is the whole of our religious experience, living life according to our path, that matters, not those rare occasions when a voice speaks out of a burning bush. A lot of it seems worldly and worldly wise. So, an interesting read, but suggesting very much the mystics are a minority taste. Whether either group can survive a century in secular surroundings is an interesting speculation ... SC Pages 8-9 Ex Africa semper aliquid novi [1] The report in the Friend was so cryptic, that if you didn't know the story already, it would be meaningless. What the Friend should have written was "East Africa Yearly Meeting sent us an epistle full of anti-gay venom, spouting a hard-line evangelical justification for it, which was social and theological anathema to most British Quakers, as well as being scientific rubbish. It was very silly indeed for Central Command to just print it in Documents in Advance without twigging that it just might upset someone. There was probably a case for printing it, but a footnote to say BYM dissociates itself from these comments would probably have ended the problem. Anyway, we've had a little Quaker flurry about it, several months later, and decided we're only going to print those epistles from other Yearly Meetings we agree with, or think are interesting. Whether this means to avoid offence, we will avoid all epistles more challenging than 'what I did on my holidays', who knows? Anyway, we're going to try and continue some sort of dialogue with East Africa Yearly Meeting through FWCC (Friends World Committee for Consultation), but its not easy to dialogue with people who think you are in league with Sodom, or Satan." (My brother in law coined the phrase that Friends House was Central Command, which I think is hilarious. He is not, needless to say, a Quaker.) On the well known principle that even when we do the right thing, (particularly, when we do the right thing about gay rights!) we Quakers must keep quiet about it, this was reported without making it clear this was the culture clash about homo-sexuality. Incidentally, did you know epistles are "To Friends Everywhere" to avoid arguments about which Yearly Meetings are recognising which other Yearly Meetings and why? Disputes between Yearly Meetings and within them go a long way back ... Dear Stephen and Sarah, Many thanks for latest QLGF newsletter. A good read as always. Are you up to speed with the latest events at Sufferings on the epistle from East Africa North YM? At the December meeting they had a good short paper from Quaker World Relations Committee which was both informative and constructive. If you have not seen the paper I can let you have a copy. I do not have it in an electronic form. At last something useful might happen. Our own AM was getting impatient over the head in sand approach of the national Quaker bodies so on the initiative of Hampstead and Friends House LMs we have written to the clerk of the East Africa North YM. Robert and Susan Hope to see that correspondence in due course! London QLGF had a little email discussion going. Thought this was interesting: There is a widespread belief in Quakers as a whole, and possibly in QLGF in particular, that we are more tolerant and more understanding than other religious organisations. Perhaps it's helpful to be reminded that within Quakers worldwide there are murky areas, and we shouldn't be too self-righteous, Roy Which to my mind raises the question whether "Quakers worldwide" exist in any sense I care about, or whether I can take any responsibility for good or ill when other Quaker groups do things I disagree with. Certainly the newsletter does not, I hope, ever make claims for Quakers worldwide when it actually means the liberal wing. SC While all this is rumbling on, Kenya is descending into chaos via a disputed election. I hope all Friends will check out the British Red Cross and other bodies providing humanitarian relief. Nor should the homophobic tossers running Uganda prevent us from supporting QPSW peace work in Northern Uganda. "So there are different strands of Quakerism then?" This will bore some, but for those who don't know... Every Quaker Yearly Meeting is autonomous. Quakers have diverged massively over the last two hundred years. FWCC is a small body which helps people talk to each other, but fortunately, there is no Quaker Vatican, no 'focus of unity', or first among equals. We cannot expel East Africa and they cannot expel us, because there is nothing to be expelled from and no grounds to do so. Attempts in 1887 to create a single definitive statement of belief to unite divergent groups floundered at the first attempt, for the simple reason that most meetings refused to sign up to it. [2] In Europe and the Middle East, southern Africa, Australia and New Zealand, and in some parts of the USA, Quaker meetings exist whose philosophy and structure has evolved along similar lines to British Quakerism. There are also other yearly meetings which have pastors, planned services with sermons, and who theologically span from moderate evangelical to hardline. One Friends Church (sic) requires in a 'statement of faith' that members affirm for example, the Trinity, original sin, the inerrancy of scripture and the literal truth of every single one of Jesus's miracles (for example, it would not be enough to believe in 'nearly all' of them.) The States is the only part of the world where there is geographical overlap between liberal Quakerism as we know it and other types. Everywhere else, all Quaker meetings in a country tend to be of one type or another. Such evangelical Quaker groups are interesting for scholars of such things, in that they still reject outward sacraments, use a variant of the business method, often still hold a firm pacifist line, and as such you can trace their roots back to the beginning, as you can with liberal Quakerism. Why? There are long books about this. My ninety second summary is that early Friends held two separate views together and at once, that the light was the light that lit every person in the world, each of us had access to that saving light. And that the spirit lay behind the Bible and helped us to understand it. These two views were held together, and Fox, Barclay, Penn and others while valuing the scriptures, did not see them as the final source of authority. In time, a Quaker community will be faced with issues when it appears to discern that the Spirit is pointing one way, and the conventional interpretation of Scripture the other. Those Quaker communities who over time tend to place the conventional interpretation of Scripture first will end up sitting in the evangelical family, and will in practice subordinate individual leadings and corporate concerns to that evangelical understanding. Those who believe the spirit still leads us, and can lead us in many ways, form the liberal family. They may stay Christian but will welcome Biblical criticism, and will generally reject simplistic the Bible says approaches. So as so often is the case, a row about homosexuality, is really a row about religious authority. Sheridan remarked when he saw two people shouting at each other from windows of two different houses across the street "They will never agree, they start from different premises." SC *** [1] Loosely, there's always some weird stuff coming outa Africa.... [2] A conference in Richmond, in 1887, which had been highly selective in who was invited and from which groups, produced a statement, the Richmond Declaration, which was promptly rejected by many Yearly Meetings as being a creed, or unnecessary. It was even rejected by Britain Yearly Meeting, which was fairly orthodox by the standards of the time. Page 10 Blair goes over to Rome ... Tony Blair's conversation to Catholicism has been flagged up so frequently, over so long, that the only surprise was exactly when. (or if he had suddenly announced it was going to be the Seventeenth British Israelite Pentacostalist Spiritualists instead.) Scanning the commentary, most of it was ill tempered and partisan. The main themes were: Catholic Triumphalism - aha, the fact we have snared a former Prime Minister means the True Church is, only a little while after the Armada, ready to become the dominant faith of this country. Ready the thumbscrews. (I suspect Sky Sport is closer, but there you go.) Anglican miserablism - it all shows how rubbish Rowan is. Only if the Anglican Church imposes iron discipline can we prevent the slide to Rome. Social Conservative bitching - now Blair will have to 'repent' his views on gay marriage, stem cell research and abortion. Lots on this, none of which seemed to mention the role that the informed conscience plays in Catholic teaching.. To quote a former defector, Cardinal New-man, "Conscience issues its own Bulls, and they cannot be denied." Likewise Cherie has never found it difficult to go to Mass on Sunday and speak out for lesbian adoption, women priests, or whatever on Monday. Lefty, Liberal, and Pax Christi bitching - now Blair will have to repent the Iraq war. Lofty ecumenical distain - we hope Mr Blair is happy in his new spiritual home and of course we work happily with Catholics towards social ends, but if they really think we buy their claim to be the true church, we're bananas ... Paranoia - People Writing In Strange Capitals Saying Rome is the Great Whore Babylon ... I've only seen one genuinely funny commentary, from Mark Steel, who manages to drag in privatizing the Inquisition, and Blair's famous Mayan birthing ritual of 2001, as well as unkindly suggesting Blair would have backed Pilate not Christ. His point, such as it is, is that Blair made so much of young, cool, hip Britain and has now joined an organisation which sets out to be none of these. And the aside from a gentleman with a fairly Islamic looking name, that really Blair should have become a Quaker in 1997. Now how about that for an interesting possibility ... There is a certain quality to some anti-Catholic paranoia, isn't there? One Anglican newspaper recently reported moves by Anglicans and Catholics to cooperate in defeating new discrimination laws on sexuality. An editorial fulminated that "being too close to the Church of Rome is more a threat to our liberties than the sodomites." As the Guardian put it, so much hatred, so little time. And this took me back to my only visit to the Protestant Truth Society bookshop, on Fleet Street, sharing a building with D C Thompson's Dundee Courier. Dour and unwelcoming, the front window display included such classic must-reads as "400 years of Jesuit plots against the British constitution." Oy vey! But given our Tony's political qualities, the report that Ratzinger plans to appoint a few high profile Lay Cardinals (yes, Cardinals do not have to be ordained) is mildly interesting. Not to mention, alarming. Myself, I think all this misses the main point... which is the ongoing oddity of the established church. We have muddled along for a century or more with Prime Ministers who were covertly agnostic or even atheistic, by British fudge and hypocrisy. We've managed with nominal Christians who don't really believe in bishops. But as our society gets more pluralistic, the system is unlikely to make it to the Archbishop after next. It is ludicrous that a PM might not want to become a Catholic during his term in office, because of his role in appointing bishops. But then it is daft to have 26 Bishops in the House of Lords, or rules preventing the Monarch, heir, or their spouses from being Catholics, (although their gay partners can be.) Suppose William converts to Islam? Suppose Charles wants to worship in an Anglican church which is under the care of the Archbishop of Port Stanley? Several clouds are gathering for the establishmentarians; House of Lords reform, Gordon giving up some patronage rights, and two lots of contentious debates that secular politicians with brains will flee from. The idea that Parliament will get dragged into discussing whether there should be women bishops and what is done about those who disagree. And what is to be done about those who don't want bishops who are insufficiently anti gay? ... a Parliament stuffed full of Catholics, independent Protestants, don't cares, don't knows and a sprinkling of Muslims and Hindus (and for all I know, druids, crystal wavers and flat earthers.) The only thing is, anyone who thinks disestablishment (which I expect to come in a series of partial, rushed and fudged decisions) will diminish religious fervour may be mistaken. After all, the reverse has been true in the States. A disestablished Church may face internal calls for elected bishops, which would soon bring a new evangelical leadership. SC Page 11 'Bullied for being straight' ... £6,000 win for female bouncer at gay club 'bullied for being straight' Sharon Legg - a bouncer at a gay club - has been awarded damages by a tribunal after she was harassed for being straight The 33-year-old is believed to be the first hetero-sexual to sue for harassment under the 2003 law protecting against discrimination on the grounds of sexual orientation.. She started work at Dream in Bournemouth in May 2005 and was promoted to head of security a year later by her boss. However, he repeatedly mocked the mother of four as a 'breeder'. Door staff also refused to obey her instructions and constantly made life difficult for her, said Mrs Legg. She was sacked a month after her promotion following a dispute with a doorman. Mrs Legg sued club owners Rubyz Limited and was awarded £3,000 for injury to feelings due to harassment and £3,222 for unfair dismissal because the company did not follow proper procedures. "I didn't care about the money," she said. "I made this complaint for gay people, straight people, anyone who has ever been harassed. I'm like a bulldog - I don't let go. I am friends with a lot of gay people and have had quite a lot of support from the gay community. "I just think there are a few people who have a preference for their own kind." Her barrister, Sarah Courtney, said she believes it is the first time a heterosexual employee has used the sexual orientation regulations. "The legislation was brought in to prevent gay and lesbian people from being harassed," she added. "This was an unusual case." The bar owners do not accept the whole case. Nick King, director of Rubyz Limited, may appeal against the tribunal ruling. "We accept Sharon was dismissed without proper procedures being followed," he said. "But we have zero tolerance towards any kind of discrimination." I get sick of listening to straight people complain about, "Well, hey, we don't have a heterosexual-pride day, why do you need a gay-pride day?" I remember when I was a kid I'd always ask my mum: "Why don't we have a Kid's Day? We have a Mother's Day and a Father's Day, but why don't we have a Kid's Day?" My mum would always say, "Every day is Kid's Day." To all those heterosexuals that bitch about gay pride, I say the same thing: "Every day is hetero-sexual pride day! Can't you people enjoy your banquet and not piss on those of us enjoying our crumbs over here in the corner?" Rob Nash Page 12 Ship of Fools ... The ever lively Ship of Fools website offers the following top three websites in its Fruitcake Zone: The World's Last Chance - Two years into Pope Benedict's reign, spe-culation has already started as to his successor. Experts at The World's Last Chance are confidently predicting an outsider: Satan. Impersonating John Paul II. He will follow with "other impersonations of known personalities climaxing with the impersonation of Jesus Christ". Sounds like a controversial episode of Dead Ringers. Jesuspizza - The face of Jesus appears all over the place, from chapatis to condensation, bringing succour to the faithful and faith to suckers. But what if he materialised in someone's pizza and they never noticed? The Jesuspizza project exists to avert that disaster. It gives you software that downloads images from pizzacams around the world, and compares them digitally to the face of Christ. Join the search for a cheese feast with anchovies and our Lord now. http://www.shipoffools.com/ Super-faith - What do George W Bush and Superman have in common? They're both Methodists. Spiderman is a lapsed Catholic, the Invisible Woman Episcopalian, Elektra Orthodox and Wonderwoman pagan. This section of the adherents.com site catalogues the religious affiliation of hundreds of superheroes, their archenemies and sidekicks. All questions on this vast subject are answered, with the notable exception of "Why?" It may surprise you to see the Virgin Mary listed, especially as she comes in as evangelical Protestant. What members are up to ... Anna Sharman has replaced her Open Fidelity book project with a blog at: http://www.openfidelity.info Open Fidelity is about negotiated and ethical alternatives to the ball and chain. Page 13 Which witch to pardon? A Scottish group specializing in the paranormal is calling for the country's Parliament to pardon the last person in Britain to be convicted of witchcraft. Full Moon Investigations announced it plans to submit a petition to ministers that calls for them to lobby the Home Office to fully pardon Helen Duncan, who was convicted and jailed for witchcraft in 1944, the Edinburgh Evening News reports. Duncan was arrested after conducting seances in locations across Britain, but was allegedly prosecuted after concerns were raised that she would reveal details of the upcoming D-Day landings. The organization said it is also working to obtain posthumous pardons for nearly 4,000 people prosecuted, tortured and executed in Scotland under the witchcraft act. "The pardon of the 4,000 prosecuted as witches is very relevant in today's society," said Full Moon founder Andrea Byrne. "Occupations such as herbalists, acupuncture, midwifery, reiki (spiritual energy therapy) and health foods can all be seen as having roots in the traditions and people who would have been classed as witches in their day." (UPI) So the real reason this group is lobbying for a mass pardon is not that 4000 people were treated brutally and inhumanely, for crimes it is impossible to commit, but more grandstanding. If we don't pardon witches, we disrespect midwives. (Yer what?) I know, let's campaign for a pardon for all the Nonconformists persecuted by Charles II. Why not pardon everyone hanged for anything less than murder... indeed, why not pardon everyone hanged, since we now think the death penalty is inhumane. Pardon everyone. They've suffered enough. The Duncan case is very different. Duncan was a high profile Spiritualist, who took up the time and energy of the British legal system, towards the end of the war. She was prosecuted, convicted, and jailed under the 1753 Witchcraft Act. The story, bizarre as it seems, was that the powers that be prosecuted her, because she was revealing naval secrets in her seances. There was high-level paranoia about leaks around the D-Day landings. Duncan is Spiritualism's martyr and the web is full of claims around the case. But contrary to the line spun by some, she was not convicted of being a witch but of pretending to be one ... she was convicted on charges that she had dishonestly claimed to raise spirits, for money. The trial was a sensation, with the defence wanting her to hold a séance in the Old Bailey. She got nine months in Holloway. Lots of people thought she was a crank but saw the trial as overkill. The reason no-one is rushing to pardon her is that it will presumably be used as an argument that she did exude ectoplasm, channel ghosts, and predict shipping losses. (Whether her conviction was fair or safe is another matter.) The Observer adds: despite popular belief, Helen Duncan was not the last person to be prosecuted in Britain for witchcraft. In September 1944, after the D-Day invasion, Jane York, 72, from Forest Gate, east London, was charged with seven counts of pretending to conjure up spirits of the dead. She was bound over for the sum of £5 to be of good behaviour for three years - a rather more proportionate response. (Incidently, witches were hanged in England but burned in Scotland.) Page 14 The World is Our Cloister - by Jennifer Kavanagh "Love is the synthesis of contemplation and action" - Carlos Carretto What does it mean to live a life committed to the Spirit, but somehow 'in the world'? Jennifer Kavanagh looks at the various traditional monastic groups, many of which do interact with the world, but her real interest is to contrast those seeking that committed life in other ways. Quaker insights run through the book, but she has interviewed people from many backgrounds and none, giving a good hearing to Christian, Sufi, Buddhist, Hindu and Jain spirituality, among others. (Not least demonstrating the similarities they can share.) The book covers a lot of ground. She looks at committed communities outside the monastic traditions, such as the Iona Community, (indeed, she interviews one person from Opus Dei!), ecological com-munes, and so on. Is the modern Society of Friends such a committed community? For me, after a busy Christmas, and a frantic year, this book threw up many questions about how I am grounded and what I spend my time doing. Cloister ... raises the slight taboo in Quaker circles, of discussing personal spiritual practice. Do we follow the monastic order with a regular programme of worship and reflection? I know many Friends who find their daily prayer, meditation, or reading essential to their spiritual health, in particular the discipline it gives that you do it whether you feel like it or not. Do we somehow live, as some clearly feel, so we are always in the moment, living as though the whole of life was sacred... making the life the discipline? That's certainly not me. Or do we know there is a centre of sorts there, when we need it, but we rely on bursts of 'retreating', bursts of putting Spirit first, to be aware of it. Recently asked about spiritual practice I said the only effective thing was to try to get to meeting twice a week (although I suppose in reality I do more than this.) Another difference is between those who move between life phases of contemplation and action, and those who can combine them. The Eastern traditions often have people moving between normal economic and social life, and periods in community as monks. Three chapters look at the traditional vows of poverty, chastity and obedience, seeing them more as simplicity and ecological concern, a right use of sexuality and relationships, and faithfulness. What is there to give up and what to gain? What can be given up when others depend on you? The world's emphasis on getting, spending and chasing our tails seems very destructive of much of this thinking, but relying wholly on labour of others seems selfish. There are those who see committed personal relation-ships getting in the way, and others who see those as precisely the thing which grounds them in day to day loving. The discussion of lesbian gay and bisexual sexuality is brief but positive, and open to the variety of possible responses. The book concludes with a page and a half of challenging tasks we might think about, and then a set of questions raised by each chapter. It would make both a challenging text for a personal review, or for a spiritual study group - meeting over several nights. This is book full of questions, and the diversity of voices throws us back onto what our still core says we need. At some level being a Quaker means being committed, and being in the world, without being subordinated to every social norm. This book might stir up some thought about what those two things mean. It does so with openness, and an understanding of the need for spontaneity, joy and humour. Best of all, it has a clear Quaker understanding that we cannot all be called to do everything at once, in the same way as anyone else. "the spiritual issue is not whether or not we are busy, but whether the use of our time is in the hands of our self, or the Godself within." Jonathon Dale. SC O Books, ISBN 978-1-84694-049-1 Page 15 In praise of mild kinkiness ... Some of my most enjoyable fantasies have been sparked by light erotic literature. Some-where between Black Lace (publisher) and Roger Zelazny (author) my imagination was sparked to an awakening that was not brought about by reading Georgette Heyer and Jane Austen, romantic though they are. I once spent far too long running around with a man, introducing him to my friends, being included in his social set up, breaking up with friends who thought he was a prat, only to find when we finally made it to bed, that we were hopelessly incompatible. (I'll spare you the grisly details). Now if I had had the courage to say to him, "Look here are the books I enjoy fantasising about, read them and let me know" then we might have spared each other a lot of pain, wasted time and damaged friendships. But then I was given the freedom by the western liberal education from which I benefited, to explore for myself, independently and outside of a lifelong relationship, what I liked and disliked. Imagine those who are brought up not to experiment for themselves until their wedding night with the person they are hitched to for life. This meant that when I was partner hunting, I knew where, in what circles, to start looking and we were lucky enough to know each other in the things that are kinky well before we got to know each other in the things that are eternal. (Apologies for this play on words). So neither of us had the shock of "discovering" that either one of us was bisexual having embarked on a relationship under the impression that the other one was straight. It seems to me that a wider tolerance of the harmlessly kinky would do us all a lot of good in the problematic world of relationship building. The harm in all this seems to arise from the imposition of the indissoluble union between one partner who, say, likes smooth legs in nylon tights and the other partner who likes hair everywhere, a fact that is only discovered painfully and angrily after 3 years of marriage and a lot of water under the bridge. Bernard Shaw was thought to be a bit risqué when he said the case against marriage was the indissolubility of the union between one who slept with the window open and one who slept with it closed. This remark was made in an era when to ask a potential partner which they were was not acceptable and the end result was partners not sleeping together in the geographical sense, in the same room at all. Extrapolate this to a society in which a confession of mild kinkiness is not acceptable and you end up with a couple tied up in partnership who don't sleep together in the other sense and may well wander about looking for compatibility creating damage, mayhem and pain. The upshot is that society blames the pain and suffering on the search for the sexual compatibility when actually it is the initial lack of openness on this subject at the outset that creates the problem. It would also lead to fewer instances of the kind of exploitation wherein the financially stronger partner insists on the sexual agenda of the couple being played to their preferences at the expense of the satisfaction, happiness, fulfilment, or in the worst case scenarios, the health of the less secure partner. Imagine a programme that was a cross between Make me a Marriage (where western families copy the Asian model of hunting through their combined acquaintance for compatible couples) and Sexcetera (the late night fetish and alternative sexuality travelogue hosted mainly by two frat boys enjoying the weird and wonderful worlds of leather, ponies, nudity, high quality pornography etc etc.). One can dream. Sarah Page 16 Man in tights ... This film wants to have it both ways. So this review will too. The premise is very simple, after ten minutes of classic hand-drawn Disney animation, Princess Giselle is sent by her wicked stepmother into a new world, New York in live action, to be precise. Handsome but dim Prince follows her. Will she find happy ever after with the Prince, or the cynical, divorced, NY divorce lawyer, and father of one sad little daughter? It's a very funny film. The contrast between the starry eyed naïve characters from cartoon land and our modern cynicism is constantly entertaining ... Giselle keeps bursting into song, to the extent that when lawyer meets prince, the despairing comment from Lawyer that "Oh, he sings too" is one of the funniest of the film. And like most commercially successful family movies nowadays, it works at two levels, one for the child (and the child in us) and one for the adult. You can take this film completely at face value - true love wins through, there is 'the one' and when you meet them, its like bursting into song. And there is the downbeat realist, divorces happen, there is work and school and disappointment, happy ever after doesn't really happen. And somehow this film manages to keep both going at the same time. We're both soaring with Princess Giselle's peppy optimism and casting a worldweary eye with Lawyer and saying "yeah, whatever." How do you take the massive, over the top, non-realist musical number in Central Park, which starts with the Princess and some buskers and ends with most of the population of Manhattan dancing to her song? Its not real. This doesn't happen. But in the throws of romantic love, it feels like it does. It is an experience most of us have had or at least recognise, and it is more than just hormones. So it is a funny, witty, happy, enjoyable movie, which I recommend to people. But ... its sexual politics suck. Although Giselle does show she has physical courage, it peddles the Disney princess myth ... the great multinational Magisterium of marketing gender stereotyping, raining down Pinkness on the girls of many nations, making them think that pretty dresses and winning the man is what defines them. Whether a flowergirl in a cartoon forest, or a sassy New York woman executive, what you really want is a ten mile wide white dress and a bloke in tights. Lawyer is shown to be dorky and not to understand girls when he offers her a book of female role models, such as Rosa Parks and Marie Curie. That is, a woman shouldn't stand up for the rights of the oppressed, or, achieve fame in a male dominated intellectual arena. Don't be bright, don't be a campaigner, don't try to compete with men. A girl's role is to be a happy clothes horse. Yeah. Funnily enough, our little princess, who is the demo-graphic, disliked it... she picked up it was not taking princesses completely seriously. But the real story of love starts at happy ever after, doesn't it? There's no doubt that the ability to whistle up a crew of happy forest creatures to help with the housework would help. Author? Better the Devil you know ...? Great news that Lockheed Martin is in the running to run the census ... (shortlist of two). I am sure a company which largely lives from the largess from the US Department of Defence, selling weapons to all sorts of charming people, are just the right people to carry out a compulsory audit of all our personal information. There is a petition on the Downing Street website, (I bet Lockheed are sweating over that ... ho, ho) and stay tuned for broader campaigning issues, including a threat-to-boycott. (Not currently, a boycott.) Myself, if I care enough to sign a petition, I care enough to write a letter, which has a hundred times the impact. Page 17 Paying the Piper I don't know what to make of Secret Diaries of a Call Girl. Based on the life of Belle de Jour, a London Call Girl, it presents a life of upmarket prostitution with what started out as carefree hedonism. The first two episodes featured knowing winks at the peculiarities of the trade from orgies to S and M. The premis is that she enjoys it and works for a caring madam or 'agent' who makes sure she is safe and all clients are vetted. So far, so cynical. Sex as commodity is something she can do with little payback and a lot of pleasure. Not that the sex as portrayed is all that sexy. Either I cannot switch my head off the star being Dr Who's sidekick, or the not desperately attractive men she sees just don't do it for me, or I am just too bored by mechanical sex. A lot of us think that the head is an important part of the action and when the head is not engaged because it is just another day at the office, it all seems to lack something. Don't get me wrong, I am not being puritanical about illicit sex. I find the casual sex in the car at the beginning of Rita Sue and Bob Too one of the sexiest scenes on film. It's awkwardness and realism contrasts strongly with the stage managed, rehearsed, planned and 'organised' sex in this series. And now, by episode four, we are beginning to see the side effects on Belle/Hannah. The inability of speaking about what she does to her circle of non involved friends. The awkward-ness of making friends with co-workers who then pinch her best client. The difficulty of being at an orgy with a possessive partner who owns you for the evening. Being so many things to so many people. And this on top of difficulties we all face with work, how to get away for an important family event, how to deal with a greedy boss, who to moan to after a hard day. All this is meant to say to us "Hey she may be earning a hell of a lot of money for doing something she enjoys but it's not that simple and ..." And what? She's not exactly suffering. Are we waiting for the moral outcome? Are we waiting for her to see the error of her ways? There seems no reason she should ever stop, she has no child to raise, no habit to pay, no bullying pimp to satisfy. Only age and disease stand in her way. Or she might just grow out of it, become a madam in her turn and continue to live her life as a single woman who is lonely and not lonely at the same time. But she is still a terribly two dimensional character. We have no real sense of what she thinks about the real things we all discuss over a pint or two. We are not allowed to see her as really engaged with the world. Somehow she remains just a fantasy figure. Like all porn, someone on whom to project our imaginary sex. SJD Page 18 Quaker Affiliates There's a phenomenon in the electronic world known as affiliation, whereby if you put an advert up on your website for a commercial organisation, a percentage of the money spent by anyone coming to that organisation's website, via your web-site's advert, is paid to you as a kind of electronic "finder's fee". It is an easy way of making money for those websites that post this kind of advertising wholesale. Indeed it is the main form of income for those operating 'portal' sites whereby a number of different small organisations are grouped together by subject. (Think holiday cottage booking sites). It leaves me wondering what commercial organisations Quakers might like to have as our affiliates? Is there a quick and easy way of drawing up a list so that those of us minding our own Local Meeting's websites, or special interest group websites, can tag on some helpful affiliations without having to go down a complicated verification route to ensure anyone we advertise in this way is suitably ethical? Conversely is there a checklist of questions we might ask a local commercial organisation wishing to have a link put up on our site, to help us to verify their ethical credentials? Methinks there is room for some central work here. The third sector is always being encouraged to be a little more commercially pragmatic in its dealings. What if the major charities were to adopt this affiliation programme? For example, if a Quaker homepage has Amnesty International as an affiliate, will AI pay Britain Yearly Meeting for every member it recruits who found out about Amnesty via our website? If not, why should we provide them with free advertising when the charity sector is charged for advertising in our print media? Is this nonsense? Should Quaker websites only link to those organisations with which we are totally in sympathy and that we would be happy to have our members join with no question of a finder's fee. Or should we be a little more hard headed? Anyone want to do the work on this? Sarah D DN strikes back ... I'm compiling a list of fundamental human rights I care about. Free speech, freedom of worship and freedom from worship, the right to non-male spaces, chocolate on demand ... it's a long list. But marching to combine State processes with Quaker ones? The 90p bus ride from the registry office to the meeting house is not a human rights abuse. Heterosexual Muslims manage to have a state marriage and a religious one without calling in Amnesty International So do the French. Meetings should celebrate same sex commitments, and same sex couples also need a legal 'thing'. Beyond that, get a life. Quakers need to stick to their line about outward forms and inner grace. If we celebrate relationships, that will be the important bit. There is also the paperwork - let us not be hung up about it. Let's not get Sufferings to ask Quaker Life to draw up a report for Sufferings to send back to Quaker Life ... about something Sufferings was asked about three years ago, and strangled at birth then. There's equality that matters and there are forms and processes. Quakers need to be louder and stronger about what matters - people dying and being locked up and tortured for who they love. DN Page 19 The Divine OFCOMEDY OFCOM has ruled that the term 'poof' is not offensive, because some members of the gay community use it in a social way between themselves. This followed their ruling that using the term 'gay' to mean 'lame' or 'rubbish' was OK because that was the sense some schoolchildren used it, sometimes. To dip a toe into this is to plunge into the sea of weak reasoning. It is well known some black people choose, for whatever reason, to use the word nigger. There is something in common with the word queer, which is being appropriated and used by some of the oppressed as a badge of honour ... as indeed was the term Quaker. Yet the 'n' word is widely and I think accurately seen as offensive by most other people, and queer is often disliked. OFCOM logic would be that I can use it with impunity. Similarly the terms bitch and whore for women would be ruled offensive, unless some group of women chose to use in some circumstances, freeing all of us to in all circumstances. If the radical disability rights movement start to use the word 'cripple', is it OK for me to use it on someone else? (My argument is not about banning, it is about pretending offence is not caused.) However it is not quite as brilliantly stupid as the gay ruling, which can be simply restated "a term of abuse used by children in the playground is, because of that, perfectly fine to be used by adults". That's right, it is official, the determinant of correct and inoffensive use in the UK is the playground bully. I look forward to the guy who stole your dinner money being put on the OFCOMEDY board. Part of me yearns for the First Amendment. But even first amendment enthusiasts tend to have to find some limits. It does however allow me to resuscitate the old argument "gay was such a lovely and useful word. I'm really upset that they have taken that fine old word and given it such a horrid meaning." Although now it is not Mrs Tunbridge Wells 1979 but the gay community complaining. I'll say now when I said then, the meaning of words is what people use them to mean. Dictionaries follow the people, not vice versa, at least, since Johnson. But running in parallel with this is a second argument, which proposes to ban the incitement to hatred on the grounds of sexual orientation. We've had debate about incitement to hatred on the grounds of religion, which brought the satirists out in force, and also evangelicals who thought it was a cover for a law preventing them from proselytising Muslims. How to pick which groups are to be protected by specific laws against incitement to hatred and the rest of us to make do with the good old fashioned laws on harassment and the like ...? If you say that we defend people who have no choice what they are, does that mean you can only protect those gay people who don't believe they had a choice? The lawyers will love it. SC Vox populi ... It is always worth reminding ourselves that we see the world one way, and others another. The Daily Mail runs on-line polls and I just think it possible their readers are not all Quakers. For example, when asked if civil partnerships were 'a good idea', two thirds said No. Perhaps they wanted the option to say that they were a totally brilliant idea ... Mind you, when asked the intriguing question, should Jeremy Clarkson be PM, two thirds said Yes. So we are, as they say, getting the demographic here. They also asked when "lazy layabout scroungers on benefits should be kicked up the backside and made to get up at five in the morning to do community work if they want their benefits" and a mere 87% said yes. Presumably the remaining 13% wanted them branded on the forehead with a V for vagrancy and then whipped over the county boundary by the hangman. Or perhaps, "just abolish the benefit system and let them starve". Page 20 More science news ... Scientists at the Brokeback University, Wyoming, claim to have discovered the gene that makes people interested in reductionist explanations about homosexuality. Professor Irvin Gesalt explains that after detailed genomic studies of over three hundred sociobiologists who have written about homo-sexuality, they have identified a candidate gene on chromosome 29, PRODNOSE-1. In ground-breaking genetic experiments, this human gene will be implanted into emus, wallabies, meerkats and zebra fish, to see if these creatures become abnormally interested in other people's sexuality. For the simpler creatures, unnatural attachment to clipboards and simplistic questionnaires will be used as a proxy measure. "Faced with global environ-mental catastrophe, the clash of cultures, disappearing natural resources, and poor achievement of deprived children in urban areas, we thought the most useful thing to research was why people wanted to research homosexuality" Professor Gesalt explained. "Besides which, it sounded really cool on the grant application and got us the funding." Brokeback University has already successfully identified a lesbian gene, SAPPHIC-a. Implanted into wildebeest, okapi, and moles, over a third of the creatures became able to finish The Well of Loneliness without passing into a comatose state. This is considered helpful but not conclusive. However the entire research programme has been attacked by the Department of Psychology at Horse Neck University, Montana. "Ja, we hav found that excessive interest in de causes of homosexuality is caused by de poor potty training always" a spokesperson reported. OK, this was caused by an article in the Times by Desmond Morris, who was peddling a sort of cod-Freudian explanation. Homosexual men are apparently those who find the all male bonding phase of male childhood so wonderful, they cannot leave it. As Tim Teeman pointed out in a comment run on the same page "Garbage." Teeman's first and most obvious point is that we're different! Some gay men do cling to the company of men, but many are the exact opposite A friend of mine remarked some-thing like, if I didn't fancy men sexually, I am not sure I would bother speaking to them. (I saw a group of six teenagers yesterday, with the one guy in the middle clearly having a great time as an honorary girl.) Teeman says most gay teenagers find all male environments hostile and threatening ('gay hell') and prefer the machismo toned down. And a great many gay men have their first sexual experience with men later than the heteroes experimenting behind the bike sheds. All theories that rely on the first experience conditioning us (as Morris hints) are particularly bogus. Teeman says that he knows gay and straight men who fulfil all Morris' 'four psychological types.' The quote that homosexual men are 6 times more likely to get a college degree and 16 times more likely to get a PhD than a straight male, also seems to me likely to be bogus. (As surveys that claim that gay men earn more than straights disappear when analysed more carefully.) It may reflect the clientele of gay support and activist groups but that is another matter. There is a class issue in being out and open about sexuality. Studies into bisexually active men in the 1990s avoided scene bars and magazines and advert-ised in mainstream publications. As well as the enormous response, they found a sample significantly less skewed to the university educated white collar worker than most studies of homosexuality. However, also, and very interestingly, our identity politics of gay and bi meant very little to many of these men, nearly all of whom shunned all labels. I suppose it might be true that gay men are proportionately more likely to see the point in education as a way out of redneck life, but I won't hang a thesis on it. I'm not sure that salting this stuff with how gay men can be creative and playful, and their restless spirits can be turned to good ends, (and how we all have degrees) avoids stereotyping any more than the book I read in my teens explaining that I would probably end up with a successful career as a fashion designer. Or indeed one of my least favourite comments, "Oh, Quakers, you're so gooooood." SC Page 21 Make me a Muslim It is possible to do religious search as TV. Both BBC's the Monastery, and its Islamic followup, managed to show spiritual practice leavened with psychological insight. Both managed to show spiritual breakthroughs, showed spiritual shades of grey, avoiding many simplifications, were non sectarian, and could have been life-changing. Channel Four, however, struggles. It seems to be wedded either to polemics, or religion as diet. Having tried to sort out your house, diet, pets, finances, children, restaurant, business, and the like, it now offers a three week infidel-cure. Make me a Muslim was not without its interest but failed to really get behind the stereotypes of Islam v the West. To start with, the Muslim experts were keen not to present Islam as about privation. But as their first act was to scour their guinea-pigs' houses for illicit ps (pork, porn, plonk ...) to get cohabiting couples to move into separate beds, and to regulate what people wore, the impression left was, as Salman Rushdie said, damn rules for everything. Secondly the 'characters' had been selected for reality TV volatility (rather than in the BBC offerings, through genuine spiritual search.) So we had blokish porn addict, Christian with chip on shoulder, and gay hairdresser. That is, really camp gay hairdresser Luke, whose contra-band to be confiscated included five bottles of vodka, makeup, and a girl's party frock. The clash between gay and Islam showed the gulf. The Muslims said that Luke spent too much time with girls, and if he would only hang out more with the brothers, he would become more macho. They also suggested that he should get a wife (which if anything showed more contempt for the woman than for the man). Luke went to play in the nets with the Muslim cricket team, but pointed out, short of breath, that it wasn't exactly working. The combination of absolute rigidity, with lack of scientific or psychological insight, looked fairly typical. The non Muslims made Muslim friends and got to understand Islam better. Luke found regular prayer and some self control got him away from a frankly dangerous lifestyle (he claimed to spend £200 a week on drink). But to get a sense of an Islam that is open, enlightened, advanced and thoughtful, the BBC programme did it better. SC Newsletters going free ... We have a glut of some back issues of the newsletter, which would do much better on literature tables, handed out at non Quaker events, handed to friends and Friends, used to persuade meetings to join as supporting meetings, or just because you have missed them. Issues of which we are particularly over-blessed include: Dec 2007 - Is Dumbledore gay? Sept 2007 - Canberra gay Quaker wedding Dec 2006 - South Africa goes for same sex equality March 2006 - What we want from QLGF Dec 2005 - Liberal Judaism is, guess what, Liberal Copies supplied will be the public ones or will have the private phone numbers obscured. Sending some stamps would be appreciated. Oz redefined ... In my list of films they should never remake, Casablanca is closely followed by the Wizard of Oz. But they are going to, allegedly. The makers have said that "Dorothy will still be in a strange place, but it will be more like Ripley from Alien than a singing school-girl." Dorothy on a space freighter with a man eating monster... hmmmmmm. We are definitely not in Kansas anymore. Page 22 Commission supports anti-homophobic hate crime legislation The Equality and Human Rights Commission today announced it will support government proposals to make incitement of hatred on the grounds of sexual orientation a criminal offence. Trevor Phillips, CEHRC, said: "Incitement of homophobic hatred goes beyond mere criticism or what some consider offensive. It's about stopping the vile words that prompt violence. No one is suggesting we should lock up comics whose jokes offend or curb criticism from the pulpit. This is about song lyrics that urge others to kill or websites and publications that falsely peddle inflammatory myths as fact. It's essential we balance freedom of speech against any need for anti-incitement legislation. Having looked at the government's proposals we think they have struck the right balance, the Commission is persuaded the proposals are fair and needed." Ends There's also a plan to try an amendment which would make incitement to hatred against transsexuals covered too. The Lesbian and Gay Christian Movement is trying to get Reverend Joel Edwards of the Evangelical Alliance removed from the Commission, on the basis that his previous public statements are incompatible with the Commission's role in protecting gay rights. Page 23 Lord how these Christians love each other ... Well known writer and broadcaster Dr Elaine Storkey appeared before a Reading Industrial Tribunal on Monday 7th January 2008 claiming she was dismissed from her job at an Oxford Theological College, Wycliffe Hall, because she was "the wrong type of Christian Evangelical". The ultra conservative and fundamentalist evangelical principal of Wycliffe Hall, the Revd Richard Turnbull's decision to sack Dr Storkey, a BBC R4 Thought for the Day contributor, along with two other moderate Evangelicals, has caused a major controversy within the Church of England. Many have been calling for his removal since the controversy erupted last year. The Reading Industrial Tribunal heard an admission from legal Counsel for the College that Turnbull had acted unlawfully in sacking Storkey and revealed that compensation of some £20,000 had already been paid to her, with similar sums expected to be paid to two others. With increased legal costs and possible damages from this case calls for Dr Turnbull's resignation are expected to be renewed with greater vigour. Storkey is now claiming religious discrimination by Turnball. The Revd Richard Kirker, Chief Executive of the Lesbian and Gay Christian Movement made the following comments: "We first became aware of the crisis at Wycliffe Hall when there were accusations from former staff members and students of homophobic bullying at the college following reports that it had been "captured" by ultra conservative Evangelicals led by Turnbull. The Bishop of Liverpool, James Jones, another regular Thought for the Day contributor, as chair of the college's Council has supported Turnbull's unlawful actions and it is good to see him personally held to account in this legal action. "Bishop Jones' support for the behaviour and theological position declared by Turnbull calls his judgment into serious question at many levels. The deepening scandal surrounding Wycliffe is entirely the responsibility of Bishop Jones - he must consider his position both as chair of the council and as a bishop of the Church. It is interesting, if not a little paradoxical, to see Dr Storkey pursuing this case on the grounds of religious discrimination. We hope it is a sign of greater flexibility at, for instance, development agency Tearfund where she is UK President. Tearfund makes it clear that only committed Evangelical Christians may apply for any job. We are told that all applicants must subscribe to a rather detailed "statement of faith" a statement which we imagine Dr Turnbull would find insufficient. We suspect that Tearfund's complex and from our point of view unacceptable employment policy, like that of many homo-phobic "Christian" organisations, has been recently redrafted to find a dubious way around recent legislation making it illegal to discriminate against lesbian and gay people including self-affirming lesbian and gay Christians. In this context it is a policy that may well turn around and bite Dr Storkey herself. "Does Tearfund welcome applicants who are openly lesbian or gay Christians as much as she expects Wycliffe Hall to accept her on her own terms? Has she used her position as President of this Christian charity to make its employment policy any less unacceptable than Wycliffe Hall's? We fear not." LGCM 9th January 2008 Fighting broke out at the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, Jerusalem, in a dispute between two of the six traditions which run it, under the loose control of the Israeli authorities. One area of dispute includes who is responsible for the disabled toilet. SC