HATE CRIME VICTIM BACKS APPEAL TO REPORT ATTACKS

This article appears in today's Leicester Mercury:

Hate crime victim backs appeal to report attack

A transsexual who was punched and knocked unconscious within moments of walking into a pub has spoken out in support of a campaign to highlight hate crime.

Giovanna Del Nord was hit in the head without warning by a stranger as she waited to be served in a pub in central Leicester in October.

The 46-year-old, who moved to the city last year, believes the man attacked her because she is undergoing sex change therapy.

She is a year into a four-and-a-half year course of therapy which will result in a sex change.

She spoke out yesterday at Leicestershire County Council's offices in Glenfield to support a campaign which encourages victims of hate crimes to come forward.

Stop and Tell is highlighting the plight of people who face abuse – physical, verbal or written – because of their race, religion, age, disability or sexuality. It is placing particular emphasis on crimes against lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) people.

Awareness-raising events including displays at libraries and council offices, school assemblies, roadshows and staff training are being held across Leicestershire.

Giovanna said: "I spoke because I wanted to let people know that they should tell the authorities about crimes committed against them.

"What happened to me has happened to many other people but they have never told anyone.

"It is important people who carry out hate crimes are brought to justice."

Between April, 2011, and March, 2012, 631 hate crimes were reported to Leicestershire Police – about 40 against gay people. Attacks on transsexuals were in single figures.

Councillor Joe Orson, cabinet member for safer communities, said: "Incidents of hate should not be tolerated and everyone who lives, works in or visits Leicestershire has the right to be treated with dignity and respect and to live without fear of hatred.

"We believe hate incidents are under-reported by people who are lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgendered and we hope this campaign will go some way to demonstrate that help, support and advice is available."

Darren Goddard, Leicestershire Police's hate crime officer, urged people to contact the Hate Incident Monitoring Project (HIMP), which is monitoring the extent and nature of such crimes.

He said: "Sadly, incidents of hate often go underreported.

"HIMP is another way for people to report their experiences.

"Working with HIMP enables the police to better protect our communities and ensure those responsible are held to account."

Stop and Tell has been co-ordinated by the county, district and borough councils, Leicester LGBT Centre, police and Leicestershire Partnership NHS Trust.

Contact the Hate Incident Monitoring Project on 0116 305 8263 or visit the website below.

Alternatively, visit a council office or library, which are reporting centres for hate incidents.

In an emergency, call 999.

www.leics.gov.uk/reporthate

LEICESTER LGBT CENTRE LAUNCHES MULTIFAITH SUPPORT GROUP

Leicester LGBT Centre is filling a gap in its support for its members by launching a new social and support group for LGBT people of faith in March 2013. The group is well-timed to support the needs of LGBT people who feel rejection or resistance from their faith. This has been particularly highlighted by very public opposition of many faiths towards the equalisation of marriage recently. Many LGBT people currently find themselves distrusting the support of their faith leaders and, in some cases, questioning their faith itself.

The purpose of the group is to provide a friendly meeting place for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people who may feel excluded from their personal faith to come together and share experiences without prejudice.

Members, active or lapsed, of all faiths are welcomed. Its aim is to enhance understanding of its members’ spiritual and cultural similarities by acknowledging differences and identifying commonalities. This can only be done by sharing differences of opinion honestly but respectfully with an open voice.

Group facilitator Paul Fitzgerald states, “Lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people of faith often feel marginalised or excluded from their faith due to discriminatory practices or outdated views. We intend to provide a space where we can share ideas and values to promote good welfare among our communities and even reconnect with our personal faiths. The Leicester LGBT Centre is a perfect venue for this as it is centrally located, unattached to any particular faith and purposeful in its desire to support LGBT peoples’ differences.”

The group will start in March 2013. The Leicester LGBT Centre can be found at 15 Wellington Street, Leicester City Centre.

For further information contact Paul Fitzgerald: paul.f@leicesterlgbtcentre.org or call 01162547412.  Information will also be updated on the Centre’s website.

MARRIAGE WILL BE WEAKENED BY THIS CHANGE

Father Gregory Murphy's First Person column appears in today's Leicester Mercury:

Marriage will be weakened by this change

Fr Gregory Murphy explains the churches' opposition to same-sex marriage

Yesterday's editorial on the controversy surrounding the recent proposal to legalise same-sex marriages argued that gay couples should have the right to marry, as representing both a personal expression of their life-long commitment to each other, and the concomitant expression in law of a more tolerant society, concluding that this proposal would do no harm and would remove a manifest inequality.

This stance is opposed by most Christian churches. It is important to recognise that, in opposing this move, the Church is not intending to foster discrimination against same-sex couples (although it may be perceived as such), but rather to challenge so radical an extension of the concept of marriage as to render that concept vacuous. Given that the same legal status is applied equally to those who are in registered civil partnerships as to those who are married, the archbishops argue that our present law does not discriminate unjustly when it requires both a woman and a man for marriage. It simply recognises and protects the distinctive nature of marriage.

Sociologically, marriage is an institution constructed to meet the needs of family and society.

General social conditions are decisively affected by married life and family life; and societies have a legitimate concern for the nurturing and socialising of their newest and weakest members. Marriage then has never been regarded just as the private business of two consenting adults, but has always been fitted into a general social context, and also into the contexts of morality and religion broadly applying in that culture. The Christian understanding of marriage views it under two aspects: as a human (social) reality that is also a saving mystery or sacrament, a locus in human lives of the action of the divine. In their lifelong commitment to each other the married couple reflect the commitment of Christ to his church, and through the creation and upbringing of children they become the source and guardians of the next generation, reflecting God's creative work.

This is spelt out especially by St Paul in the reading of the Genesis creation narrative he gives in his Letter to the Ephesians, emphasising that the relationship between man and wife is theologically set apart from all other human relationships – even that, for example, between children and parents. That is the basis of the archbishops' contention that marriage, in our current law and custom, is defined as an exclusive relationship between a woman and a man; which we can trace in the complementary historical development of both civil and ecclesiastical law. The opposition of the churches to the changes is fuelled by the concern that in so widening the concept of marriage the social and cultural values it currently supports would be weakened, to the detriment of society in general.

NATIONAL SECULAR SOCIETY WILL ADVISE IN RELIGIOUS VS GAY RIGHTS CASES

This has been posted today on the website of Pink News, Europe's largest gay news service.

National Secular Society will advise in religious vs gay rights cases

The National Secular Society has been granted permission to intervene in four religious rights cases due to come before the European Court of Human Rights. 

The body will submit legal arguments in four cases where plaintiffs are appealing against UK court decisions – two of which involve Christian employees who refused to provide services to gay people. 

The other two concern workers who were barred from wearing religious symbols. 

Keith Porteous Wood, the executive director of the NSS, said his organisation would focus on legal arguments, rather than expressing opinions on the cases. 

In the past, the NSS has praised judgements in the case of one of the plaintiffs, Islington registrar Lillian Ladele, who said her Christian faith meant she could not carry our civil partnerships.

Mr Porteous Wood said: “These four cases have a major bearing on the extent to which employees’ manifestation of their religion can impinge on others. We want to make sure that the European court considers all aspects of the relevant law. 

“The NSS submission will deal with the implications for equal treatment that would be raised by the granting of greater protection to actions motivated by religious belief than is granted to actions motivated by fundamental beliefs that happen to be non-religious in nature. 

“The NSS will further focus on the degree of protection which it is necessary under the convention to afford third parties who may be subjected to a detriment which is motivated by, or a manifestation of, a religious belief. 

We will also deal with the significance of a religiously neutral public space for the protection of the rights and freedoms of others. 

“Finally, we will address the nature of the limitations prescribed by law and necessary in a democratic society in the interests of the protection of public safety, for the protection of public order, health or morals, or for the protection of the rights and freedoms of others.” 

The Equality and Human Rights Commission has also applied to intervene in the four cases, which are likely to be heard together. 

The commission stated last month that it believes ‘reasonable adjustments’ could be made for such employees in the same way that disabled people are accommodated in the workplace. This could mean allowing anti-gay Christian workers to swap shifts to avoid gay people. 

After strong criticism from Stonewall, Peter Tatchell, trade unions and some MPs, the body appears to have decided not to argue for ‘reasonable adjustments’. 

Former Stonewall chief executive Angela Mason, who is the body’s only LGBT commissioner, said this week that the EHRC had come to a “preliminary view” on the matter. 

In response to emails from concerned PinkNews.co.uk readers, she wrote: “The commission has already decided not to put forward ‘reasonable adjustment’ arguments if we do continue with our intervention.”

COULD COMMUNITY RELATIONS SURVIVE A HOMOPHOBIC CAMPAIGN?

There's a common assumption that the two protected characteristics of religion or belief and sexual orienation are incompatible. While that's not necessarilly the case, I'm glad to say, the friction between the two can lead to considerable sparks. Here's a piece on that topic from today's Guardian Society:

Could community relations survive a homophobic campaign?

Jack Gilbert, gay rights campaigner, on what really happened between faith leaders and his community after homophobic stickers appeared in a diverse London borough

It's late afternoon on Bethnal Green Road, in east London, and I am rushing from the tube for a meeting. Suddenly, out of the corner of my eye I catch something that brings me to a stop: a rainbow flag turned into a no entry sign, with the words "gay free zone" written across. Above are the words "Arise and warn" and below "And fear Allah. Verily Allah is severe in punishment". Both with a Koranic reference. I shiver, and am reminded of the words "Juden raus" (Jews out) that my mother would have seen in Berlin in the 1930s. It is not something I thought I would ever witness 70 years on in one of the most diverse neighbourhoods in Britain, where gay pubs share the same streets as synagogues and Halal butchers.

The previous December, at a meeting of Rainbow Hamlets – the Tower Hamlets lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) forum, which I co-chair with Rebecca Shaw, the police had told us about two reported anti-gay sticker sightings in the borough. They linked them to a sighting in neighbouring Hackney, one across the capital in Twickenham, and another in Nottingham.

Between 11 February and the end of March, more than 65 similar stickers were displayed around London, with over 50 in Tower Hamlets. This was turning out to be the most intense homophobic hate literature campaign since the 1980s battle over section 28.

Coverage of the sticker campaign, particularly online, often seemed ill-informed. Comment pieces from both sides tended towards a rabble-rousing tone, inspiring a torrent of racist and Islamaphobic abuse. I experienced more back-to-my-roots shivers, this time thinking about my grandparents' fight against Oswald Mosley's blackshirts.

Acting on Rainbow Hamlets's advice, a joint statement was issued by Tower Hamlets' mayor Lutfur Rahman, the Inter-faith Forum, and the East London Mosque & London Muslim Centre (ELM). This represented the first public condemnation of homophobia by both Rahman and the ELM.

The local authority, Tower Hamlets Homes (the largest social housing provider in the borough), and the Metropolitan police also issued directives to ensure that within a further 48 hours hundreds of public servants were on the lookout to report the stickers and remove them.

A series of specially convened meetings at the town hall drew representatives from council departments, education, housing, the police and community organisations. At these meetings, the sticker campaign, homophobic hate preachers, racism among some members of the LGBT community and the infiltration by the far right of East End Gay Pride were placed firmly on the agenda, each with equal vigour. And here, the ELM first admitted there had been homophobic incidents in the mosque in the past and that it had adopted new policies and procedures to ensure it would not happen again.

Add in regular community consultation and the police operation, and these joint actions represented a rapid and timely response to events.

At informal meetings involving the Council of Mosques, the ELM, and the Inter-faith Forum, chaired by a Christian minister, we looked at how to address homophobia in faith communities. We argued that no hatred, harassment or bullying of any LGBT person is ever justified by faith, even when scripture forbids same-gender sexual relations. Whatever any community's teaching, this is entirely separate from its duty to respect human life and to develop good relations with its neighbours and other communities of culture and belief.

Out of these meetings came the idea for a major interfaith conference on the International Day Against Homophobia on 17 May. A multifaith LGBT steering group was assembled and Rahman and the cohesion minister, Andrew Stunell, agreed to join more than 80 LGBT and straight people from Christian, Jewish, Muslim, Sikh, Hindu, Buddhist and secular backgrounds.

But in April, it suddenly became hard to get a response from the Council of Mosques and the ELM. We realised that neither would talk publicly about their new stance on hate speech, or even, despite our strenuous efforts, send any formal representatives to the conference. A couple of community members were sent along to participate in their own right, but a chance was missed, goodwill dissipated and the trust that had been built up sorely tested.

All too often, these issues are dealt with in ways that create enormous tensions and hurt, reinforce ignorance and disrespect, and build anger and hatred. At the same time, whatever good words are said to us in meetings in private, they are only of value if they lead to public action. Otherwise, what use are they in building understanding between communities when tensions exist?

Meanwhile, it soon became clear that the law does not deal with anti-gay hate material in the same way as it does racist, antisemitic or anti-faith literature.

The relevant Public Order Act section depends on whether the material displayed is: threatening, abusive or insulting (section 5); whether there was also an intent to cause harassment, alarm or distress (section 4a); and if the conduct or material is threatening and is intended to stir up hatred (section 29).

If the offending material is racist, antisemitic or anti-faith, there is a special aggravated status given to the section 4a offence which means it becomes a serious criminal charge that can be dealt with in the crown court, with more extensive powers of sentencing and greater police powers of investigation. This does not apply to homophobic hate material.

Whereas the case law for racist and antisemitic material is well established, many of the provisions relating to homophobia only came into effect last year. There is no case law directing police or the Crown Prosecution Service towards the appropriate charging level or identifying what constitutes threatening homophobic material.

Neither Metropolitan police nor British Transport police (BTP) investigating officers would accept that the stickers were threatening. The BTP, which had CCTV footage, charged Mohammed Hasnath under section 5. He was convicted last month after admitting to displaying and disseminating the stickers to others, but not to intending to cause distress. Hasnath claimed he was merely promoting his faith. However, District Judge Jeremy Coleman said when passing sentence: "I think you used these stickers deliberately to offend and distress people, you certainly succeeded in doing that. You have upset people and they deserve an apology, you are not entitled to behave in this way." Hasnath received a £100 fine.

In June, we obtained a month-by-month analysis of homophobic crime figures in the borough. It reveals that incidents in Tower Hamlets have risen by a third (33%) between April 2009-March 2010 and April 2010-March 2011, much more than the 21% widely reported in the media. The increase is of even more concern because the data counted all the reports of stickers in the borough as one linked incident.

The ELM is a leader of the Muslim community, with a responsibility to set an example. It has accepted it has hosted at least one homophobic speaker, Abdul Karim Hattin, in 2007, whose Spot the Fag lecture was featured on Channel 4's Dispatches programme. Last month, the ELM contacted Rainbow Hamlets after accusations of culpability for the rise in homophobic crime in Tower Hamlets appeared in the national press. It asked what could be done.

We are now engaged in intense dialogue. Our approach is to treat the ELM like any other body in which homophobia has occurred. So we have made clear that we intend to compile an evidenced-based report. We have asked the ELM for a clear statement of its policy towards homophobic speakers. On its website it does say "those hate preachers who circumvented our bookings policy in the past are now barred; our vetting procedures for speakers and guests appearing at our mosque and centre have been significantly tightened over the past year". But to date no one has seen its policy. We have also asked how it will enforce the policy and, crucially, for a clear response about which preachers are barred. We intend to report progress next month.

Today, moderate communities have a simple unequivocal duty: to be seen to show all their neighbours respect – whether or not they agree or approve of their beliefs or lifestyle. What is needed is a paradigm shift among LGBT and Muslim opinion formers, one that enables the leaders to find a rhetoric that can speak of respect and joint-working publicly, and which addresses patterns of prejudice on all sides without fear.

Twenty years ago this month, I was secretary of the Jewish Lesbian and Gay Helpline when it was banned from a cross-community charity walk organised by the chief rabbi, Lord Sacks, because it was an event for families. Clerics, like all of us, can change. Nowadays, Sacks says: "Jews cannot fight antisemitism alone, Muslims cannot fight Islamaphobia alone, gays cannot fight homophobia alone. The victim cannot cure the crime, the hated cannot cure the hater. We are as big or as small as the space we make for others who are not like us."

We should all take note.

FATHER RAY COMES OUT

I stumble upon this enjoyable, instructive and ultimately life-affirming documentary on Channel 4 this evening: an Anglican priest in a London parish decides to declare his sexual orientation during a Sunday sermon to his congregation about homophobia. It's a low key, understated, sensitive programme - and really rather touching. It foregrounds the common assumption that faith and sexual orientation are mutually incompatible equalities, freedoms or rights. Both, of course, are included among the "protected characteristics" recognised in the Equality Act 2010. It was good to see them inseparably bound together here in one person.

Find out more about this programme on the Channel 4 website ; read a review on the Mirror's website.

Of Gods and Men

This is one of a growing number of films that have piqued my interest for their grown-up, reflective and thought-provoking attitude toward religion and spirituality, alongside two great movies I saw last year: Jessica Hausner's Lourdes and the Coen Brothers' A Serious Man. The film won the Grand Prix at the 2010 Cannes Film Festival. Here's the plot synopsis as published on the Internet Movie Database (IMDb):

"Brotherhood. Religions. Faith. Martyrdom. Love. French monks are living, working and praying in a catholic monastery in Algeria in the '90s (civil war). It starts of showing how the Islamic locals and the christian priests coexist in harmony. The situation with the Algerian Muslim-terrorists becomes worse. They will have to decide whether to stay or go back to France. They are forced to question themselves and their mission very profoundly. Their sense of fraternity with the locals and amongst themselves is challenged. They are very much appreciated by the local Islamic population, especially the medic-priest, but very much in danger. This becomes clear after some Croatian volunteers of the monastery are brutally killed by the guerrilla-fighters. Threatened and unwanted by both guerrilla-forces and the government their presence becomes less and less obvious. At some point after intense confrontations with each other, the terrorists and the locals, they all decide to stay. In the end they are all, safe two who have hidden themselves well, abducted by the terrorists to swap them for their own prisoners in France. As we see them struggling in a snowblizzard in the Atlas mountains, we will not explicitly see what their final fate is ..."

You can read a thoughtful review of the film here:
http://www.speroforum.com/a/33436/Of-Men-and-Gods-a-meditative-film-on-faith-in-the-face-of-violence

Or get the classic Kermode and Mayo 5Live approach on video here:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p00cnj7w

I'd proposed a short festival of films for National Inter Faith Week 2010 at Phoenix Square but left it too late (and had too much to do for that week in other ways) to make it happen then. It's on my agenda for when it returns later this year though. Such festivals are a regular feature at Phoenix Square, where they've recently had programmes of films on such diverse themes as cycling, LGBT issues, and the spoken word. We're also thinking of approaching them to do something similar for the return of Leicester Speaks (AKA Local Democracy Week). I'm looking forward not just to seeing this movie, but also giving it extensive coverage here on the blog.

There's a mounting sense of anticipation and excitement as we walk toward Phoenix Square; the place is probably busier than I've ever seen it. There are certainly more priests here than I've ever seen turn out for a movie before (including Father John Lally, long standing member of Leicester Council of Faiths). We make our way through the small throng to the box office. I am already relishing this communal experience, looking forward to the collective spellbinding dance of colour and form before our eyes in the darkness of Screen 1. Which of us will request entrance to what is bound to be a united spritiaul experience in this forlorn and forsaken day and age of individuated isolated atomism?

"Two for Of Gods and Men please" I ask. "Sorry sir; sold out."

coming out, crossing over

After the meeting of the Equality and Diversity Partnership at the LGBT Centre, Ian Robson, Director of the Centre asks if I can hang on for a few minutes so we can talk about something we've been trying to fit in for several weeks now.

We've been tentatively discussing how to bridge the perceived gap between our respective "protected characteristics": religion or belief and sexual orientation. It's assumed by many people that these two areas are - even that they should - be mutually antagonistic. Since we started working together through EDP and REDP, Ian and I have taken every opportunity to puncture that myth. It is true, though, that there are people in both camps who don't think before they speak and cause offence for no good reason. We acknowledge that unfortunate fact but also acknowledge our mutual wish to transcend it. We can't change doctrine, but we might make a dent in dogma and at least work toward a situation where we accept that getting along together is more important than scoring political or religious points off each other.

Ian tells me that the LGBT Centre has been receiving an increasing number of enquiries from people from a variety of faith backgrounds, concerned about coming out (or about family members coming out) and how that might be received in the communities to which they belong.

We have a wide-ranging and open conversation on this and commit ourselves to helping build up greater trust and understanding on both sides. I remind Ian of how these two equality areas work together in Glasgow, as I saw on a recent visit to the St Mungo Museum of Religious Life and Art. A programme of public meetings was being held addressing the crossover between religion or belief and sexual orientation, involving organisations such as Affirmation Scotland, Imaan and Sarbat. It's no surprise if I see Glasgow, my birthplace, as being in the lead on issues scuh as this, but similarly it should come as no suprise that I would like to see my adopted home town of Leicester catching up!

Diversity, difference and sexuality

An event in the Multi-Faith Centre at the University of Derby this evening co-hosted by Derbyshire Friend and Forum of Faiths for Derby. It's entitled "Diversity, Difference & Sexuality". We're welcomed by Stephen Greasley (Chair of Forum of Faiths for Derby and minister of Peartree Baptist Church) and Melvin Harris (Trustee, Derbyshire Friend). There are a dozen of us here this evening. We split into two groups (the one I'm in is chaired by Stephen, the other by Melvin) and consider these questions:

"Over issues of sexuality there are often very marked differences of opinion within faith communities and the the LGBT communities. There are also differences between the faith communities and the LGBT communities over issues of sexuality. How can we hold differing viewpoints and uphold mutual respect for those differing views at the same time?"

"How do we dispel myths and stereotypes, and spread understanding and education within and between faith communities and the LGBT community?"

"What core values might we all be able to agree upon, that come from our different communities? What would a just and fair society look like?"

I told Stephen about the current year's Faith to Faith programme of public meetings at the St Mungo Museum of Religious Life and Art in Glasgow, much of which focuses on faith communities and LGBT issues. He asks me to come forward and say a bit about this to help inform our discussion.

The Multi-Faith Centre has, for the past five years, been working on a Europe-wide project in training and education on faith issues in relation to other topics. Currently they're developing material on "Religion, Gender and Sexuality" - and would like to pilot this with the kind of people who are here tonight.

This is the first event I've attended at the Multi-Faith Centre, although I've been here once before just for a look-around. We're in a lovely tall, airy room and the door is open onto a grassy slope; we can hear kids playing football outside ("Jumpers for goalposts" and all that!)

My iPhone ran out of charge hours ago. I've become over-reliant on it and I haven't bothered to check the train timetables since I couldn't do it on my National Rails app. I ask for a lift to the railway station, without having any idea what times the trains will run. I arrive too late to catch a direct train to Leicester - a trip that can take only 22 minutes on a good day. but tonight I have to travel via Nottingham, with an hour-long wait there, so I don't get home till the stroke of midnight.

I found this a very interesting meeting, not only from the perspective of Leicester Council of Faiths, but also from that of the Regional Equality and Divesity Partnership (REDP). Something like this, which crosses the streams (if you don't mind the Ghostbusters allusion) is right up REDP's street.

FAITH TO FAITH AT ST MUNGO'S MUSEUM OF RELIGIOUS LIFE & ART

In Glasgow, I picked up a leaflet for this monthly series of public events, held on Sunday afternoons at St Mungo Museum of Religious Life and Art and really thought it worthwhile recording here. This series is part of St Mungo's Museum's remit to promote mutual understanding and respect between people of different faiths and none. Many of the topics are clearly of interest to me in my post as Equality and Diversity Officer with Leicester Council of Faiths, but they also make me feel pretty proud as a Glaswegian for the progress my home city is making in recognising, celebrating and promoting the diversity of its people.

I'm noting not just the events still to come (in case any readers within reasonable distance of the museum want to attend something coming up) but the ones that have gone by. They're all interesting. If any are of particular significance, faithful reader, you've got the chance to look up details online. I wonder where else in the UK some of these discussions could take place today? I'll pass this leaflet on to my mate Ian Robson, Director of Leicester's LGBT Centre and fellow Core Partner at the Regional Equality and Diversity Partnership (REDP) - just to show it can be done!

Affirmation Scotland (6 Sep 2009)
Affirmation Scotland members speak about LGBT issues in the Church, and consider how Christian communities can be inclusive. A Roman Catholic mother will also share insights about having a lesbian daughter.

Sarbat.net (4 Oct 2009)
Sarbat.net is a webiste for LGBT Sikhs. Jay Singh, the group's moderator, will speak about what Sarbat offers to help LGBT Sikhs reconcile their faith and sexual orientation.

Transgender and Faith (1 Nov 2009)
Rev. Maxwell Reay will facilitate a sharing up to three transgender people, who will talk about their personal and faith experiences, followed by an open discussion.

Imaan - the support group for Muslim LGBT people (6 Dec 2009)
Pav Akhtar, the Chair of Imaan, will speak about the realities and challenges of being an LGBT practising Muslim, what Imaan does to support its members and the opportunities presented by the Single Equality Bill for LGBT communities.

A Journey through the year - Pagan rites and rituals (24 Jan 2010)
Pauline Kennedy Allan will talk about festivals celebrated by the Pagan community, beginning with Imbolc. She will explain the importance of the natural world within Paganism and touch on the importance of spirits and deity.

Stella Reekie and Interfaith in Glasgow (28 Feb 2010)
Hear and share memories of Stella Reekie, who brought together people of different faiths and who started interfaith work in Glasgow.

Quakers - Glasgow, the friendly city (28 March 2010)
Paul Burton will talk about the Quakers, members of the Religious Society of Friends. He will discuss what Quakers believe, and discuss Quaker history in Scotland and Glasgow, from the beginning of Quakerism in the 1600s to the present day.

Religion and Art - Victorian depictions of death (25 Apr 2010)
Glasgow University's Dr Joanna Meacock will discuss the relationship between art and religion. she will explore Victorian artists' interpretations of spirituality, death and the afterlife.

Traditional Spirituality of the Gaedl (23 May 2010)
Fionntulach, from the Order of Celi De, will talk about both Pagan and Christian Gaelic spirituality. She will discuss what myths they have in common, and what archetypal motifs they share with other traditions across the world.

Spirituality and Poetry (27 June 2010)
Join the Seeds of Thought Urban Poetry Group for an afternoon of poetry and music. This event will include a workshop, so put your creative hat on!

Godless Morality (25 July 2010)
Tim Maguire from the Humanist Society of Scotland will discuss humanist morality.

Mind you, after making a fuss about the "equality and diversity" aspects of these meetings, if I could have chosen to attend just one of them, it would have been that on 28 February this year: "Stella Reekie and Interfaith in Glasgow". I came into inter faith work in 1979 at the age of 19, when the "Sharing of Faiths" was based at the International Flat, Glasgow Street, in Hillhead, near Glasgow University. The flat was Stella's home, but you'd hardly have known it. I only knew her and worked by her for the last few years of her life, but she's someone whom I think of frequently and of whose influence I am conscious to this day.

Read a pen-portrait of Stella Reekie by Sister Isabel Smyth, who was a mainstay of the Sharing of Faiths in those days. Sister Isabel led "Time for Reflection" at the Scottish Parliament (10 Mar 2010), celebrating International women's Day, an appropriate occasion on which to pay tribute to Stella. An article by Ron Fergusion, recalling Stella's life and work, was published in The Herald, 15 October 2007.