Peter Tatchell, the veteran gay rights campaigner, was invited to speak at Liverpool Parish Church in late October. There he encouraged clergy to engage in civil disobedience by officiating at same-sex blessings and marriages.
He suggested that, in opposing same-sex marriages in church, the Anglican leadership was ‘echoing the past opposition’ to interracial marriages.
GAFCON, he said, ‘seems obsessed with the sex lives of LGBT+ people’. He also argued that evangelical Anglicans’ demand for religious freedom was, ‘in fact, a call for the right of homophobic Christians to discriminate against their LGBT+ brothers and sisters.’ He went on to say: ‘It’s somewhat ironic that LGBT+ campaigners … consistently defend Christians who are persecuted in countries like Pakistan and Saudi Arabia, but the people in GAFCON show no reciprocal concern about the persecution of LGBT+ people in … states that still criminalise same-sex relations.’
Dogs welcome
Before the event, Mr Tatchell said that ‘The Archbishop of Canterbury welcomes these bigots to the Lambeth Conference, but bans LGBT+ bishops from bringing their same-sex partners. His Church will bless dogs and warships, but refuses to bless same-sex couples. I am working with good Christians to ensure that love wins.’
The event was jointly hosted by Liverpool Parish Church and two other groups.
