Newsletter Of The Quaker Lesbian And Gay Fellowship

Newsletter of the Quaker Lesbian and Gay Fellowship No. 121, June 2008

This we can say (so far) ... “Paradox and tension have abounded as we have, in our human way, searched for answers and found more questions.And this is part of our Quaker way, that everything can be questioned as we try to live lives according to the spirit.” In 1995, a small group of Friends published This We Can Say. Originally, a group mixed by age, sex, sexuality and background, had been convened to see if they could move on from Towards a Quaker View of Sex, which even then felt like a best selling historical text rather than where Quakers were now. The group decided they could not write that sort of learned third part book – This We Can Say ended up being more descriptive than prescriptive. A series of short anonymous articles covered wholly personal responses to everything from masturbation to the decline of sexual potency with age. In fact, it was both frank, and

highly unprescriptive, suggesting that Quakers could not issue a ‘how to’ book at all. Partly for this reason, it was published unofficially, rather than as an official tome as originally intended. Another Quaker Sazmidat! Many were enthusiastic but I remember writing a very lukewarm review for this newsletter, rather expecting a little more Quaker guidance than I got. Returning to it, I found it deeper and wiser than I remembered, which probably reflects where I have got to on the stumbling through life I call my journey. It still raises with me a doubt as to whether there is, or could be, or ought to be, a single

definitive Quaker view of sex, as we had in the C.19th. Or perhaps these brave sherpas on the mountain range underestimated how far they and others had come, and gave up looking for the pass. But perhaps it is still there to be found. (They did produce a set of queries which I think is a useful waystation on our journey.) Chapter 22 of Quaker Faith and Practice, while not exactly a barrage of rules, does lightly sketch out a way. I see few signs, outside QLGF, of the broad reflection on a godtalk of relationships supposedly stirred by the Quaker Life consultation. Their report appears more to have paralysed discussion locally than encouraged it. It would be nice if the Fellowship could, well into its fourth decade, be the angel stirring the pool. If the pool wants to be stirred… SC (More on Quakerism and Sexuality later in this issue) QLGF Newsletter, June 2008, page 1

In this issue: This we can say (so far) ...

1

Editorial

2

Dates for your Diary

2

QLGF gathering report

3-4

Great Huclow diary

4-5

Dates for your Diary

One woman’s view ...

5

Sex, Snow and Sharks Prides update

6 QLGF Autumn Gathering 2008 6 11 October St Katherine’s , Limehouse, London. Day gathering with 7 overnight option.

Epistles at dawn ...

8

Anglican bustup looming

Nigeria news ...

Editorial: Freedom to, freedom from

9 It was shocking to read of the ‘Gays cause quakes’ ... 9 brutal attack on two Goths, singled Home Office not so homely 10 out because they looked different. One was killed, the other badly Sex, grace and truth ... 11 injured. Apparently some Goths, Quakerism and sexuality 12-13 faced with bullying and discrimTowards a Quaker view ... 13 ination, now wish to be covered Dear Friends ... 14 by hate crime legislation. Although having nothing Christ’s Manhood 15 against Goths, it is hard not to feel God without God ... 16-17 we are losing our way. Why not Patrick Gale interview 17 protect Conservatives, gingers or Committee meets ... 18-19 traffic wardens? Evangelicals, Muslims and gay rights activists all And the news this week ... 19 want the freedom of speech/ Quakers and Art ... 20-21 freedom from criticism lines Rowan speaks out ... 21 drawn in different places. Liberty is a motile concept. The Anne Lister story 22-26 Campaigners against pornography Different strokes 26 say they are promoting women’s Your Letters ... 27 freedom from objectification, Rolling away the stone ... 27 hostility and violence. Indeed, some make the direct link with hate Your Committee 28 speech. We do not live in a society Classified Ads 28 of equal power, resources, respect

and autonomy.Those on the other side of the argument say they are promoting self expression and sexual liberation - the freedom to. We’ve been promised a John Stuart Mill inspired article supporting the publication of every homophobic epistle from East Africa: British Quakers, we are told, can take it, and should take it. Perhaps we can. What we objected to was having it lobbed into our midst without anyone thinking to add a note saying “Actually, this is not who we are, nor where we want to be.” The challenge of rights and principles is when you try to apply them - they have an uncanny way of clashing with other rights and other principles. We’d hope Quakers would always hear both sides, and speak truth in love… But that does not involve copping out of decisions. The Eds

Contact Details and other newsletter information: • The newsletter of the Quaker Lesbian and Gay Fellowship is published four times a year. • A plain text version suitable for downloading for use with either a ‘Braillenote’ machine or ‘spoken word’ programmes will be made available on the QLGF website: www.qlgf.org.uk/newsletters.htm • Editorial queries, suggestions, comments, letters and contributions are most welcome: send to Stephen and Sarah at 78 Upsdell Avenue, London N13 6JL. [email protected]. All other communications with the Fellowship, including admin problems with the newsletter, changes of address, etc to Ruth, the National Contact, at 46 the Avenue, Starbeck, Harrogate, HG1 4QD. [email protected]. • Editors usually initial their contributions, the editors are Stephen (SC), Sarah (SD) and Nick (production and design guru - NJ). Editorials are the opinion of the editors, not the committee or Fellowship. Material is presumably the opinion of the person who wrote it, and cannot be assumed to be anyone else's. If you are reading this and you are not a member, why not join? Individual Quaker Meetings can also join as Supporting Meetings. Ordinary membership: Standard Rate: 12 Months: January - December: Single - £18; Double: £32; Reduced Rate Single - £9; Double: £16 (If you join after September 1st, then membership runs until the end of the following year.) Supporting meeting membership: £10 QLGF Newsletter, June 2008, page 2

QLGF Spring Gathering 4th - 6th April, Great Hucklow What an inspired choice of venue for the spring gathering. I assume it was done on the Tower of Babel principle that the higher up one is, the closer to God. I only realized quite how high when I saw the collection box for the local mountain rescue team. And it snowed! The theme of the conference was “Quaker values and Sexual Behaviour : what choices do we make?” The first session, in small groups, was ‘what might a Quaker sexual ethic look like?’ My group, for the most part, was nearly as silent as gay steam rooms I have frequented (that’s before I started to make Quaker value choices you understand) and there was little verbal contact. We did not get far and because we did not report back to the larger group – we had agreed not to do so to ensure confidentiality – I can’t say if such an ethical position was ever collectively reached. Discussing sexual behaviour in a group of 32 was never going to be easy and, quite rightly, safety of the individual and confidentiality within the group was always paramount. I think the women (there were 6 of them) got the better deal as they met separately and were able to look at all the issues within the one group. The men had to break into smaller groups as we looked as such topics as ‘sex and getting older’, ‘monogamy or non monogamy within a relationship’, ‘anonymous sex, cruising and cottaging’, ‘pornography’,‘the gay scene’,‘on line and virtual sex’, and ‘unequal relationships.’ The frustration was that I

for one would have liked to have been able to attend most of those groups (ever the tart I wanted to be with everyone) and again, because we did not report back to the larger group I have no idea how others felt on issues that are important to me.This is not a criticism of the organisation – we all agreed to the rules. I hope that most of the smaller groups were as fruitful as one I attended on ‘on line and virtual sex.’ This covered a range of topics from on line dating, web cam and sex chat rooms to the creation of avatars in ‘second life’ and even sex with robots. We covered areas which overlap including trust, the nature of monogamy, anonymous sex, on line cruising, aging and married men. We did conclude that online behaviour could become addictive, possibly self-destructive and could remove humanity from sexual encounters and although not of itself something we thought unacceptable, one Friend – in summary – came up with an Advice – not dissimilar to the one on alcohol and drugs – along the lines of ‘considering the self harm that could be done – be cautious.’ Nothing heavy – no Jerry Springer moments –

but nevertheless, for some of us, quietly powerful and previously held values re-examined. If there was a low point over the weekend it was the old male thing of performance anxiety and I fled when asked to push my penis through my shorts – and this in one of our few mixed groups. I usually respond to dominatrix instructions from women (I belong to a broad church) but after folding and scoring and putting corner to corner my vigour left me and I shrunk and ran in terror. We all enjoy different pleasure of course but Saturday night origami or pornorigami – making naughty things from folded paper, was not my thing. I’ll stick to the odd spanking. There was evidence in this gathering of the Chinese meal syndrome – even after a superb meal in the best restaurant, an hour later you want more – it didn’t quite fill every corner. There were more questions to ask, more people to talk to about their lives and how they live them – we missed the reporting back of the smaller group to the larger; mixed gender groups; raising individual experiences and quandaries – we needed more time and a QLGF Newsletter, June 2008, page 3

follow up gathering too, and more conclusive conclusions. Some are hoping to follow up by shared e mails. How one could have possibly organized it better is a different matter and all this is a reflection on how good it was - but next time…. and I hope there will be a next time. This is big boy stuff. One of the great things of course about a gathering is the gathering and what a great group.

A range of ages, outlooks, varieties of relationships, shared and different experiences and the group collective of seeking the Spirit. All this plus comfort food and a pub with cold Guinness 50 yards away. Things don’t get much better. It would have been fun to have been snowed in for the week. I was recently asked ‘well what sort of boyfriend would you like? (I have been re-

evaluating relationships) and I said ‘a Quaker one – because of shared values .’ My friend expected me to say – ‘28 and gorgeous’ or whatever. This weekend re-enforced the shared value thing for me. So if you like older creative guys, I’m 60, considered attractive and my Gaydar profile is … hang on I think this was an area I was re considering. Write to me instead. David P (Or try qlgf small ads – Eds).

Great Hucklow Diary ... There’s lots of serious stuff about the Gathering, this is more a sweeping up of the fragments. ------------------ §------------------Odd thing prejudice. Rode up from London on the train with a civil old lady. Saw a lively young father herd two nice children and two large suitcases along the train. Old lady ostentatiously hooks an arm through her handbag. The man was polite, well dressed, and very occupied with his kids and luggage… he was also black. What was he going to use to snatch her handbag (on a fast intercity train in front of 200 witnesses)… his special prehensile tail? ------------------ §------------------Doesn’t Great Hucklow sound like a failed Republican Governor for one of the frightening square states in the the middle…? ------------------ §------------------Lord the committee was nervous about this one. At one point we started calling it Quakers and Porn, which wouldn’t have been a marketing success. QLGF Newsletter, June 2008, page 4

About two committee meetings back, most of us suddenly got calm… and started to feel it was a leading and we would make it work. First good point, was finding seven of the 32 people were first timers and a few more hadn’t been more than once or for a long time.

Suggests we are doing more than talking to ourselves… we actually met a need. It was also good to feel QLGF is actually pushing a few envelopes, not existing for the sake of existing. It began to work very early indeed, and soon we were speculating that we might need two residential events in 2008… one open as planned, one closed to continue the work. ------------------ §-------------------

I know there is a view around that men cannot talk feelings stuff unaided.Actually, in the first group I went to, in particular, I think we did a good job. Generally we owned our stuff – not too much ‘people think’, and we spoke from experience. It was all relationships and where we were coming from, and really quite personal. As we were at the other end of the worship space, we could hear another group at the other end, sorting out the world’s Issues Intellectually. Each to their own. ------------------ §------------------I know women often feel they are pushed into helping men with their stuff. I think we did a reasonable job on our own. ------------------ §------------------Read some Unitarian literature. Is Quaker stuff this odd to people not used to it? It is all generally rather general and unexceptional, which makes it slightly spooky. There’s hints that they can suffer internal conflict in their meetings. I just don’t get the sense of the point of it. I think

One woman’s view ... the issue is that if you don’t appear to have a common language or a moderate set of shared assumptions, you end up with the definition of Quakerism I once heard “You can believe whatever you like.” (Which in Quakers is not quite true.) I suspect like Woolman, I need to move among them more to get where they are coming from… And I am quite sure we look even odder to outsiders than they do. The Nightingale Centre is excellent though, friendly, stunning scener y, comfortable, large portions, nice manager, quite economical. Book it for your next conference. ------------------ §------------------So a weekend full of interesting moments – sunset through the blossom tree. Snow, sun, rain and overcast in one day.The origami. Fighting toothache: Neurofen with Codein was the practical compassion. Kindly herb wavers had recommended cloves to me, I needed major chemicals made by multinational corporations, thank you. The gender issue was not a rancourous split. The women decided to form their own space, which no-one grumbled about. Two or three men said that by and large, it was a shame not to hear what the women thought. A couple of women remarked that at some point, but not necessarily this weekend, it might be interesting to hear what the men thought.

I’m glad to say that most of the men understood why the six women who attended the Gathering wished to meet separately for the small group discussions. Although I missed developing a greater under-standing of Quaker gay men’s approaches to sexuality and the ethics of sexual behaviour, I needed time to explore women’s experiences, behaviours and moral boundaries before entering into a dialogue. There are some real differences between male and female responses to sexuality, as well as between the male gay world and ours.

We talked about monogamy, open relationships, onenight stands, anonymous sex, sex with friends, fidelity and infidelity, the lesbian scene, relationships with an apparent imbalance in power or status, cybersex, sex with robots, pornography … not, I hasten to add, that we’d all experienced all of these. As we grew in trust and mutual understanding we were able to talk openly about some of our own experiences and

behaviour, what we thought about them now (with the benefit of hindsight!), and what our criteria might be for ethical sexual behaviour. Personally, the discussions helped me to make explicit that my basis for ethical sexual behaviour was acting with integrity and with respect for the other person as a whole person, as a spiritual as well as a physical being. Any form of coercion or exploitation, or the objectification of the other person, was unacceptable. We also talked about sexual relationships happening in a wider context of family and community - and that there could, therefore, be “fall out” from ostensibly private decisions. I began to wrestle with whether a relationship which met the criteria I’d set for myself could nevertheless be contraindicated because of its ramifications for the rest of society… We came away recognising that this was the start of a journey, so perhaps there may be some answers to come. Gill

Conservative blogs

The conservative religious blogger Cranmer has said that gays want to abolish the blasphemy law, protecting God, and replace it with a secular blasphemy law, [incitement to hatred laws], protecting themselves. QLGF Newsletter, June 2008, page 5

Sex, Snow and Sharks ... In 2006 we went to Derbyshire for our Spring Gathering at the Nightingale Centre in Great Hucklow - a Conference centre owned and run by the Unitarian church. We liked the place so much we decided to return and this year’s Spring Gathering was held there 4-6 April. Our theme was Quaker values and sexual behaviour. This idea came out of a number of Committee discussions on the general theme of pornography and, for instance, its easy availability on the Internet (type gay porn into Google and see what happens !) What do we have to say about pornography; is it wicked, exploitative, unFriendly; should Quakers use it ? Some Committee members were unhappy about having this as our topic for the weekend how would we demonstrate it; what would be the effect on Centre’s staff if they inadvertently caught sight of illustrative material we might use ? Led by Betty, we eventually decided that Quaker (and non-Quaker ?) ethics and values in relation to sexual behaviour generally (note that the topic title above does not say Quaker

values and GAY sexual behaviour) was more appropriate than any concentration on pornography alone. We were right, but at a cost. It became clear in the group discussions that some people had real difficulties with their sexual history/activity but nevertheless had the courage to express these difficulties, with considerable emotion in one or two cases, in a group. This is clearly a topic which needs ‘clearing up’ and to which I hope QLGF will return at some point in the future. Only six women, out of a total of thirty-two, were at the Gathering - a disappointing figure - and they decided that they wanted to be a separate group for the discussions with no male input - and vice-versa, of course. In retrospect, I, with several other males, believe this was a mistake.We need to work out a system where an imbalance of this kind can be dealt with in a way more acceptable to all. Well, so much for the sex. The snow came on Sunday morning and we woke up to a fantastic snow-scape as far as we could see across the Derbyshire Dales - alas, it didn’t last and had gone by the time we

left after lunch. I think most people got home without too much trouble. Our Saturday night entertainment began with a quiz (by me) on sexual/literary authors and quotations; there are some very literate people in our membership ! We then had an activity called Sharks - yes, you were wondering where they would come in, which got everybody, Tony excepted !, on their feet Andrew played the piano and Sally won ! We ended with Sue’s EROTIC ORIGAMI ! (or pornogami if you like) which I will not attempt to describe but which included making origami trousers and penises ! On both Friday and Saturday nights we ended up at the local pub - until midnight, they’re quite civilised in Derbyshire ! Need I say we had a great time; if you weren’t there, think seriously about coming to a future event. Alex Y

LGB presence during Anglican bustup 17 July - 3 Aug The Lambeth Conference at the University of Kent at Canterbury Lesbian and Gay Christian Movement’s main focus will be on hosting a large on-campus stall for the whole conference on the theme ‘Anglicans and Human Rights’ to mark the 60th anniversary of the UN Declaration on Universal Human Rights, and arranging two public

QLGF Newsletter, June 2008, page 6

and free performances by the renowned and popular theatrical activist Peterson Toscano on Weds 30 July and Thurs 31 July in the Keynes Lecture Theatre, the University of Kent, 8pm. LGCM has free tickets and is also

asking for individuals who want to go to help staff the stall and explain what being lesbian or gay is really like. Peterson is an exex gay now a Quaker. The Times says gay bishop Gene Robinson will ‘get committed’ in New Hampshire in June, then come to England during the conference, although he has not been invited.

Prides cometh before the Fall ... Please credit www.gaytoz.com if you reproduce this calendar. There are lots of others; I mention those where QLGF presence is definite or possible. Thursday 17 May 2008 International Day Against Homophobia - IDAHO Saturday 5 July 2008 Pride London - Parade and rally I would imagine we’ll be a) trying to find somewhere to hold MFW first b) marching c) offering tea at Westminster FMH afterwards all being optional. Incidentally the myth is alive and well in QLGF that the London March culminates in an expensive party you need tickets to get into. For at least three years it has ended in Trafalgar Square with a free stalls/speakers/music event. 26 July - 3 August 2008 Brighton and Hove Gay Pride – Festival. Although haven’t heard, local meeting organised something for the March last year and possibly the year before. Saturday 2 August 2008 Brighton and Hove Gay Pride Parade and park party 15 - 25 August 2008 Manchester Festival Saturday 23 August 2008 Manchester Gay Pride – Parade Maurice and Matthew are organising a QLGF presence and call for people to come and march with them. Let’s support!

Pride Manchester ... Manchester and Warrington Area Meeting will be having a stall for the first time at Manchester Pride from 23-25 August. QLGF will also be represented at Manchester Pride by having an entry at the parade on Saturday. The Manchester Pride Parade is the second largest in the UK, with a family and community atmosphere, and has people dressed-up in many colourful costumes for a diversity of causes.

We have scored a minor victory in that the pride organisers have conceded that ‘Quakers are an organisation that seek equality for its members and accepts everyone no matter what their sexual orientation’. We would be really grateful if QLGF members could support us: it is an excellent opportunity as we need the numbers to demonstrate that religion is not intrinsically homophobic and show positive ideas of equality and diversity that Quakerism stands for.

Last year a small contingent of around 30 people from local churches including Quakers marched in the pride parade and it was a really positive experience demonstrating against religious bigots, protestation at the parade, showing that not all religion/ spirituality is homophobic. Understandably, Manchester Pride seems to struggle with comprehending that religion can be affirming for LGBT people and state on their application form ‘Racist, sexist, ageist, political, religious and homophobic material will not be allowed in the parade’.

We have already had several offers from many different members of our local Quaker meetings to dress-up in costume and to fun at the parade. This would be a great experience for others to demonstrate Quaker spirituality within a gay context and we look forward to seeing many of you there. If you would be interested in taking part in the parade, helping us out on the stall or in any other way please contact Maurice or Matthew on [email protected] or write to 200b Green Lane, Heaton Norris, Stockport, SK4 2NF

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Epistles at Dawn ... The Story so far In 2006 East Africa North YM (EA-NYM) wrote an epistle that condemned all “gay” people. It was published in the documents for BYM 2007. This resulted in much discussion at several local and area meetings both about the right way forward in publishing this type of material and the appropriate response to East Africa YMN. North West London Area Meeting response In November we asked our Clerk to write to the clerk of EA-NYM. The following was sent and will have arrived well before the election and subsequent violence Dear James Mugalavai, You may know that interest has been shown in some of the British Meetings, in your epistle which was made available at Britain Yearly Meeting in London this year. I am sure you know that many religious people around the world are thinking and praying about the issues relating to homosexuality that you refer to in your epistle. Friends in our Area Meeting wanted me to write to Friends in East Africa (North) Yearly Meeting in love, to say that we are taking a different course from the one you suggest. We have been called upon to remember our ancient testimony to the equality of all people before God, and the teaching of George Fox that there is that of God within each one of us. This leads us to believe that we should welcome all to our religious meetings, even if QLGF Newsletter, June 2008, page 8

there are things about each other of which we do not approve. Our experience has been that this approach has greatly enriched our Meetings for Worship and other aspects of our religious life. Friends in North West London thought your Yearly Meeting may be interested to know that a different approach can bear fruit. With loving greetings from our Area Meeting, Rod Harper Subsequent Events While British Friends were struggling with the 2006 epistle EA-NYM was meeting and drafting their 2007 epistle. The language was much more aggressive and over half of the text can be described as homophobic and hostile. EA-NYM does not want to be in dialogue with YMs that are not in sympathy with their position. There was a particular attack on Canada YM.The epistle was read at our March Area Meeting but it will not be printed in our newsletter. The epistles for 2008 Britain Yearly Meeting have now been published with the following explanation: “This year a selection of epistles which are felt to be uplifting in their spiritual content and to reflect the range of Quaker beliefs throughout the world are being published. Other epistles have been received from Alaska, East Africa - North, Great Plains, Intermountain, North Pacific, Southern Appalachian and Wilmington Yearly Meetings.These unpublished epistles are available in the Friends House Library during Yearly Meeting, or from the Recording Clerk.” There is also a useful introduction from World Relations Committee outlining

the diversity of the Quaker Yearly Meetings world wide. We have read all the missing epistles and only East Africa North is homophobic. The remainder are a jolly list of what happened in these wonderful open-air places in North America. Alaska sets the tone “Much gratitude is expressed for the bounty of freshly harvested salmon and halibut lovingly prepared by our beloved former clerk, and all those who labored in the preparation and clean-up.” Now we have time to read and consider the EAN epistles and much that has been written about them. We have sympathy for the difficult task of discernment that was before agenda committee.The law on the publication of homophobic material has not been tested. The 2007 epistle is so strongly worded could our trustees be open to persecution? We are concerned that, even with the explanations in the document and a disclaimer that BYM does not agree with the text, some new attender or enquirer might be put off the Quaker way for ever. We are not sure how the media would respond, especially the red top papers. On the issue of what British Quakers should do with homophobic epistles, we consider the arrangements are about right for now. On the bigger issue of our relations with the wider Quaker world where equality is not practiced in the way we expect to find in BYM, we hope time and further discernment will show us a way. R Clark and S Costello Friends House Meeting

Student parties and stag nights?- not in Nigeria ... In Bauchi, Nigeria, 18 men went to cour t today, accused of attending a transvestite hotel party.

Officially they have been charged under Islamic Sharia law with “addressing each other as women and dressing themselves as women.” If convicted they could get up to 30 cane lashes and 1 year in prison. Fortunately for them it appears they have dodged sodomy/homosexuality charges which carry the much

stiffer penalty of death by stoning. The accused, who are mostly in their 20s claim they were attending an innocent “graduation par ty,” however police produced high heels and handbags (Tinky Winky?) as evidence of their “crime.” Things got even stranger en route to the courthouse where the accused got heckled, as dozens of young men “shouted abuse and hurled stones” at them. Inside, all 18 pleaded not guilty and five were released after posting bail. This was clearly not the result that the Muslim hecklers outside the courthouse were looking for and in response they began stoning the courthouse building.Traffic was halted for 30

minutes as protesters “chanted slogans” until riot police fired tear gas dispersing them. LAGOS, Nigeria (AFP) — A Nigerian man has been sentenced to 18 months in jail for dressing up as a woman and loitering around Lagos international airport, court officials said Tuesday. “He pleaded guilty to the charges and was given 18 months without the option of a fine during his trial on Monday,” an official at the court in the Lagos suburb of Ikeja told AFP. It was not clear what Uche Ndubuisi was hoping to achieve with his transvestite antics, but 22 pairs of women’s pants, four bras as well as several make-up kits were used as evidence to convict him.

Israeli MP blames quakes on gays ... Ultra-Orthodox Jews protest in Jerusalem An Israeli MP has blamed parliament's tolerance of gays for earthquakes that have rocked the Holy Land recently. Shlomo Benizri, of the ultraOrthodox Jewish Shas Party, said the tremors had been caused by lawmaking that gave "legitimacy to sodomy". Israel decriminalised homosexuality in 1988 and has since passed several laws recognising gay rights. Two earthquakes shook the region last week and a further four struck in November and December. Mr Benizri made his comments while addressing a committee of the Israeli

parliament, or Knesset, about the country's readiness for earthquakes. He called on lawmakers to stop "passing legislation on how to encourage homosexual activity in the state of Israel, which anyway brings about earthquakes". Israeli court rulings in recent years have granted inheritance rights to gay couples and recognised same-sex marriages performed abroad. Last week, Israel's attorney general ruled same-sex couples could adopt.

Comment: If true that the Israeli courts recognise same sex marriage, it creates another odd anomaly. Israel does not recognise Liberal Judaism as an official religion, requiring Liberal Jews to convert to Orthodoxy if they want a religious wedding in Israel. This is pretty much like saying Quakers should have to become Anglicans if they want to marry in meeting. (I cannot get my head around why American Jews, 90% from the Liberal tradition, put up with this discrimination in their financial support for Israel…) So, would Israel recognise a Liberal Jewish same sex wedding from Canada? But not a Liberal Jewish straight wedding? Allow a Palestinian same sex partner into the country if married? QLGF Newsletter, June 2008, page 9

Brutal executions ‘your fault for not being discreet’ The Home Office has justified proposals to deport gay and lesbian asylum seekers to Iran, on the grounds that if they are discreet they will not be persecuted, according to the Independent. Iran is believed to have executed around 4000 lesbian and gay people, sometimes by slow public hanging. Recently a man was executed despite having been 13 when he carried out the alleged offences, despite them being probably consensual, and despite the witnesses against him withdrawing their complaints. Iran has signed the world convention on the rights of children, but the legal system allows a judge to decide a child is of sufficient mental stature to receive the adult punishment. An Iranian lesbian Pegah Emambakhsh who fled to Britain after her girlfriend was arrested and sentenced to death faces being forcibly returned after losing the latest round in her battle to be granted asylum. Ms Emambakhsh, 40, came to the UK in 2005 fearing for her life after her partner had been arrested by Tehran police. Iranian gay rights groups reported that her partner is in custody under sentence of death by stoning. Speaking through her asylum representative in Sheffield, Ms Emambakhsh said: “I will never, never go back. If I do I know I will die.” Under the Iranian Islamic Punishment Act, lesbians found guilty of sexual relations can be sentenced to 100 lashes. But, for a third offence, the punishment is execution. Ms Emambakhsh narrowly

avoided deportation in August last year but only after her local MP, and other parliamentarians persuaded the Government to allow her to stay while further legal avenues of appeal were explored. She says she was already on the way to Heathrow when she learnt of her lastminute reprieve. But last month the Court of Appeal turned down her application for permission for a full hearing. Ms Emambakhsh said yesterday that she was “very disappointed” by the ruling but planned to apply for a judicial review at the High Court. The Home Office has also agreed to consider fresh legal representations on her behalf. Mehdi Kazemi, 19, came to London to study English in 2004 but later discovered that his boyfriend had been arrested by the Iranian police, charged with sodomy and hanged. In a phone conversation with his father in Tehran, Mr Kazemi was told that, before the execution in April 2006, his boyfriend had been questioned about sexual relations he had with other men and under interrogation had named Mr Kazemi. Fearing for his own life if he returned to Iran, Mr Kazemi claimed asylum in Britain. Late last year, his claim was refused. Terror-stricken at

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the prospect of being deported, he made a desperate attempt to evade deportation by fleeing to the Netherlands where he is being detained amid a growing outcry from campaigners. In turning down Ms Emambakhsh and Mr Kazemi’s asylum applications, the Home Office has said that, provided Iranians are discreet about their homosexuality, they will not be persecuted. But Omar Kuddus, of Gay Asylum UK, demanded that Britain follow the example of the Netherlands and Germany in imposing a moratorium on all deportations involving gay and lesbian Iranians. He asked: “How many more young Iranians have to die before the British Government takes action?” “Where an individual claimant demonstrates that their homosexual acts have brought them to the attention of the authorities to the extent that on return to Iran they will face a real risk of punishment which will be so harsh as to amount to persecution s/he should be granted refugee status as a member of a particular social group.” Home Office, Iran Operational Guidance, 27 February 2007 Comment: We therefore appear to have the position that a few high profile cases will be safe because we know the Iranian authorities know, but that if we deport less high profile people quickly, not ‘knowing’ the Iranians know, the Iranians can hang them anyway. Both the above cases remain unresolved.

Space, grace, and truth in the gay debate One of Britain’s most high profile Anglican evangelicals has issued a thoughtful call for space and reflection on the homosexuality debate.

James Jones, Bishop of Liverpool, was one of nine bishops who openly opposed the appointment of Jeffrey John, a celibate gay man, as a bishop. Jones now publicly apologises for that conduct, in an essay “Making space for grace and truth”. Although this apology hit the headlines, the essay covers much wider ground. Jones’s diocese in Liverpool is twinned with others in Africa and America, and there has been a lengthy and private three way dialogue. “It is better to deal with difficult ethical and doctrinal questions – in this case, sexuality - in a conversation between people who already know, trust and respect each other than through megaphone diplomacy between strangers across the oceans” he said. Friends might reflect on some of our evangelical Quaker friends in that light. His perception is, that in Africa, homosexuality is largely illegal and condemned by

society, and Christianity is under threat from Islam, which paints it as a tool of western imperialism and decadence. This puts the church in a difficult position. (Gay Africans, by the way, point to long standing gay traditions in Africa – it is arguably homophobia and Victorian style sex laws which are the product of imperialism). Conversely, and again accurately, he says that the Episcopalian Church in the States sees gay rights as a civil rights issue, Anglicans were tainted with complicity with slavery, and for them, a prophetic social witness is crucial to authentic Christianity. Jones calls for space to explore the issues in a spirit of grace and listening, and for the Anglican community to stick it out. Only Christ can determine who is ‘in communion’ with anyone else, he says. The bitter divisions in the early Church over the Jewish law were about a central issue – salvation by outward rules or by inner grace – and yet the different viewpoints worked and stayed together. What is striking from someone whose previous comments on homosexuality have been highly conservative, is the dimension Jones uncovers in the Bible. He lauds the relationship between David and Jonathon – they made a covenant between each other no less - and between Christ and the loving disciple. Language used to describe the latter relationship mirrors a phrase used about the love between Father and Son. Dodging the issue of whether they were any

sense ‘gay’, (none of can ever know, and at several levels, that is simply not the point). Nevertheless he proclaims that the Bible finds deep value in same sex relationships. (The same point could have been made around Ruth and Naomi.) Most evangelicals treat the issue of what the Bible says about sexuality as absolutely clear, a single unified position, and binding for all time. This is what makes Jones’ intervention intriguing… the points he makes have been made for at least a century by gay Christians, and sympathetic scholars, but they give credibility to that debate within the church. I would not rush to assume Jones will be joining the board of Stonewall anytime soon.Trying to bridge the AfricaWest gap, he dodges the issue as to whether he approves of same sex relationships, would ordain openly gay clergy, or would accept a gay bishop in a relationship. I suspect the answer to all three is a no. He is however optimistic, that his exercise in dialogue and space can continue. When an evangelical bishop is willing to challenge his flock, perhaps Quakers might find a prophetic voice on this issue. In particular, can we acknowledge that for some of us, equality for lesbian gay bisexual and transgender people is not something we do despite our Christian roots but because of them. (This article appeared in the Friend. Well, Quakers believe in recycling.)

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Thoughts about Quakerism and Sexuality ... How do we make choices about sexual behaviour? Are there some choices that are more or less ‘Quakerly’? Does our spirituality inform all of our sexual actions and practices or do we leave it at the door to be picked up again when we leave? Can we have deep relationships with those who don't share our spirituality or values - or with those whose values we don't even know? Where do we draw our personal boundaries? What is acceptable and what not? How do we feel about/deal with Friends whose boundaries are drawn somewhere differently from our own? Where do the testimonies on equality, truth and peace fit it? ------------------§------------------Let's think what it means, in the broadest sense, to be a moral person or to have a moral outlook.A moral outlook has to go beyond personal matters, because the essence of morality - the reasons for judging some actions as ‘good’ and others as ‘bad’ - is the belief that there is a connection between our individual actions and the entire human community …. A moral position says that what we each do matters because we are each connected - through an enormous network of human interdependency - to all people and all history. B Ehrenreich, 'Towards a Political Morality' ------------------§------------------Quakers do not make a division between religion and everyday life, no place is more - or less holy than another. God may be experienced both in the Sunday meeting for worship and in the

midst of ever yday life and relationships. www.quaker.org.uk --------------------§------------------If sex has meaning only in context, it does not follow that all sporadic sex is without context, nor that that context is inevitably negative. Jim Cotter, Quiverful, 1999, p. 182 ------------------§------------------We share the same principle: that of respect for the Light within each person. But how we live it out in everyday life depends on our listening to God and to each other. ... Different Quakers may interpret [a] principle differently. Much depends on the circumstances and the people concerned. We admit we may get it wrong! The Quaker way is not easy. In the end, we have to accept that we are each responsible, for our own lives, to God. www.quaker.org.uk ------------------§------------------Sexual morality is an area of challenge and opportunity for living our testimonies to truth, non-violence, equality, integrity and love. Q F& P, 22.11 ------------------§------------------For many, a lifelong monogamous union gives the opportunity for the greatest personal development and for the experience of sexual love which is spiritual in its quality and deeply mysterious. Others may find fulfillment in different ways. Q F& P, 22.11 ------------------§------------------When a sexual act occurs between two people with consent and with no obvious harm, the law has no place, but discernment may be needed in terms of what is good, better and

QLGF Newsletter, June 2008, page 12

best. The good may be minimal. But it is important to recognise that there is indeed good in the most unlikely circumstances. There is pleasure and affirmation even in places of seemingly worthless waste. There is at least the seed of goodness. And that is there because the flesh is good, that bodies are good for us. You may not see the seed because it is too small.You may without realising it be trampling on the seed. But you cannot destroy it. There may be much more to be said, much more to be experienced of the goodness, much, much more that is better and best. But we grow from recognising the good, not from hating ourselves because we have not achieved the best. The best - all that talk about ideals - can in practice be the enemy of the good. Jim Cotter, Quiverful, 1999, p. 186 ------------------§------------------There must be a morality of some sort to govern sexual relationships. An experience so profound in its effect upon people and upon the community cannot be left wholly to private judgment. Towards a Quaker View of Sex, FHSC, 1963, p. 40 ------------------§------------------Respect the wide diversity among us in our lives and relationships. Refrain from making prejudiced judgements about the life journeys of others. Advices and Queries, 22 ------------------§------------------Sex is a great hunger, a great drive of human energy, a late biological development, an intense pleasure.

It challenges those divided by it to seek and find at a deeper level a unity of being. It is a gift from God: holy, awesome, explosive. Misused, it can blast and wither and empty of all significance the human beings foolish enough to mistake it. Baulked and perverted, it can poison relationships. Such a gift cannot be ignored or handed back. It has the features of mystical experience: abandon, ecstasy, polarity, dying, rebirth, union. It has the features of prayer; a noticing, a paying attention, a form of address, a yearning to communicate more deeply, an attempt to reach communion. It holds out the suggestion of personal fulfilment, of union achieved, of community known. In the past the highest spiritual life was understood as implying the renunciation of sexuality. In the present men and women are asking how to live through the fullest experiencing of sexuality as their primary road to God. Alan Ecclestone,Yes to God, 1975 ------------------§------------------We need to know much more about ourselves and what we do to our inner life when we follow codes or ideals that do not come from the heart. Towards a Quaker View of Sex, FHSC, 1963, p. 40 ------------------§------------------Turning away from sex negativity means embracing erotic joy, but tempered with a profound commitment to right relationship. The four central value commitments are: 1. The goodness of the body ...capable of giving and

receiving pleasure.… 2. Bodily integrity and self direction ... body right means freedom from control and manipulation from another 3. Mutuality …persons, not mere body parts, meet and touch.... both parties must show up and be accounted for, together…. good touch requires consent. 4. Fidelity …makes durability, substance, and hope possible within relationships. From a book review by Nancy Myer Hopkins of Erotic Justice: A Liberating Ethic of Sexuality (1996) by Marvin M. Ellison ------------------§------------------Although there is no authoritative statement issued by Quakers it would be safe to say that most Quakers feel that pornography degrades women and contributes to a climate that oppresses and exploits them. www.quaker.org -------------------§-------------------In the journey through life, as we grow and mature, live singly or in a relationship with others, our sexuality will grow, develop and change. Our sexual needs, drives and fantasies will be different at different stages in our life - as a teenager, a partner, a parent, an older person. Our sexuality is, throughout, an expression of ourselves. It is an integral part of our humanity and as such is subject to the leadings of the spirit. We should therefore give thanks for our sexuality and seek to nurture it both within ourselves and in our loving relationships. Quaker Faith and Practice, 22.14

Towards a Quaker View of Sex Would, should, could, and ought, Reason, scripture, law and thought, Blood and skin and breath and heart Wine and fire and dance and art Seeing in the Light, and shagging in the dark Who’s on the rota for children’s meeting? The new attender might be a bender. Our hands touch at coffee, the moment fleeting, All through Premises my heart is beating, Banging away like a Quaker drum. Leadings, pleadings, openings, closings, A calling, a falling, quietly moaning… Under concern I laid him down On the equal gravestones of Quakertown. Seeing in the Light, and shagging in the dark. “I danced for the Scribe and the Pharisee. But they would not dance and they wouldn’t follow me.” The beloved disciple’s name was John I danced for him and I led him on. Seeing in the Light, and shagging in the dark Would, should, could, and ought, Reason, scripture, law and thought, Blood and skin and breath and heart, Wine and fire and dance and art… Shagging in the Light and seeing in the dark. PW

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Dear Friends ... Due to a production error, we have accidently received next week’s Friend letter page. We produce it below as a service to those who do not subscribe Dear Friends, I was pained to read in the Friend criticism of the Holy Father, the Pope. Surely all Quakers must like all other Christians see in his Holiness our only hope against the atheistic and demonic forces of Socialism? After all, as early Friends clearly said, when the Pope speaks, he does so with full apostolic authority. It is almost as if Quakers have become supporters of the so-called Reformation, which is likely to be a brief flash in the pan.This is not the Society I joined. Dear Friends, I was pained to read in the Friend that there is to be no review of “Drainage Systems of early Victorian Meeting Houses: Volume IX – a Quaker Watershed.”

In times gone by the study of archaeological hydrology was considered sufficiently important for its own separate epistle, and a summer school packed with the great names of Quaker

witness. Nowadays only the occasional Woodbrooke course covers this central topic of Quaker life. Has the vision of early Friends regarding plumbing been wholly forgotten? This is not the Society I joined. Dear Friends, I was saddened to read in the Friend more attempts to introduce religion into our Meeting Houses, as if we were some type of spiritual group. Surely there is enough supernatural stuff outside before we start to pollute Quakerism with any sense of the numinous? We should stick to what the early Friends were and stood for – university educated environmental campaigners.This is not the Society I joined. Dear Friends, I was saddened to read in the Friend reference to the socalled peace testimony. It seems that the rewriting of history continues. Friends of Strength (aka Peace Through Superior Firepower) will continue to support the expansion of Western armaments in order to crush totally the encircling barbarian hordes, bringing the world under a thousand years of American imperialism… just as George Fox would have wished. Alas for the old days when Friends really stood for something. Dear Friends, I was pained to read in the MFS report that QLRC has not agreed to the CIRC minute proposing more QPSW involvement in CCTB activities

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on EAIP. This was clearly the outcome at BYM 2005 despite the opposition of QAAA, and QMCT. What happened to plain speaking? All I can say is,TINTSIJ. Dear Friends, I recently tripped over our imam getting onto the bus. Both of us said sorry. I think this really shows the opportunities for us to work more closely with our Muslim friends. Perhaps other Friends have found the same. Dear Friends, Has anyone given any thought to a small booklet of essays looking at homosexuality? With the recent proposals to reform the law, perhaps Quakers might have something specific to say? I’m surprised this has not been discussed before now. Dear Friends, I have been surprised not to see in the Friend more discussion of a new and alarming development. For much of this year, a large round bright object has been rising in the sky each morning and sinking each evening.

Could this be part of a new American secret missile defence system? There hasn’t even been any mention of this in the Independent. DN

Christ’s Manhood ‘Christian Voice’ has said it wishes to prosecute the Baltic Exchange Art Gallery, under our discredited blasphemy laws, for displaying an artwork which shows Jesus with an erection. Let me say that I have not seen the work and it might be a meretricious piece of New British Tat, designed to shock Christians because the artist wanted to be ‘controversial’, but wasn’t brave enough to attack Islam. (Or indeed, to attack the ludicrous art establishment, which would have been really brave.) Or it might be a serious and well done artwork. The mere fact that Fundamentalist Voice is troubled by Jesus with an erection shows their problem, in particular, their lack of faith in incarnation. It is a central tenet of the orthodox Christian faith that ‘the Word was made flesh and dwelt among us’. The orthodox hold that Jesus was wholly divine and wholly human, albeit without sin. Youngish human males have frequent erections, sometimes because they have erotic thoughts, and sometimes just because they need a pee. So we must presume that as Jesus was human, and needed to eat, sleep and wee, he also had a functioning erectile system. (Liberal language is more Jesus as exemplar, or pathway to God, which also presumably does not rule out a stiffy.)

Many Christians are utterly screwed up about sex, so anything connecting Jesus and sex drives them nuts. They are so obsessed with sexual sin, that the very discussion of Jesus’ sex life leaves them biting the carpet. (What we know about Jesus’ sex life can be summed up very simply, we know nothing at all.) To sustain their case, Fundamentalist Shriek have to argue one or more of the following: 1) Jesus was without sin, therefore he never had an erection, because that physical sign is inherently sinful. All males will be kept guilty and pliable because they cannot control a harmless sign of their biology. 2 We tell people Jesus was human but shy away from any connection of Jesus with the reality of that humanity. (We want him as a mouthpiece of God so we can tell you what to do) 3) Jesus was like a Ken doll, he didn’t have a penis 4) The bodies we were created with are corrupting and any public display of private parts is offensive. (Close the National Gallery!) However, if they were wanting a general clampdown on nudity, they wouldn’t be demanding blasphemy laws. 5) Anything which might upset the faithful or make them think is dangerous. 6) When Jesus said turn the other cheek he meant the opposite. Augustine argued that in a state of grace, people would reproduce without passion. That strange hatred of sex, the body,

women, our carnality… poisons Christianity and our society. Even St Paul with his obsession with the flesh and the end of the world, had some common sense advice to married couples (have sex regularly, so you are not obsessed by the lack of it). Christian Voice failed in their attempts to prosecute Jerry Springer the Musical. That was a foul mouthed and erratic work, which did however attack the immorality of the modern media. Thoughtful writers like Libby Purves saw in it the great Christian themes. It argues for truthfulness, penitence, and redemption. It is a phantasmagoria which offers us the possibility that if Christ died for anyone, he died for the unfortunates on the Jerry Springer show, and for the ringmaster himself. An artwork showing Jesus with an erection, or on the toilet, may upset people. (Or, a poem showing that a gay man might have fantasised about him.) It may not be to their taste, indeed, may not be to my taste. It is an opportunity for Christians and sympathisers to offer their good news, their belief in a God who makes the world, and sustains it, and believes it to be good, a God who came in a stable to comfort the poor, the bereaved, the depressed, to give hope to the lowly and the lost. It is a missed opportunity to stand on a firm rock between Puritanism and hedonism… this is a statue which should have launched a thousand thoughtful sermons, not a legal prosecution. SC

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God without God: western spirituality without the wrathful king Michael Hampson, O Books “God without God has no argument with science or atheism or pluralism – indeed, it takes these as its premises, then sets out to explore what remains of the western spiritual tradition. It finds right at the heart of that tradition a concept of the divine far more complex and mysterious than that which the atheist rightly rejects.We move beyond theism and atheism to consider the mystery of existence itself, discovering a tradition full of contemporary resonance, with a profound and timeless integrity for body mind and spirit”. From the introduction. Hampson argues that the wrathful old sky-father, who hands out punishment and the odd blessing here and there, a deity placated by grovelling and the death of his son, is an idol, strongly linked to the time when the Church had worldly power. On the other hand, atheism is a useful corrective to bad images of the divine. Hampson offers no knockdown arguments for the divinity, in essence offering the view that we might as well cast out the wrathful king, believe there is something there and that compassion fills the universe. His model draws on Old Testament language Yahweh Elohim (That which is/the sum of all divinities). Elohim is female plural by the way and if you wanted to be stroppy, could be translated Goddesses. With believers of the wrathful king firmly in charge of several branches of the Church, finding a more humane, less dogmatic, more spiritual and practical model is useful, for all of us who do not want to throw

out good with the bad. I am completely with Hampson when he says that we need not look East for a humane and rich spirituality. But for Quakers this is very well trodden ground indeed. The book has these sorts of fast forward jumps. On page 8 we accept that it is mysterious that anything exists at all, and ditto that we have consciousness. (Either mystery may, in fact, eventually be as solveable as where thunder comes from, but never mind.) We offer the mystery/ the ground of being the name God, just as a label. By p13 we are discussing the Trinity, on the assumption that the ineffable and unknowable mystery we cannot pigeon-hole is best explored by using Christian theology. Hampson is a sort of theological Super Mario pole vault champion, able to get from A to B by heroic leaps – I know entire books which barely make the same distance as those few pages, but more convincingly because more slowly. It rapidly becomes clear that while nodding to non Christian traditions, the ‘authentic western spiritual tradition’ is post Vat-2 Catholicism. Glad to know that my own tradition isn’t authentic. Perhaps it could have been called “How I learned to stop worrying and love the Pope.” Hampson’s deconstruction and reconstruction of Catholic thought is interesting, but from time to time, highly contestable. For example, there is no particular reason to believe on his terms that ‘the ground of being’ is a meaningful concept, benign, or interested in us.When God tells Moses ‘I am that I am’, you can

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take this as “I am Innate Beingness underpinning the very existence of the universe” – as Hampson does – or “Never you mind who I am”/ “I am beyond your naming/shut up and listen” – as I would. We’re invited to follow Jesus, because that’s the choice of tradition, swallow the creeds, and buy into the catechism wholesale. Slow down! Hampson tries to eliminate gender prejudice about the divine, has no fear or expectation of the afterlife, and thinks the Catholic Church should open its Mass to all. He’s frequently down on the entire Protestant tradition, particularly Biblical fundamentalism but also its abandonment of sacrament, and the divine female. (His criticisms of ‘protestantism’ are not really applicable to Quakerism.) He also advances the remarkable view that Islam must be broadly right because of a billion adherents and growing. (Actually, that’s his argument for Catholicism, but sauce for the priest is sauce for the imam, I presume.) ‘Ethics’ turns out to be ethics when we have our trousers off. His arguments for reclaiming a responsible eros in the universe, as the 7th sacrament, support for lesbian gay bisexual & transgender people, and his view of the flimsiness of the Church’s position otherwise, will be broadly agreeable.To summarise his position on ethics quickly is hard; he is substantially down on contraception as ‘unnatural’ and preventing a true sharing between partners. (Would the same argument apply to precautions against AIDS?) He wants young people not to rush into sex but

wants to lower the age of consent to ten. (We might also lower the driving age to ten perhaps?!) We shouldn’t have a society where women are in a position where they want, or think they need, abortions. He appears to accept relationships can die, de facto, therefore, accepts divorce, but believes ‘any true lover’ knows that exclusivity is the only model that works universally (after adolescent experimenting, about which he is tolerant). Actually, perhaps universalising all this is a slightly lazy assumption. After all, one can love parents, partner and children with a true selfgiving love, which at least suggests the possiblility there might be enough to go around. Like many liberal Catholics, he believes the conscience of the faithful is a pillar of the church, and they have spoken in the west about the use of contraception. (They are for it.) I cannot figure

out whether he thinks excluding women from the priesthood is a good thing or not. There’s a lot of interest in the book! It would make a good study tool, precisely because we are likely to disagree with some it. The need to have broader and more authentic definitions is important. But bits of it nag. When scientists say that light is both a wave and a particle, they are not struggling with a mystery. It does behave like a wave and a particle. Enough. To live positively and lovingly, to be in a spiritual community and to follow a spiritual practice, to acknowledge the mystery of life and the power of love, and to use the wisdom of the past wisely and with imagination. These are, I suspect, the choices of most of my readers, whatever language we choose. I stand in a community where these are mainstream views. But Hampson’s spirituality seems to connect

with society only below the bellybutton. This is a 246 page book which not once acknowledges that I can see, the spiritual void leading us to destroy the natural world, or unjust order between nations, or within them, a book which confines the great issues of war and peace to half a sentence. Funnily enough, subjects on which Ratzinger and I would probably agree. I am also reading the modern classic, Matthew Fox’s Original Blessing which reclaims the humane, the green, the female, the wise and the pleasurable, drawing on the wisdom of the west, as well as the east. I have never seen someone link the spiritual void, consumerism, simplicity and pleasure so well. If we enjoyed more we would use less, and more wisely, he says. I won’t review it, I’ll just suggest you read it – in chunks, it is not one to dash off.

Patrick Gale interview in the Times But why, when he comes from a staunchly Anglican family, did he make the male lead in his latest novel a Quaker? “I had this dreadfully unstable woman in the book, so I had to find a man to anchor her. I came to the idea of having this Quaker, unjudgmental, who would be a perfect balancing figure,” he says.“I had known quite a few Quakers in my life, but I had never been to a meeting before I started researching the book. Then I went to a great number. I definitely have a spiritual sense, but for

a long time I tried to ignore it. I come from a strong Anglican tradition; my grandfather and great-grandfather were priests, and my father was in that tradition of public service in the prison service. I think they were all hoping that I would become a priest, in the old tradition of what you did with the gay child of the family. But I am hugely impatient with the C of E and its puerile attitude towards sexuality. It was very interesting to spend time with the Quakers, to see how advanced they are.” Getting his religious fix But Gale says he won’t be taking up Quakerism, for family reasons of another sort: “Aidan,

my partner, is strongly atheist, so it would cause ructions to start going to church. But I get a big religious fix each year from being the chairman of the St Endellion Summer Festival, which is held annually at Collegiate Church of St Endelienta in Port Isaac, North Cornwall.” Gale continues to perform music, as a singer, pianist and cellist. “I think the cello is closest to the human voice. There is something incredibly immediate about the emotions it expresses. I practise at least every other day. I don’t play professionally, but in local amateur orchestras.”

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At a Meeting for Worship for Business of QLGF held on 6 April 2008 at The Nightingale Centre, Great Hucklow, Derbyshire attention to the position that email that his attempts to although we finished with a publicise QLGF within the small surplus on the year this LGBT community and to Eurowas due to making a “profit” on pean Quakers had met with the Gatherings. Other costs very little response. He plans have risen, including the costs of during 2008 to send a QLGF Appointment of Officers printing and postage; the information pack to the major We note that the terms of Committee will continue to religious correspondents of TV service of Rob Card (Co-Clerk) monitor income and expend- and radio and print media, and and Rodney Mahon (Treasurer), iture during 2008. to attempt to publicise QLGF and that of the Newsletter team, • We set the Bursary fund for within Black and minority ethnic Stephen, Sarah and Nick Jackson, communities through sub2009 at £600. expire on 6 April 2008.We also • We appoint Terry Kenyon, mitting an article to a leading note that Alex Yeats wishes to subject to consent, as Black and minority ethnic be released from service as Conewspaper. He would welcome Examiner for 2009. Gatherings Officer as from this • We appoint Rob Card, Gill ideas for publicising the FellowSpring Gathering. The CommCoffin, Rodney Mahon and ship; any assistance that any ittee recommends that there Elisabeth Sutherland as member wishes to offer would should be a handover period for signatories for the Fellow- also be welcomed. the post of Treasurer. We reCurrently we advertise ship’s Co-operative Bank appoint Rob Card to serve as Accounts, any two of the four regularly in The Friend, Scots Gay, Co-Clerk until the Fellowship’s to sign, until our Spring 2009 Diva, Gay Times and Kenric’s Gathering in Spring 2009. We magazine.There are links to our Gathering. re-appoint Rodney Mahon as Membership Report website from the Britain Yearly Treasurer, and Elisabeth Suther- Our Membership Secretary Paul Meeting website, and many land as Assistant Treasurer, both Campion’s report was circu- Meeting Houses display our to serve until the Fellowship’s lated. It showed there are curr- card. David P made some Gathering in Spring 2009. We ently 127 individual members, suggestions for publicity and note that the post of Assistant plus 27 supporting meetings. 51 recruitment, and he will make a Treasurer is a temp-orary one, of last year’s paid up members submission to the Committee and we will review the position have not yet renewed, although for their consideration. at the Spring 2009 Gathering. in some instances this is bec- National Contact’s Report We appoint Alastair Gault as ause Standing Orders have not Our National QLGF Contact, Co-Gatherings Officer, to serve yet been actioned. The report Sue Clarke, reported that 48 until Spring 2011.We re-appoint included statistics from past enquiries had been received in Stephen, Sarah and Nick as the years. One further reminder will 2007, and that 18 of these Newsletter editorial team, also be issued this year to those who friends went on to join the to serve until Spring 2011. We have not yet paid. All members Fellowship. She set out for us thank all our Friends for their are encouraged to renew their how enquiries originate and are service, and record our special membership and to recruit new received, how she responds, and thanks to Alex for long service members and supporting meet- how she nurtures local groups as Co-Gatherings Officer. ings. The Committee will keep and contacts between members. Treasurer’s Report membership under review and A copy of Sue’s report is We have received and approved consider what action may be appended to these Minutes.We the Accounts for 2007, which appropriate. We thank Paul thank Sue for her service. have been examined and Campion for his service. Quaker Life Working Group approved by Terry Kenyon. Our Publicity on Committed Relationships Treasurer, Rodney Mahon, drew Steven Walton reported by Duggan Cummings was nominQLGF Newsletter, June 2008, page 18

ated by QLGF and accepted to join the Working Group on Committed Relationships. An invitation-only conference is to be held at Woodbrooke in June to take this matter forward. Invitations have been sent to Area Meetings and “interested parties”, including QLGF. A number of members of the Fellowship are expected to attend the Conf-erence in other capacities. • We appoint Sally Mason to represent the Fellowship at the Conference and ask the

Committee to appoint a second representative. • The Fellowship will support its representatives financially to attend this Conference. Presence at Britain YM We will have table space at Yearly Meeting, and Rob C will ensure that information about the Fellowship is available. Manchester Gay Pride We have heard that Friends in Manchester wish to have a QLGF presence in the parade at Manchester Pride. We agree to endorse this venture.

And in the news this week ... I was intrigued to see that the BNP is making a play for the Jewish vote (on the assumptions that they hate Muslims). Given BNP leader Nick Griffin is a self confessed Holocaust denier, who used to own two pigs called ‘Anne’ and ‘Frank’, I do hope that the long community traditions of spotting anti-Semites at a hundred paces will continue. I’m somewhat reminded of Lincoln, who said that “Senator X makes a good case for slavery: I rather think he should try it for himself.” The changing nature of masculinity:TV report on harsh conditions endured by troops in Basra. The TV camera swept across cramped barracks, made of breezeblocks to protect against suicide bombs. On one man’s shelf, a photo of his girlfriend, and the unmistakable Nivea for Men bottle. When our

valiant troops under fire still find time to moisturise, life has moved on. I am sure we could make much of the fish which has avoided straight sex for 70,000 years. The Amazonian Molly does without males, it flirts with males of other species, to trigger its libido, and then gives birth parthenogenetically. According to BBC Online, which on such matters is incapable of error. An Irish court has ruled that a gay man who provided sperm for a lesbian couple was not entitled to contact with the child. The specific issues were that the man had agreed to have limited contact and no parental rights, but never intended to respect this. The judge concluded it was in the best interests of the child that he not be granted disruptive access. The judge said the Irish constitution provides for family life and a family of two women deserved equal protection… leading us to

Dates of Future Meetings The Committee plans to meet on 7 June 2008 at City Harbour, Docklands, London.The Autumn Gathering is booked for 11 Oct 2008 at the Royal Foundation of St Katharine in East London. Spring 2009 Gathering will be at Woodbrooke on 13-15 March 2009, and will include an open session on Saturday afternoon. The Committee is asked to consider how to take forward this weekend’s discussions on Quaker Values and Sexual Behaviour, through future gatherings and/or the Newsletter. think that our friends over the water have moved on a bit recently too. Was I the only person to be irritated by the 78000 pages of photographs of the admittedly trés chic and trés photogenic wife of Nicolas Sarcosy? If Angela Merkel came would we get enough pages to sink a battleship discussing the colour of her husband‘s suit? Perhaps, if Hillary wins, we could have articles explaining that Bill’s choice of shoes helped cement the special relationship… Only one Boris Johnson joke… he could do the job! Sorry, two jokes. It was said when he ran the Spectator, the most difficult decision he had to make was where to take the editorial team for lunch. An insider spat “That overestimates how hands-on his leadership was. His secretary booked the lunch.” Personally I think giving satirical magazine editors political power and a big budget might be quite a good thing.

QLGF Newsletter, June 2008, page 19

Quakers and Art ... Being a queer and Quaker and liking art may all be mutually exclusive. The traditional Quaker view on art is that it might be in conflict with attitudes regarding simplicity. Early Friends regarded art in the same light as gaudy dress, frivolous hats and a Papist delight in ceremonies and religious images. The inflated prices of art at auction offend our sensibilities regarding financial speculation and gambling on what might be up and coming talent. There is a problem in accepting art based on religious themes - which damns most medieval and baroque masterpieces. Titian and Rubenesque nudes might be too uncomfortably erotic for some Friends.The bloodied themes of Francis Bacon can be upsetting as a glorification of violence. The healthy Quaker delight in equality and a respect for ever yone’s individual endeavours logically means that we value children’s early art work on the fridge door with acknowledged masterpieces of Picasso. Quality assuring works of art fits uneasily with Quakers. Yet in “Quaker Faith and Practice”, there are a number of sources that point out the joy we should feel in celebrating the landscape, the infinity of human inventiveness, the beauty of the natural world. We are all charged with taking delight in the wealth of human talent and to regard this as a God given privilege to share this with Friends. “Advices and Queries” urges us to live adventurously and this can

resonate with the idea of art being a challenge to a bland acceptance of establishment values. But some difficult issues still remain to be confronted. The passages do tend to focus on safe, establishment artistic figures as examples to appreciate. Vermeer is generally seen as particular favourite but cute martyrdoms of St Sebastian may cause offence.

Creativity is generally seen to be encompassing a vision of art as sanitised landscapes and non challenging visual representations. It doesn’t resonant with an alternative view that creativity is a deliberate threat to conventional thought, a radical journey of self discovery. We need to recognise that landscapes are corrupted by natural disasters and human interventions. Likewise human beings are themselves deeply flawed. The Greek view of hubris and tragedy recognised that the sculptures of idealised, iconic figures hide more complex individuals.

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Quakers cannot in fact act avoid the visual world and making judgments about it. Our meeting houses present a set of visual images, minimalist though these might be. Flowers on the table are making an aesthetic statement. Turning to introspection and rejecting a love of art is working against the principles of outreach and connecting with our communities. Challenging conventions is part of our testimony as well as a respect for diversity. But how do we react to Punk performance artists easier if they are against the arms trade but less easy if they are against the nuclear family and spit and swear. If we accept that we should appreciate more art then we do perhaps have to look at more global examples. We do need to define what we mean by bad art and by doing so, are forced into looking at what might be considered “good art”. There is a sense of primness in averting our gaze from erotic art but perhaps Friends ought to be more inclusive? Confronting all these issues is not always easy. Do we need to know whether an artist is gay – does this information help us to understand more about the messages and symbolism or should we ignore all biographical interpretations and construct our own reading of the painting? Whist we can recognise the artistic merit of Francis Bacon, does his disreputable, champagne swilling gay life style cause us to feel queasy when

Rowan speaks out on Witangmot confronting his violent, bloodsoaked paintings? Caravaggio’s swaggering gay machismo produced cherubic youths with attitude which may offend closeted suburban Quakers. Do we aver our eyes when we see posters of David Beckham in his Armani undies, legs apart? Do we find classical Greek nudes just a bit too perfect and uncomfortable to study? Falling into accepting the stereotype of prudish, puritanical Quakers is probably not the bets way forward. We do need to be more selfconfident in taking aesthetic delight in all works of art - the diversity of approaches, the challenge to convention and the richness of human relationships. Homoerotic art is on a par with any other depiction of human sexuality. It is too easy to be distracted by the assumption that erotic art and pornography are inextricably linked. The debate on pornography arising out of abusing the dignity of the model is something else… Let’s therefore go back to Advices and Queries no 22: “respect the wide diversity among us, in our lives and in our relationships” and apply this to our artistic views. Read the Swarthmore lecture on “Image and Silence” So, what is your favourite painting? Do you like Hockney’s California pool boys, Mapplethorpe’s models, feel sorry for St Sebastian and lust over David Beckham? The debate might start here. NT

In a thoughtful speech, Rowan Williams has called for the reintroduction of elements of the 8th century legal system. “Increasingly, I think it inevitable that people should be allowed to act under Anglo-Saxon law” he said. For example, outlawry is merely a stronger version of the ASBO, and trial by ordeal would be simpler quicker and fairer than the current legal system, given the cuts in legal aid. Separate courts for the clergy with milder penalties would be widely welcomed (by the clergy), he feels. The asylum system has already shown a need to strengthen the rules of sanctuary. “In fact anyone with a faith should be able to get together with 50,000 coreligionists and set up a parallel legal system” he said. “I had a very interesting talk with the Supreme Jedi last week. The Scientologists are really interested. And the Raelian Movement is very interested in asking highly evolved visitors from outer space to adjudicate disputes between their members.” What right has a Quaker to tease the Archbish on calls to respect Sharia law? The issue is that Quakers nowadays do not, generally, ask for rights for ourselves that we would deny to others. When we support extension of the law of conscience, we do so for everyone on whatever grounds they do so. If we want an antidiscrimination law for gays it has to apply to gay discrimination

against straights. The central tragedy of Islam is that it had a lively internal critique and debate about interpretation, a theologically justified belief that some aspects of revelation continued – which existed with a love of learning and a de facto separation of mosque and state. But this was shut down by some religious rulings in the centuries before the invention of printing. It is hard to disagree that there was a closing of the Islamic mind which quickly handed a scientific economic and social advantage to the Christian world which continues to this day. It wasn’t the only reason but it was probably a significant one. Islam today is diverse but which Sharia, that of university educated liberals or of obscurantist clerics? Informal community dispute settlement is a good thing, but less so when it perpetuates inequality between young and old, and men and women. People would be under massive pressure to enter courts which offered them less protection than the state system. Even Orthodox Jewish law, which is generally subservient to the secular state, has caused trouble with its inequality between men and women over divorce. (Look up the Agunot campaign, where women can be denied religious remarriage and their subsequent children declared non Jewish, because the ex husband gets a civil divorce and then refuses the woman a ‘religious’ divorce.)

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Anne Lister: a Yorkshire Lesbian, 1791-1840 Introduction This article summarises a talk given by Betty Hagglund to the QLGF Gathering at York on 13 October 2007. Anne Lister was a lesbian born in 1791 who left detailed diaries of her lesbian romances; she was also a powerful and influential businesswoman, l a n d o w n e r, scholar and traveller. Her diaries comprised 27 volumes, four million words (Pepys’s diaries amount to one million words), about a sixth of them in her private code, mainly used to record her lesbian affairs and sometimes for money matters. There are also more than a thousand surviving letters. Anne’s writings and life Anne was born in Halifax in 1791 into a Yorkshire landowning family. She had four brothers, three of whom died at an early age, and a sister, Marian. The fourth brother died in 1813 and Anne inherited the large family property, Shibden Hall. She moved there in 1815, when she was 24, to live with an aunt and uncle - glad to escape her parental home where she had been very unhappy. Her earliest surviving diary opens in 1806 when she was 15 and had just left school: Monday August 11. Eliza left us. Had a letter from her on Wednesday morning … Wrote to her on Thursday 14th wrote to her again on Sunday 17th…on Monday had a parcel from her music, letter & lavender. The diary started as a record of the exchange of

letters, gifts and visits between Anne and Eliza Raine. Anne had shared a room with Eliza at school and Eliza had stayed with Anne’s family during the holidays. Eliza also kept a diary and by 1808 the two girls had together worked out a secret code in which to record their affair. The diary gives a glimpse into how other people saw Anne. When she was 17, she wrote that a close friend had reported that: Mrs B. was pleased with me - she said ‘I saw Miss Lister on Sunday’ [...] ‘What a pity that she does not pay more attention to her appearance … but she is such a pleasant companion that I … listened to her till I had forgot it’. The entries go on with discussions of social life: Monday 20. Dined at Mr A[lexander]’s - after dinner Dr Disney fairly began to pay his addresses, but I soon put a final stop to anything of this kind. Monday 27. Bought a pair of gentlemen’s braces… The diaries present a picture of teenage Anne, an entertaining conversationalist, sometimes eccentrically dressed, possibly in male clothes, and with no romantic interest in men. At first Anne used Greek script as a code to record her correspondence with Eliza, her studies and her periods, but by 1808 this had evolved into a private code used in the rest of the diaries.An early entry in the new code was written when Eliza was visiting.The girls went to visit a neighbour with whom Anne flirted: Drank tea at Mr Alexander’s and supped also – after tea at Eliza’s

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instigation I had Miss A on my knee and kissed her. When Eliza left a fortnight later Anne wrote: ‘I went to bed before tea of grief at her departure’.’ There is then a gap of several years in the diaries probably some were lost. In 1810 Eliza was again visiting and the relationship was obviously an intimate one. 9 I dined at Mrs Lister’s and heard an account of the amiable Isabella Northcliffe [a new love interest of Anne’s] 14 Dear L & I had a reconciliation… 16 L and I had a difference which happily was made up before the conclusion of the day but left me exceedingly ill 17 my husband came to me and finally a happy reunion was accomplished There are diary entries over the next few years, about Anne’s growing relationship with her aunt and uncle, York society, and the rivalries between her, Isabella and Eliza. Tragically, Eliza was pronounced insane in 1814; we do not know whether this may have been her family’s means of keeping her inheritance in the family and preventing her from disgracing them. Anne’s last lover was also declared insane. At this time, certain homosexual acts between men were punishable by hanging, but women were much less likely to be accused or to attract scandal. An 1811 Edinburgh libel case brought by two boarding-school mistresses accused of ‘improper and criminal conduct’ was in 1819 found by the House of Lords in their favour on the grounds that

‘the crime alleged here has no existence’. It seems that the middle-class credentials and girls’ boarding school respectability of Anne, Eliza and their friends allowed them considerable freedom, as long as they remained discreet. When she was 23 Anne became lovers with Mariana Belcombe. The women enjoyed a deep friendship and sexual relationship for a number of years. Originally they planned their future together, but Mariana married a rich widower much older than herself, who could give her a comfortable life. Anne was deeply hurt at Mariana’s betrayal, but continued the relationship in the hope that the husband, Charles, would die! Anne planned for the two women then to combine their fortunes and lives, and bring up any children together. In 1817 Charles found a letter from Anne which hinted at this future arrangement and he became extremely jealous and suspicious. After this Anne could no longer visit Mariana, although the two women continued to meet at other people’s houses and to correspond.After Mariana’s marriage, Isabella’s friendship became important to Anne again, but she soon became disillusioned with Isabella’s heavy drinking. Anne began to attend a course of lectures and met a young woman, Miss Browne, with whom she became infatuated.This dominated her emotional life for the next two years, but, although Anne very much wanted the relationship to become more intimate, she was

very conscious of the differences in their social background - Miss Browne’s father was a self-made businessman! The relationship with Mariana nevertheless continued and in 1821 the two women again pledged themselves to each other: Mon. 23 We talked all last night & only closed our eyes about half-hour just before getting up. Went to Mariana but somehow did not manage a good kiss [this word tends to mean orgasm]. Refused to promise till I had really felt that she was my wife.Went to her a second time. Succeeded better & then bound ourselves to each other by an irrevocable prom[is]e for ever, in pledge of which turned on her finger the gold ring I gave her several years ago & also her wedding ring which had not been off her finger since her marriage. She seems devoted to me & I can & shall trust her now 24 July … Mariana & I seize every moment we are left alone together to assure each other & talk of days to come - Mariana loves & seems devoted to me entirely & my heart is thoroughly hers 27th In spite of my cousin’s appearance last night just at bedtime, we both being excited as we sat talking at my dressing table, undressed & got into bed before my hair was curled & had two good kisses both together, that is, without having separated. Had a quarter hour’s nap. I then left Mariana in bed & got up & curled & on returning to her, had another good kiss 28th Mariana & I talked matters over.We have agreed to solemnise our promise of mutual faith by taking the sacrament together when we next meet at Shibden, not

thinking it proper to use any still more binding ceremony during Charles’ life. Gradually the relationship with Mariana faded, although the two women remained friends. There were a number of shortterm affairs, and a short period living with a woman in Hastings - who then left her for a husband. So in 1832, when Anne was 41, she felt bitterly betrayed by her most recent lover’s desertion. Her romantic youth was over. Most of her friends were married and settled. Hopes for a continued love relationship with Mariana had faded. Restless, she searched her female networks for a likely lifecompanion. She was now an independent woman, but her income was insufficient for elegant living and she was dissatisfied with her old-fashioned home. Her ambitions far outstripped her modest income. She had not yet inherited full control over the Shibden estate, and still had to discuss improvements with her traditional agriculturally-minded father. The diary records her melancholy and isolation, sometimes spending most of the day alone. In 1832, however, she met the woman with whom she would spend the rest of her life. Ann Walker was 29, lived on the neighbouring estate, and was wealthy; the diaries show Anne Lister’s somewhat calculating courtship of the young heiress. Both the women had been feeling isolated and they began to spend extended periods of time together: Miss W & I got on very well - she

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seems well enough inclined to consult me & tell me all - I am to choose shrubs for her & she for me. I begged her not to stay [away] longer than three weeks or, if she did, not [to] go so soon as Wednesday, to be back on the twenty-sixth & I would breakfast with her on the twenty seventh - at which she seemed pleased. Joked & said she had better go with me & be at Rome for Easter - her refusal was weak enough to make me guess her going as possible she does not seem to dislike me, at any rate.Well, what shall we make of it? If she was fond of me & manageable, I think I could be comfortable enough with her. Anne begins to record erotic thoughts about Miss Walker and they begin to exchange gifts. 27 September 1832 Miss W- & I ver y cozy & confidential - on parting she said she knew not when she had spent so pleasant a day- I believe hershe sat & sat in the moss house, hardly liking to move. Of course I made myself agreeable & I think she already likes me even more than she herself is aware. She seemed pleased at my reminding her of our walk ten years ago by Hill-top etc - when I had joked about her going abroad - said it had always been my intention to make the offer more seriously as soon as I could - that she must remember I had always been in the same strain - that I had never joked anyone else in the same way & I hoped she would now understand that I was more serious than she supposed. Said how much good change of climate would do her, & I now really believe she will go with me! She seems to take all I say for

gospel - she seems inclined to follow my advice implicitly. She consults me about her affairs. Said she was sure people never meant us to get together - that Mrs Stansfield Rawson looked odd on finding me there - & in short we congratulated ourselves… I really did feel rather in love with her in the hut & as we returned. I shall pay due court for the next few months - & after all, I really think I can make her happy & myself too. ‘Well’, said I to myself as I left her, ‘She is more in for it than she thinks. She likes me certainly.’ We laughed at the idea of the talk our going abroad together would [produce]. She said it would be as good as marriage. ‘Yes’, said [I], ‘quite as good or better’. She falls into my views of things admirably. I believe I shall succeed with her. If I do, I will really try to make her happy - & I shall be thankful to heaven for the mercy of bringing me home, having first saved me from Vere, rid me of M-, & set me at liberty. We shall have money enough. She will look up to me & soon feel attached & I, after all my [tur]moils, shall be steady &, if God’s wills it, happy. A sexual relationship began between the two women - Lister’s diaries are very explicit! Ann Walker had some moral qualms but eventually came round. Anne Lister wrote in her diary of Ann Walker being ‘under my authority’ and the two women agreed to make wills giving each other a life interest in their respective estates. Ann Walker moved in with Anne Lister in 1834. It gradually became accepted locally although Anne Lister still had to work hard to counter

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rumour and suspicion. To help normalise the situation, the couple paid a formal round of visits, calling upon the elite Tory families in the Halifax area. By 1837, the early romance had moved on. Their ‘married’ life together appeared tranquil, productive and not unaffectionate. Yet their domestic routine was threaded with tensions - about, for example, relationships with servants, and Ann Walker’s hesitation over remaking her will in Anne Lister’s favour. Because she found Ann Walker’s snoring irksome, Anne Lister often slept on her own in the ‘kitchen chamber’. At one point, an unwell Ann Walker locked the door on Anne Lister. There was less in the diaries now about sex and more about estate management and domestic bickering. One of Anne Lister’s long held dreams was to visit Russia and venture beyond Moscow. In June 1839, the two women left for a tour of Europe and Russia. For three months they journeyed through Europe, finally reaching St Petersburg, where they spent almost three weeks sightseeing. Using letters of introduction supplied by friends in Paris, Anne made contact with the British ambassador at St Petersburg who in turn, gave her a letter to the Governor General of Moscow.These connections gave them easy access to areas of Russian society which would normally have been closed to ordinary travellers - minor Russian aristocracy and leading scientists and scholars. Her adventures ranged from galloping on horseback

across the frozen Volga river to visiting a Tartar harem. They reached the Caspian Sea and eventually Western Georgia. Bitten by a fevercarrying tick, Anne Lister died aged 50 near K’ut’aisi in this remote Russian province. It took Ann Walker six months to bring the body back across Europe for burial in Halifax Parish Church. As agreed, Anne Lister left Ann Walker a lifetime interest in Shibden Hall, from which she was forcibly removed after ‘becoming insane’. Identity From the diaries for 1817-1826, we get a strong sense of Anne’s lesbian identity. She had no romantic interest in men. Though talented and welleducated, her prospects were limited. She refused heterosexual marriage, the safe route for advancement taken even by Mariana. Most of the women she flirted with might marry but she would not contemplate a marriage of convenience. It was this, rather than her lesbian affairs, that marked her out as different from the others. Anne had a strong belief that ‘Nature’ had shaped her destiny and her sexuality. Once she went to live at Shibden Hall, she moved among the local elite. In her social circle, her lesbian flirtations seem to have been known, tolerated and even admired. There was comment about her appearance - her clothing and the way she walked. She repeatedly mentions that people she passes are unsure whether she is a woman or a man. Most of the time she was able to shrug off the scandal and

petty gossip, but there are moments when she is clearly hurt by it. Various neighbours and friends obviously knew of her lesbianism; she eventually acquired the nickname ‘Gentleman Jack’ while Mariana called her ‘Fred’. Recognising one another One of the interesting parts of the diaries comes when we find descriptions of other lesbians and the codes with which they identify each other. A Paris pension in which she stayed in 1824 was a hothouse of female friendship. She engaged in ‘arrant flirting’ with the young and frail Mlle de Sans, ‘which she seems to like & understand well enough’. Her main object of desire is an older woman, whom she begins to seduce by passing off as foolish behaviour, kissing, touching of knees and playful ‘nonsense’. One of Anne Lister’s techniques of seduction was to mention books which touched upon lesbianism or male homosexuality and then to obser ve her companion’s reaction. In 1823 she remarks that ‘Miss Pickford has read the Sixth Satyr of Juvenal. She understands these matters well enough.’ Juvenal’s satire was the classic ancient world description of both male and female homosexuals. In 1824, Miss Mackenzie, a visitor who is her match in the classics, passes her a confidential note: ‘I have a question to ask you. Êtesvous Achilles?’ I laughed & said she made me blush… Brought Miss Mack into my room. Joked with her about her question. Said it was exceedingly well put. She said I was

the only one in the house to whom she could have written it, because the only one who would have so soon understood it… The reference is to an incident in which Achilles dresses as a girl in order to escape an oracle predicting his death in battle. In sexual affairs Anne preferred not to be treated as a woman. Marianna was initially ashamed to be seen in public with Anne because her masculine appearance was remarked upon by others.They are a butch/femme couple. Many people suspected things and talked of Anne’s masculinity, but she and Marianna withstood it: For if we once got together the world might say what it pleased. She should never mind… She shrank from having the thing surmised now, but declared that if we were once fairly together, she should not care about it. I might tell our connection to all the world if I pleased. Like many homosexuals of a later period, Anne realised she was different and tried to understand the nature of her sexuality. To Mrs Barlow she: Said how it was all nature. Had it not been genuine the thing would have been different. I said I had thought much, studied anatomy, etc. Could not find it out. Could not understand myself. It was all the effect of the mind. No exterior formation accounted for it. Alluded to their being an internal correspondence or likeness of some of the male or female organs of generation. Anne is both secret and blatant; she assumes the liberties and manners of the opposite sex but is sufficiently clever to prevent

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an open accusation. Her flirting with women is so open and gentleman-like that women of her acquaintance wonder if she is a man in disguise. She is aware that her sexuality is an object of discussion among friends and relatives, and Mrs Barlow asks what her maidservant thinks of her behaviour: ‘Oh, merely, that I have my own particular ways.’ I happened to say that my aunt often said I was the oddest person she ever knew. Mrs Barlow said, ‘But she knows all about it, does she not?’ ‘Oh,’ said I, ‘she & my friends are all in a mist about it‘. Language Anne’s euphemism for lesbianism is ‘connection with the ladies’, and for full sexual connection involving full commitment is

‘going to Italy’.There seems to be no other recorded instance of the word ‘queer’ being used, as Anne does - for female genitals - this is obviously a usage of her own. The word ‘kiss’ apparently refers to orgasm.

love tokens in her cabinet of curiosities. To celebrate their reunion: Marianna put me on a new watch riband & then cut the hair from her own queer & I that from mine, which she put each into each of the little lockets we got at Bright’s this morning, twelve shillings each, for us always to wear under our clothes in mutual remembrance. We both of us kissed each bit of hair before it was put into the locket.

Lesbian Culture Anne’s journals document features of lesbian culture that have no conceivable relationship to any sort of social control imposed from without. Anne wears an engagement ring and a wedding ring given to her by Marianna, and they go through a little ceremony of kissing these and swearing their love for one another. More remarkably, we discover that there is a tradition of lesbian lovers exchanging pubic hair with one another. Anne has a collection of these

References Whitbread, Helena (ed): I Know my own heart: the diaries of Anne Lister, 1791-1840, Virago, London, 1988. ISBN: 0860688402 Liddington, Jill: Presenting the Past: Anne Lister of Halifax, 1791-1840, Pennine Press, Hebden Bridge, 1994. ISBN: 1873378025 Female Fortune: Land, Gender and Authority: The Anne Lister Diaries and Other Writings, 1833-36, Rivers Oram Press, London, 1998. ISBN: 1-85489-089-1

5. Straight marriage will be less meaningful if gay marriage were allowed; the sanctity of Britany Spears’ 55-hour justfor-fun marriage would be destroyed. 6. Straight marriages are valid because they produce children. Gay couples, infertile couples, and old people shouldn’t be allowed to marry because our orphanages aren’t full yet, and the world needs more children. 7. Obviously gay parents will raise gay children, since

straight parents only raise straight children. 8. Gay marriage is not supported by religion. In a theocracy like ours, values of one religion are imposed on the entire country. That’s why we have only one religion in America, Australia, whatever. 9. Children can never succeed without a male and a female role model at home. That’s why we as a society expressly forbid single parents to raise children. 10. Gay marriage will change the foundation of society; we could never adapt to new social norms. Just like we haven’t adapted to cars, the service-sector economy, or longer life spans.

Different Strokes ... 1. Being gay isn’t natural. Real Americans, Australians, whatever, always reject unnatural things like eyeglasses, polyester, air conditioning. 2. Gay marriage will encourage people to be gay, in the same way that hanging around tall people will make you tall. 3. Legalizing gay marriage will open the door to all kinds of crazy behavior. People may even wish to marry their pets because a dog has legal standing and can sign a marriage contract. 4. Straight marriage has been around a long time and hasn’t changed at all; women are still property, blacks still can’t marry whites, and divorce is still illegal.

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Your Letters

Thinking around the idea of a Quaker view of ethics on sexual behaviour, I referred first to Chambers Dictionary. It says more or less that ethics are the philosophical study of morals. So what are morals? I got a ‘morass of verbiage’ from Chambers, based upon the cultural of the society in which one is situated. I whittled this down to that for me good morals are ‘doing no harm to anyone’. I am convinced that being gay is not a personal choice, but the choice is made by ‘nature’ during the time one is being carried before birth. However, expressing ones gayness is within ones choice.To avoid express-

ing this needs much effort which leads, I think, to a lack of completeness of personality. Most of us who are basically gay can live and pass as heterosexual, chiefly, as an examiner of asylum seekers said recently, “by keeping your head down”. Leading a life of ‘watching your step’ in general discussion, and watching your behaviour. These ideas are not laying down a rule, but to be knocked around and refined. Martin ------------------ §------------------Hello, I wondered if it were possible to contact your members, as I am in the process of directing a research project on queer spiritualities, and I’m embarking on a particular research study of Friends based around the Brighton/E Sussex area.

I am liasing with some Friends from the Brighton FMH but also wanted to contact people more broadly in the area, for finding members willing to join 2 focus groups and individual interviews. More information on the project at: http://www.sussex.ac.uk/sccs /1-2-1.html. We’re writing a book on queer spiritual spaces to be published by Ashgate; other case studies are LGBTQ Muslims, Buddhists, virtual/online communities and Findhorn/Michigan Womens Festival. I hope to hear from you. With warm wishes, Sally Professor Sally R Munt Director: Sussex Centre for Cultural Studies, Dept of Media and Film, School of Humanities, EDB 318, University of Sussex, Falmer, Brighton, East Sussex, BN1 9SH To leave messages phone 01273 872574 or email [email protected] Telephone: 01273 678834 Fax: 01273 625972

Rolling away the stone Jeanette Winterson on Jesus “…This man, who over turns traditions, and breaks the law, then defies the law of nature itself by rising from the dead. And yet people talk about Christianity as a set of rules… and yet people who claim to be Christians legislate personally and publically against the wild and strange spirit of their Founder.” I write like this, not because I want to convert anyone to anything, but because I want us to become better readers.What has been done in the name of Christianity has little to do with what Jesus said or did. [criticising the war on terror she

says] Their version of faith is a warmongering capitalist enterprise, restrictive, bigoted, dangerous. Jesus was many things, including a pacifist, a pauper, a criminal by the religious code of the day, and no family man. But he did suggest that we love our neighbour and forgive our enemies.Tough stuff. The Resurrection story is wonderful.We have all sat by the body or the grave of someone we have loved and longed for them to return. In the Christ story it happens, not fancifully I think, but as a deep truth about love itself, which does not die when the body dies. Like energy, real love cannot be lost. Its transformation beyond the body is part of our humanity, bitterly

won but worth the discovery. We are more than machines, more than selfish genes.The big myths are reminders of this, and signposts to us to follow further into the possibilities of being human. …at the Resurrection, the first thing that has to happen is effort, as the great stone is rolled away from the tomb. It is necessary to roll away whatever blocks new life – and it is hard work. The stone rolled away, Jesus returns. I do not read this literally but as a symbol of hope; that sacrifice and effort are not worthless, but that from such a struggle comes a new beginning. Jeanette Winterson, April 2007, (From the Times. Alas edited)

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www.qlgf.org.uk QLGF Newsletter, June 2008, page 28