LGBTQ Government Funding Announcement

On behalf of the Honourable Maryam Monsef, Minister of International Development and Minister for Women and Gender Equality, Brent was invited to and attended an LGBTQ government funding announcement re event at the Daniels Spectrum Centre in Toronto.

The announcement included a panel discussion about how investing in LGBTQ2 organizations will help strengthen our communities and improve our ability to address ongoing barriers facing LGBTQ2 people across Canada. Highlights included:

$400,000 EGALE to set up a research hub to gather data on LGBTQ2 issues. 

$100,000 to enable a national gathering of Trans and non binary individuals to explore the provincial discrepancies and how a possible national trans organization might look like and sharing best practices from across Canada. 

Funding opportunities for RFF are being explored.

Left to Right - Rob Oliphant-Chrissy Taylor-Alicia Kazobinka-Helen Kennedy-Randy Boissonault-Brent Hawkes-Olena Semenova-Michelle Emson

Rev. Dr. Brent Hawkes Invited to Preach at First Baptist Church

Rev. Dr. Brent Hawkes was Invited to Preach at First Baptist Church, Guelph as They Move to Becoming an Affirming Congregation

Preaching at First Baptist Church in Guelph on March 24th was an amazing experience and a real honour for me. The congregation is going through a process of deciding to become affirming. They are a theologically diverse congregation and they are very welcoming.

They gave me 40 minutes for the sermon which was a first for me. I was able to talk about my spiritual journey and the history of the LGBT movement in Canada.

The response was overwhelming. Many families who have attended First Baptist since their youth brought LGBT young people with their same sex partners. People were so proud that their church was showing this openness by having me preach. It was great having folks from MCC Toronto show up to indicate their support for the congregation, too. More Baptist congregations are exploring becoming affirming and the leadership shown by this congregation and its Pastor, Debra Nicholson-Elwell, will encourage this trend.

Find out more about First Baptist Church of Guelph here: http://fbcg.ca/

Blessings,

Rev. Dr. Brent Hawkes

Parliament of the World's Religions Comes to Toronto; First LGBTI Room Opened

The Parliament of the World’s Religions meets every three years and this year, they met in Toronto from Nov 1-8th. There were 7500 delegates in attendance from 120 of the world’s religions.

When we heard that it was coming to Toronto, Doug Kerr and I [Rev Dr Brent Hawkes] thought this would be the perfect time for us to gather folks from around the world to look at the issue of religious-based homophobia and also to have an impact on the Parliament (PWR). We’ve been trying for the last few years to organize a conference on religious-based homophobia and this seemed to be the perfect time. Never in the past has the Parliament had any LGBTI content in their official program so we approached the Parliament’s head office in Chicago and expressed that it was time to include some LGBTI content since their theme for this Parliament was Love and Inclusion.

We received an enthusiastic response! They asked us to submit names for speakers and suggestions for workshops and panels. We got the word out to other LGBT organizations and, as a result, the PWR accepted 19 workshops with LGBTI-supportive content to be included in the official program.

PWR also contacted us to offer a free hospitality space for the duration of the conference! It became the Rainbow Lounge and was decorated with large panels depicting LGBTI couples and some photos of members of the local LGBTI Mosque. We opened the Lounge with a special reception on Nov 1st to a full room. It was an electric atmosphere as we made history with the first ever PWR LGBTI event!

As the week progressed, many of the LGBT workshops/panels were held in the Lounge. There was a constant flow of conference delegates dropping in to talk about coming out, having LGBTI children, how to influence their faiths to be more LGBTI-positive, etc etc.

Rev Pat Bumgardner from MCC New York and Rev Jim Merritt from MCC in Florida spent their whole conference in the lounge with me greeting the people who dropped by. My husband John made 300 rainbow ribbons for people to wear and they were all taken and worn.

The panels we organized included:

• “Creating a Different Future:Building Faith Communities Inclusive of LGBTIQ2 People- from Muslim and Christian Perspectives”

• “Sacred Knowledge: Sexual Orientation and Gender Diversity in Sacred Texts and Other Teachings”

• “The Global Inter-Faith Movement for Human Rights of LGBTI People”

I handed out brochures describing my international human rights initiative “the Rainbow Faith and Freedom Movement” (RFFM) and collected 70 names and emails from people across the globe interested in learning more about RFFM.

On the Sunday of the Parliament a minister from the Unity Movement came to me and said that a young couple wanted to use the Rainbow Lounge to celebrate an Engagement Ceremony. Would that be ok? We responded that certainly we’d be honoured to have it in the Lounge! On Monday the ceremony occurred and it was very moving. For the rest of the Parliament this young gay couple walked around the conference site proudly holding hands! They made conference history that day for sure!

At the end of a busy week we recognized and celebrated the great beginning that this PWR represented and we pledged to build on this foundation for an even better PWR in three years time. Many folks signed up to help plan the LGBTI content for the next one.

I can’t express enough how exciting it was to be part of this historic event! To meet spiritual activists from all over the world from many different faiths, and to see this potentially transformational entry into the Parliament was truly amazing.

At the official closing of the Parliament, the chair of the Board of Trustees of the Parliament displayed the pictures of the Engagement Ceremony and said that this was an example of the success of the Parliament, and indicated his support for LGBTI inclusion in front of 7500 delegates. For many in the room, this was a clear signal that the time had come to seriously look at being more inclusive of LGBTI people.

As a side event I hosted a dinner for 10 people from RFFM, the Global Justice Institute and the Global Interfaith Network out of South Africa so that our three organizations could talk about what makes each of the organizations unique and how we might work together. It was a great start for an exciting cooperative relationship.

Blessings,

Rev. Dr. Brent Hawkes

#parliamentofworldreligions2018