Faith Based Resources Pillar

The ninth instalment in a year-long series of posts by RFF Founder & Executive Director, Rev. Dr. Brent Hawkes, on the origins, mandate and work of the organization.

RFF’s “Multi-Faith Resources” Pillar addresses religious-based LGBTQ2S+ discrimination by offering accessible multi-faith resources that will help individuals, organizations, institutions, and communities learn to end religious-based LGBTQ2S+ discrimination. 

In October-November 2020, RFF conducted a successful two-month project titled Faith in Crisis that involved building an online portal containing progressive multi-faith resources about being LGBTQ2S+ and religious. These resources offer information about LGBTQ2S+ friendly religious organizations and resources that can help an individual reconcile their faith with their LGBTQ2S+ identity. The project then connected 100 LGBTQ2S+ and faith organizations to our resource portal and 500 people to each other during our launch week programming.

The project included 18 digital events over the course of 6 days that introduced RFF’s resource portal that has over 200+ resources to help challenge religious-based LGBTQ2S+ discrimination. We are adding new resources to the portal every month. Here RFF has created a centralized place where trustworthy, progressive resources exist and we continue to connect individuals who may be struggling with COVID-19, their spirituality, and LGBTQ2S+ identity with positive multi-faith resources and friendly online environments. Our Resources multi-faith resources help drive community health and awareness, access to information, inclusiveness, learning and progressive social change. 

COVID-19 has made LGBTQ2S+ people even more vulnerable because this population is disproportionately impacted by unemployment and social isolation. We strive to continue to connect individuals who may be struggling with COVID-19, their spirituality, and LGBTQ2S+ identity with positive resources and friendly online environments. The social and physical isolation caused by the COVID-19 pandemic has exacerbated the marginalization of LGBTQ2S+ people. For those who are experiencing faith-based discrimination, the increase in vulnerability is even greater still. Coming out in Canada during COVID-19 is especially difficult, and religious LGBTQ2S+ individuals can benefit significantly from online multi-faith resources to help them through this process as a person of faith. RFF has taken up this mandate and has taken a multi-pronged, intersectional approach to address this problem. Many religious LGBTQ2S+ Canadians are locked down with abusers and/or with people who do not accept their gender expression or sexual orientation. 

Decreasing the effects of religious-based LGBTQ2S+ discrimination will improve the lives of LGBTQ2S+ people so they can be who they are, love who they want, and find safe and accepting places to practice their faith. The implications of a kinder and more accepting environment for LGBTQ2S+ people of faith are significant and far-reaching. Youth who identify with, and are connected to, the LGBTQ2S+ community have significantly less internalized homophobia than youth who are not connected to their community. Family acceptance of LGBTQ2S+ adolescents is also associated with good mental and physical health in LGBTQ2S+ youth. Risk of suicide decreases by 93% with strong family support (The 519, 2020). To support health and inclusion within the LGBTQ2S+ community, RFF will continue to connect LGBTQ2S+ people of faith and their allies to positive and progressive resources and to each other through new virtual community engagement opportunities that involve expanding our digital infrastructure. 

To access and learn more about our resource portal please visit: https://rainbowfaithandfreedom.org/resource-portal 

Syan Rose - Our Work is Everywhere: 500 Years of Queer and Trans Resistance

Queer illustrator and curator, Syan Rose, has produced a remarkable collection of interviews and illustrations in Our Work is Everywhere: 500 Years of Queer and Trans Resistance, which revolves around placing what counts as queer work far outside of capitalist production. Rose shows in her interviews with queer and trans folks, that queer work can be the caring of others and caring of self. In so doing, Rose points to a legacy of generations of queer elders that counter the dominant Stonewall-centric histories, which place 'gay liberation' activism and visibility from the 1970s onwards. Part of this restructuring of history comes with naming Black, Indigenous and people of colour as originators of queer cultures, joy, community care, healing, and so much more. 

Special chapters include "Queer Muslim Family" with Mirna Haidar,  “Everything You Love About New Orleans is Because of Black People” with Phlegm, and “Auriga” with Jaye Sablan. For example, in "Our Brown Divinity '' with Dusty Lamay, Lamay speaks about how, “As queers, we have been socially divorced from God & Holiness. At least in Judeo-Christian American, many of us were raised being taught that who we are is inherently sinful, an abomination, unholy.” Lamay sees astrology as means to access “our own spiritual worth & connect to our own divinity void of the trauma of Christian socialization & judgement.” This is just one of the many beautifully illustrated stories that make up the collection. 

To listen to RFF’s podcast interview with Syan Rose click here.

You can buy this great resource from Arsenal Pulp Press. It is also free on Scribd for a free 30 day trial.

Queer Devotions: National Day of Truth and Reconciliation Resource

On our podcast, Queer Devotions, we have featured stories on the legacy of colonization for two-spirit and queer Indigenous people, and have had the honour of hosting elders and activists, including artist and academic Lila Pine, advocate Chevi Rabbit, and social worker Nic Tanguay.

As part of your National Day of Truth and Reconciliation observances, you may with to listen to these stories and more at https://podcasts.apple.com/podcast/id1539414887. 

National Day for Truth and Reconciliation 2021

Today, September 30th, 2021, marks the first National Day for Truth and Reconciliation.

Today we honour and remember the lost children and survivors of the residential school system, along with their families and their communities. 

The National Day of Truth and Reconciliation shares the 30th of September with Orange Shirt Day, an Indigenous-led day of commemoration to honour both those who survived the residential school system and those who did not. The orange shirt, recognizing the clothing that was taken from Phyllis Webstad, a Northern Secwpemc (Shuswap) from the Stswecem’c Xgat’tem First Nation, on her first day at a residential school, serves as a symbol of the stripping of culture and freedom from Indigenous children over generations. 

RFF recognizes that religious-based discrimination was a major factor in justifying the harm done at residential schools. We commemorate this day knowing that much work must be done to end religious-based against Indigenous peoples.

We encourage you to take time to reflect today - and to wear orange to raise awareness of the importance of remembering the tragic legacy of the residential school system, to honour survivors, and to represent the need for truth and reconciliation. 

To begin or to continue a journey of learning, we recommend exploring THIS RESOURCE of Indigenous culture, arts, and heritage that represents just some of the rich and diverse voices, experiences and histories of First Nations, Inuit and Métis peoples.

Queer Histories - 500 Years in the Making

In our resource launch focused on “Queer Histories - 500 Years in the Making,” we focus on the contributions across history by women and nonbinary folk, especially Black and Indigenous people, in four exemplary works, added to our Resource Portal today. 

The Jewish Women’s Archive is a rich collection of stories, profiles, and programming focused on the contributions of Jewish women across history. They have a dedicated encyclopedia of Jewish women focused on LGBTQIA rights. Highlights include a description of Roza van Gelderen and Hilda Purwitsky, an open same-sex couple living in a conservative Jewish community as teachers and writers 1920s South Africa, Betty Berzon, the lesbian psychologist who fought the classification of homosexuality as a disease by the American Psychiatric Assosciation in 1973, as well as profiles on philosopher Judith Butler, co-founder of Black Live Matter Alicia Garza, political philosopher, Marla Brettschneider, as well as dozens more.

Another resource, “Keeping It Real: Our Southern Sisters Loving Each Other,” comes from an icon of civil rights and acclaimed theologian, Ruby Sales. In this moving essay from 2011, which was published through her nonprofit, The Spirit House Project, Sales describes how Black Southern women lived out both their spiritual lives and queer ones, forming a tight network and code of conduct between them. As Sales describes, "When I began in adolescence to explore my sexual identity, several of them took me under their wings and taught me the rules of survival as a young southern black lesbian." Sales writes this history also to counter assumptions of homophobia within Black churches and places blame with white supremacist teachings.

The Jewish Women’s Archive is a rich collection of stories, profiles, and programming focused on the contributions of Jewish women across history. They have a dedicated encyclopedia of Jewish women focused on LGBTQIA rights. Highlights include a description of Roza van Gelderen and Hilda Purwitsky, an open same-sex couple living in a conservative Jewish community as teachers and writers 1920s South Africa, Betty Berzon, the lesbian psychologist who fought the classification of homosexuality as a disease by the American Psychiatric Assosciation in 1973, as well as profiles on philosopher Judith Butler, co-founder of Black Live Matter Alicia Garza, political philosopher, Marla Brettschneider, as well as dozens more.

Baby, You Are My Religion: Women, Gay Bars, and Theology Before Stonewall is an eclectic and academic deep-dive into the culture of butch-femme bars in the mid-20th century. Author Marie Cartier asserts that these spaces represented a new kind of theology and religious institution, and originated institutions like the Metropolitan Community Church, as well as providing the early terrain for gay and lesbian activism.

The last resource is a collection put together by queer illustrator and curator, Syan Rose, called Our Work is Everywhere: An Illustrated Oral History of Queer and Trans Resistance, which showcases the many generations and centuries of queer and trans resistance that counter the dominant Stonewall-centric histories, which place 'gay liberation' activism and visibility from the 1970s onwards. Part of this restructuring of history comes with naming Black, Indigenous and people of colour as originators of queer cultures, joy, community care, healing, and so much more. 

We hope you enjoy these new resources and thank the Tegan and Sara Foundation for providing us the funds to add in greater contributions from women and girls.

Bonnie Violet

A Queer Chaplain’s Remarkable Story of Renouncing Religious Shame and Reclaiming Spirituality

Bonnie Violet, a trans, gender queer drag queen, has many stories to tell. Growing up in Idaho, Bonnie Violet first found a fulfilling community in church and felt a calling within her to be of service to others. But her queerness and transness didn’t feel compatible, at first, with the church, and she left it for a decade. 

But that calling still lived within Bonnie, as she worked in HIV/AIDS advocacy, and she began to reclaim the spiritual thread in her life, undertaking a remarkable process of healing that she shares in our Queer Devotions podcast. 

Now Bonnie Violet is “A Queer Chaplain” with a vibrant YouTube page and Facebook group, where she interviews drag queens about their spirituality, hosts multifaith discussions about transness and spirituality, and talks across the religious divide with her conservative aunt in a podcast called, Splintered Grace. Her work provides spiritual and pastoral care to queer and trans folks who are so often denied it.

Standout episodes of her Drag & Spirituality series include her discussion with Ms. Penny Cost, Fonda Coxx, and a multifaith discussion with Mango Lassi, Coco Sho-Nell, LoUis CYfer.

This work is now included in our Resource Portal, launched today with other work focused on the spiritual care of queer and trans people. This includes the memoir of Rev. Dr. Cheri NiNovo, The Queer Evangelist, Beloved Arise’s album, Serenade, Ivan Coyote’s new book Care Of: Letters, Connections, and Cures, and the article from Autrostraddle, “Queering Faith: Reclaiming the Holy of Spirituality.”

Spiritual Care of Trans and Queer Folks Resource Launch

Spiritual or pastoral care has so often been denied to queer or trans folks and been a source of incredible pain and stress. In a launch of new resources for our Resource Portal, generously funded by the Tegan and Sara Foundation, we are celebrating the important works of female and nonbinary writers, artists and spiritual leaders providing alternate and affirming modes of care. 

The Queer Evangelist, the memoir of Rev. Dr. Cheri DiNovo (CM), is an intimate and generous account of her many decades of activism, beginning as a street kid in Toronto coming of age in the queer scene. She describes moving into the corporate world when she was eager to become a mother, finding her path towards ministry in the 1990s and then serving as an MPP for 12 years in the Ontario legislature, where she passed more 2SLGBTQ+ bills than anyone in Canadian history. These major wins included banning conversion therapy in the province and passing Toby’s Law: the first Transgender Rights legislation in North America. DiNovo reflects on her theological work and fight against the Christian Right, and affirms the diversity of queer people of faith. As she notes in her book, “My entire ministry was based on my opinion that the Christian Right is neither Christian nor right where queer folk were concerned, and I didn’t hide that fact.

Famed nonbinary artist and writer, Ivan Coyote, was inspired to write their latest book, Care of: Letters, Connections and Cures, from the limitations of a COVID-19 lockdown. Performing across the world in front of thousands of people for over a dozen years, Coyote has received many thoughtful and heartbreaking letters, which the author filed away for when they had time to send a proper reply. So as COVID hit, Coyote began replying to the scores of letters, and with the exchanges, ruminated on navigating nonbinary identities, queer elderhood, religious shame, and reckoning with how parents (mis)understand their children. Care of is moving and a perfect read for remembering the incredible community of queerness across the world, which Coyote adores and cherishes in these pages. Coyote writes to queer youth “That they are blessed, holy and sacred no matter who they love or who they are.” The book is gorgeous to listen to in audio form as well, as it is read by the verbally gifted Coyote. For reflections on spirituality, pay special attention to Chapter Two: Your Kate and Chapter Nine: All of You.

In a series for Black History Month 2021, “Queering Faith: Reclaiming the Holy of Sexuality,” Khalisa Rae Thompson writes about embracing the erotic in poetry, and placing it within a context of holiness and Godliness. Drawing on the works of Tiana Clark, Audre Lorde, and Dorothy Chan, Thompson writes, "Now, all my work hinges on that intersection of spirituality and sexuality. The dichotomy of desire and spirit. What I’m learning is they are connected." The article also includes her poem, "Mackerel," about her mother's discovery of her and a female friend. 

Serenade is a new album from the nonprofit, Beloved Arise, which poignantly “explores the hope and heartbreak of living as a queer person of faith.” The compilation album features ten original songs written and performed by queer musicians and allies. It is the first-ever album dedicated to LGBTQIA+ youth of faith and serves as anthems for Queer Youth of Faith Day on June 30, 2021.” One standout is by She/They, aka Mel Rottman, which you can view here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X_nScbTPD1k&t=12s&ab_channel=beloved_arise.

“A Queer Chaplain” is the project of trans, gender queer drag queen Bonnie Violet that includes both a YouTube page and Facebook group. Bonnie describes her work as providing spiritual care for queers and helping others find a spiritual thread to weave their narrative. Bonnie also collaborates with other artists around the world whose work explores spirituality, and has hosted a series called TransSpirit. 

We hope you enjoy these new resources and thank the Tegan and Sara Foundation for providing us the funds to add in contributions from women and girls. 

Queer Chaplain Mandi Rice’s Queerituality Road Trip

“If God is closer than my own jugular vein, how could I despise myself?”: Terna’s Story and Queer Chaplain Mandi Rice’s Queerituality Road Trip

In 2013, the queer chaplain Mandi Rice embarked on the ‘Queerituality’ road trip, speaking with nearly 100 people across 17 American cities, asking one very big question: “What is life like for you at the intersection of queerness & spirituality?” On our Queer Devotions podcast, Rice described the incredible organic momentum of the project and its legacy almost ten years later, as well as the  ‘Queerituality Guide’ she put together which condensed her findings. The Queerituality Road Trip and A Queerituality Guide, are now, excitingly, a part of our Resource Portal. 

These interviews have stayed with Rice and continue to inform her work providing spiritual care to queer and trans folks. One of those stories came from Terna, a self-identified queer Muslim, whose astonishing story Rice has generously allowed us to publish here. 

“I ask the question, ‘ If God is closer than my own jugular vein, how could I despise myself?’”

— Terna

 I identify as a queer Muslim. I actually really wish it was easy to say I’m just Muslim, that we didn’t have to add this ‘queer’ part… that it just wasn’t even something that was so important to claim in the service of making space for ourselves. I’m actually quite a private person. It feels like having my business out in a certain way that is in deep contrast to how I know myself to be. I do [say] it because I know it’s important in shifting people’s perspectives about what it means to be a person of faith and non-heterosexual. But it’s uncomfortable. 

I’m also a dervish, which means I follow the mystic path in Islam. That means that I belong to a particular Sufi order, and I have a shaykh and, insha’allah, I’ll be taking on leadership within the community. 

What I want people to know is that being non-heterosexual and a person of faith has never been a source of conflict for me.

I’ve never personally experienced in myself any kind of sense that I needed to sacrifice one or the other, or that they were incompatible, or anything like that. It continues to baffle me, actually, that it should be such a source of contention for those who would insist that it’s not possible, that you have to leave your religion if you identify as non-heterosexual of some stripe. It doesn’t make sense to me. It’s like a cognitive dissonance. 

Because it’s never been a source of conflict for me internally, I actually feel like that makes it more possible for me to really advocate for others. The advocacy for me is not political. What I strive for is to assert that everybody, every human being, has full access to their relationship with God. Period. That’s really the bottom line. It’s the first line, the middle line, and the end. The bottom line. That’s what "Coming Out Muslim" is about for me. That’s why I do that show, that’s why we use our real names. That’s why I choose to be visible in this way that, if I were left just to the dictates of my personality, I wouldn’t. 

Everybody has full access to their relationship with God, period. That’s the message I really want people to understand.  

I often tell people, “Well, all of my prayers have been answered.” I feel like, if God was displeased with me in some way, then my life would be shit. But it’s not. And actually I get to continue to live in alignment with what I understand to be my purpose. I receive dreams. I feel very loved, actually, by God. I feel very loved. And seen. And valued. There’s no kind of trouble to identify or point to. 

In Islam there’s a verse in the Quran that says that Allah is closer to you than your own jugular vein. Which means that God of course knows you far better than you would ever know yourself. Your jugular vein that you’re not even aware of almost 100% of the time. I’m thinking that if Allah’s closer to me than my own jugular vein, as the Creator of my whole being, then there’s nothing that God doesn’t know about me. There’s nothing that God hasn’t put in me in some sense. So, this thing about sexual orientation is just so insignificant in the scope of that, in the scope of our creation. 

I ask the question, “If God is closer than my own jugular vein, how could I despise myself?” 

The place that I do struggle, though, is looking at the way that societal expectations or familial expectations have impacted me. The expectation coming particularly from a Nigerian context, is that by twenty-something you should be married, if you’re a woman. There’s the whole suite of rituals that go with that. And I wish I had access to those. There’s a spiritual element, and part of the spiritual element for me is the witnessing by community and the support of community and the celebration of community. And the support of the community going forward in your marriage. 

For me, a marriage is primarily in the spiritual realm. Yes, the legal aspect is great and it’s important and I’m grateful that people fight for that. And I know that getting married in a courthouse would not be sufficient for me. 

I also feel like you still have to fight everywhere you go to assert that this level of commitment is legitimate in your life. It’s not like you get married once and then... everywhere you go people are happy for you. No. Everywhere you go, or a lot of places you go, especially if you travel as I intend to, there’s this kind of [calculation]: ‘Is it safe to talk to this person? Will they understand?’

I don’t want to get into an argument or have to defend anything. It becomes complicated and it’s not simple. And it grieves me. I just want it to be simple. I really do.

Sometimes I find myself imagining what it would be like to have a ‘beard,’ to do an arrangement. That’s something I’ve thought about actually for a long time, probably 7 or 8 years at this point, that maybe that’s a real possibility that I have to look into in order to be able to go to Nigeria and feel safe and not constantly be explaining something and dealing with the gossip and this and that. [It's also about] getting to have experiences that I won’t get to have otherwise. So that’s something I think about.

I feel like it would make a lot of things easier for me, as somebody who lives in a non-American context. But I’m like, “God, how would this work actually?” The funny thing is, a few months ago, I wasn’t even thinking about it. And I feel like God just dropped somebody into my lap, you know? We started talking and it actually felt like encouragement. So, I don’t know what will happen with that but we’ll see. 

I’m pretty much moving in the direction of taking on spiritual leadership. My target is queer folks who feel like they’ve been sort of forced out of the faith, and holding space for them to re-engage safely and in a loving way that helps them feel supported to come as close—or not—as they want to. So that they have a choice about it. 

Just last night, actually, we hosted a fast-break meal, and a couple of people came who have really gone away from Islam in the last few years of their lives and felt like they couldn’t engage, or that there was an incompatibility or something. And before they left, I was able to invite them to pray. It was an invitation, and they took it. And to see the impact that that made on them to be able to try something, and not to remember 100% this or that, but to have the space to do that and to re-engage. The result is that now they want to hang out and go over prayer stuff. And that’s cool. That’s great. I want people to feel like they can do that, you know?

So as I step into this spiritual leadership, not all the people I interact with are going to be queer Muslims. [I intend to] hold in myself such a level of lovingness and compassion that I’m able to withstand or bat away whatever freak-out they may have when they realize that I’m not heterosexual. 

There’s so much enculturation with the ways that we’re engrained with homophobia. I feel like all of us are walking around with it, and it comes up sometimes—for some more than others. I want to be really able to hold that in terms of my own inner spaciousness, to be gracious even with that as I take on leadership. 

The last thing I want to say is that I want ease.

I don’t like fights and fighting and this energy of grittiness. But I do understand that part of my role is to be a warrior, a warrior with the most loving of intentions and the most loving of motivations. I want ease in my own life and I want ease for others in having full access in their relationship with God and to live as they are called to. 

We all have a calling and we all have a purpose, and I just want to be somebody who is facilitating space for people to do that and to have that, and to do so peacefully—or at least not with more struggle than whatever their path itself calls up and requires. 

That’s my commitment. 

***

This text is condensed and edited from a conversation Terna recorded on Sunday, July 14, 2013, in Pennsylvania.

Resources for Queer Women and Girls!

Launching resources for the school year to celebrate life-long learning and the contributions of queer women and girls!

With funding from the Tegan and Sara Foundation, RFF has been able to expand our Resource Portal with resources focusing on queer women and girls and their relationship to spirituality and religion. In the first launch of these resources, we are excited to showcase incredible work exploring coming of age stories, discovering one’s identity and belonging, and the reflections on queer spirituality that accompany life-long learning. 

Muslim Girl, an online publication, was founded in response to the prevailing misconceptions about Islam and to show the diversity and agency of Muslim women and girls across the world. At the intersection of politics, society and culture, they have staff writers and guest columns on a range of issues, including queerness and Islam. Some great articles include: "A is for Asexuality: Life as a Queer Muslim Woman in Pakistan," "This Ramadan, I Didn't Shame Myself for Being Queer," "6 Things Queer Muslims Are Tired of Hearing," and "Why I Can't Just Quit Islam: A Queer, Shi'a American's Tale." 

In Vivek's Shraya's The Boy & The Bindi, a moving and gorgeously illustrated children's book, a young boy asks his mother about the "dot" she wears on her brow. She explains it is a bindi that "keeps [her] safe and true," and he asks for one too. Given a yellow bindi, the boy wears it outside and to school, and he feels the bindi helps him become "everything he can be." The story is suitable for ages four to eight, exploring gender and cultural difference Read aloud by The Cultural Cafe on YouTube and published by the Arsenal Pulp Press. 

In this 1999 cult classic film, But I’m a Cheerleader!, the parents and friends of Megan Bloomfield, played by Natasha Lyonne, hold an intervention and tell her she must pack her bags and attend a residential program to “cure” her lesbianism. Inspired by the director Jaimie Babbit’s mother’s real-life conversion therapy camp, the film is a comical and absurdist look at the religious right and queer culture. Also starring Clea Duvall, and Ru Paul. Available for streaming in Canada on Amazon Prime Video, CTV, and Crave Starz. Available on YouTube and Netflix in the United States. 

Home Video is a new album from singer-songwriter Lucy Dacus that explores her own coming of age stories, alongside the impact of growing up in church circles as a queer person. One song off the album, “VBS,” talks about her experience attending bible camp, which Dacus described to the Times as standing for ‘Vacation Bible Song ‘ (VBS). Finally, the song, “Triple Dog Dare,” closes the album and explores queer love forbidden by the church.

The Queerituality Guide is short ‘zine’-like booklet aimed at queer people of faith. Inspired by queer chaplain Mandi Rice’s journey across the United States interviewing nearly 100 queer people about their faith,  Rice writes that “This booklet is for you if you hear the word “religion” and say “ugh.” Or “fuck that.” Or “fuck them.” As queer & trans folks, a LOT of us have those reactions, for good reasons. We may want richer spiritual lives… but who would we even trust to teach us?I went around the U.S. to find people who were themselves queer/trans & spiritual. From nearly 100 people I learned 1 lesson: You can’t just unthink religious harm. You have to live your way beyond it.”

First published in 1993 and revived in the past decade, Ravensong is an astonishing and groundbreaking novel written by acclaimed Canadian author Lee Maracle. In the story set in 1954, there is a gulf between two worlds - one is the Salish society from which 17-year-old Stacy emerges and the other is the white, urban Vancouver she moves to when seeking formalized education. Raven, a trickster figure, decides these worlds must be reconciled, yet an epidemic wreaks havoc in uneven ways (not so dissimilar from the COVID-19 pandemic's impacts). Ravensong also explores, in subtle and decolonizing interrogations, the gulfs between sexualities in Western contexts and the colonial teachings of homophobia in Indigenous societies, as told in the lives of a lesbian couple who live in the Salish community. 

We truly hope you enjoy and engage with these materials. We have so enjoyed learning from these amazing artists, writers and thinkers.

Canada Pillar: Domestic Faith-Based Initiatives

The eighth instalment in a year-long series of posts by RFF Founder & Executive Director, Rev. Dr. Brent Hawkes, on the origins, mandate and work of the organization.

In the previous article, we used the analogy of a tree and how all the parts work synergistically as a whole to enable the whole tree to grow and flourish. We talked about what we’ve done to develop strong roots and a strong trunk. In this article, we’re going to start talking about our branches and leaves, starting with the first branch, our Canadian Strategy.

We’re going to launch this branch in the autumn of 2020. Despite the setbacks presented by COVID-19 and the lockdown, our team has done an amazing job of staying on track to keep developing all the structures, platforms and processes we need to continue our growth.

The objective of our next pillar is to address religious-based LGBTQ2 discrimination in Canada. We will do this by building our organizational capacity to transform equality in law into equality in practice in the country where we are based.

The first step of this stage is to develop progressive, faith-based resources to help individuals who are experiencing distress in their lives because of religious-based homophobia. As we know, many people have been deeply impacted by the pandemic, whether through catching the virus, having a loved one fall ill or die, or losing their job and income because their workplace had to shut down. People need spiritual support in times like these, and some may have experienced religious-based homophobia when turning to their congregation for help, which only compounds their distress.

We want people in these situations to know that there are places where they can go to get the help they need, and that there are people, congregations and organizations who will help them regardless of who they are or what their sexual or gender orientation might be, who their relationship might be with, or what faith they believe in. 

We also want institutions to find the support and guidance they need to adjust their programming to be able to serve the needs of their LGBTI clientele more effectively, especially in times of distress.

To this end, we will be engaging with various segments of society and partnering with experts and organizations to discover what is needed, and to look for the best ways to develop the resources that are needed by both of these groups. We’ll examine where religious-based discrimination against the LGBTI community exists so we can prioritize and focus on those sectors first. So far, we have discovered that there is a need for progressive, faith-based resources and supports for faith-based organizations, healthcare settings, and educational environments.

This will be a cross-Canada operation: we have established partnerships with local organizations across the country so that resources will be developed at a grassroots level, supported by our national organization. We will have regional teams to address local and regional needs. We also plan to engage with communities in both official languages, and to find individuals proficient in local Indigenous languages to help us engage with Indigenous communities and Two-Spirited persons.

And so, by developing a way for people to connect to the help they need, wherever they are in Canada, we can help people heal and rebuild as they deal with the combined effects of religious-based discrimination and COVID-19, or any other challenge they may be facing.

It is time for people to know that there are people who will care for, love and accept them as they are during their time of need.

Queer Devotions: Conversion Therapy in Canada

Queer Devotions: Conversion Therapy is Still Prevalent in Canada, So How Do We Finally End the Practice?

In June of this year, our guest, Dr. Travis Salway, published, with coauthors, an astonishing report about the continued prevalence of conversion therapy in Canada. Among the many important findings, the report shows that 67% of conversion therapy happens in religious contexts for the population they studied. For our podcast series, Queer Devotions, we sat down with Dr. Salway to discuss this report, and how RFF and others can fight for a federal ban of the practice. You can read the report in full at https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0252539.

There are some incredible resources available that dive deeper into survivors' stories and the history of conversion therapy. Here is No Conversion Canada: https://www.noconversioncanada.com/contact-1, which features some heartbreaking and mobilizing stories. UnErased: The History of Conversion Therapy in America is a production from WYNC Studios and Radiolab, made in partnership with the film, Boy Erased. It's a four part series: https://podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/unerased-the-history-of-conversion-therapy-in-america/id1439513792. 

You can hear our full episode with Dr. Travis Salway at https://podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/conversion-therapy-is-still-prevalent-in-canada-so/id1539414887?i=1000532233975. Don’t forget to subscribe to Queer Devotions on Apple, Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts to make sure you never miss an episode!