Gay activist encouraged by event – News Letter report
The News Letter reported yesterday that a gay rights campaigner who attended a controversial Christian conference on homosexuality in Belfast at the weekend says there was a significant difference between how the event was initially perceived compared to the actual reality of its content.
The report continues:
The title of the conference, “The Lepers Among Us: Homosexuality and the Life of the Church”, caused heated debate last week across the Province, with some gay rights activists saying they found it hugely offensive.
However, chairman of the Northern Ireland Gay Rights Association, PA MagLochlainn, attended the conference to find out first hand what it was about.
The event was organised by Northern Ireland group, Core Issues, and took place at Orangefield Presbyterian Church.
Mr MagLochlainn said there was a huge difference between “the perception and reality” of the conference message. Its title came from a book by the keynote speaker, the Rev Jim Reynolds, a pastor and lawyer from Texas.
Mr MagLochlainn said: “Rev Reynolds was arguing that churches must offer a much more welcoming approach to gay people. The conference had a panel on Friday with a representative of the gay perspective sitting on it, which was most welcome to see.”
Referring to Rev Reynolds, Mr MagLochlainn said: “I really liked the guy.
“The relationship between the organisers and our protestors is actually very good. They provided a dedicated space for us to protest and brought us out hot coffee and scones. About 10 of us sat through the conference and I asked several questions.
“Rev Reynolds has actually a more liberal, Christian attitude to gay people in the church. I totally understand what he was saying in using the title ‘The Lepers Among Us’ for his book.
“It was an unfortunate choice of words. Jim is a very affable person. I agree with him that the church has treated the gay community like lepers. He says that the church accepts the worst of murderers back and tries to work with them but displays a very different attitude to gay people, which is what he is challenging.
“During the conference I asked him why they do not spend as much time tackling homophobia as they do trying to help people change sexuality. Homophobia is killing gay people, I told them.
“Basically Rev Reynolds and I agreed on this point. A large part of his book deals with this very issue.
“This is an improvement in their approach, I can see the Holy Ghost’s work in all of this. People’s eyes have been opened. It is always encouraging to see the church adopting a more Christian attitude.”
However, Mr MagLochlainn differed with Rev Reynolds in their final conclusions.
“He reckons the gay lifestyle is not acceptable in the Christian faith, but gay Christians like us see no conflict,” said Mr MagLochlainn.
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