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Saturday, 25 July 2009

Quakers and queerdom

British Quakers, about sixteen hundred of them, gather in York today for what they call the Yearly Meeting Gathering – their week-long annual conference. And they’ll be discussing gay sex.

Seems religionists have gay sex on the mind, but the Quakers have traditionally been among the gay-friendliest.

“The event is likely to be dominated by a decision on whether to carry out same-sex commitment ceremonies on the same basis as heterosexual weddings,” says the Christian think tank Ekklesia.

The change is thought to have the support of a majority of British Quakers, but it is vigorously opposed by a vocal number of people who insist that marriage can only involve individuals of opposite sexes. Rather than voting, Quakers will seek the guidance of the Holy Spirit to lead them into unity.

And, of course, depending on which Holy Spirit is on duty today – the one believed in by Catholics, the one the C of E folk pray to, the evangelists’ favourite or the one the Quakers prefer – we’ll get an answer, no doubt, as to whether gay sex is a Bad Thing or OK.

We know what the first three Holy Spirits think. Poofs are evil. What will the Quakers pull out of their hats?

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