Does being a practising Christian or Muslim or Jew mean that you do not welcome LGBTQ people into your place of worship? Do you have to abandon your religious beliefs when you come out as gay, lesbian, bi or trans? Can – and should - religions adapt to be more welcoming to LGBTQ people?
In a project co-funded by the Office for Students as part of their initiative to tackle religious-based hate crime, Solent University has produced a series of video interviews exploring the interaction between religion and sexuality/gender identity. We have talked to people of faith and of no faith; people who identify as LGBTQ and people who do not.
We asked them about their faith’s teachings on sexuality and gender identity and we heard about their journeys towards a resolution of some of the tensions that still exist around the topic. The stories we have captured here are moving and inspiring testimonies to the struggle for understanding and acceptance that many people go through to be true to themselves and to their beliefs.
We hope that these short videos will be used as the catalyst to more conversations around these issues. We will shortly publish an Ideas Pack on how they might be used in an educational context to prompt discussion and respectful debate.