Keywords:
openly gay bishop, public school, taxpayers, trans-awareness, open, progressive, gay and lesbian rights, gay and lesbian parenting, multi-parent family, trans parents, Metropolitan Community Church, Triangle School, church, Christianity, God, safe space
openly gay bishop, public school, taxpayers, trans-awareness, open, progressive, gay and lesbian rights, gay and lesbian parenting, multi-parent family, trans parents, Metropolitan Community Church, Triangle School, church, Christianity, God, safe space
Transcript
Kevin: Twenty-five years ago a priest in our diocese was fired for being in a same-sex relationship, and now you’re saying – here I am an openly gay bishop with my partner, only in twenty-five years, but I think it’s a sign of the Church’s need to recreate itself. And I’m not sure, I’m not an educator, I don’t know much about the school system except that our kids go to a school in this school board, but my sense is that institutions that are still closely aligned with government and power don’t have the same vulnerability, they don’t need to have the same vulnerability, they’re funded by tax money, the church is not, the church has seen a decrease in its givings and its financial base. Schools are still tethered to public – public money. Whether it’s the Roman Catholic school board or the public board, so I think that’s part – maybe part of the answer to that.
Mohan: I’m just going to – Uh, I think that, um, uh, just specifically about trans awareness in schools, we, um, I haven’t seen that, um, at our school, but they’ve been just so open and progressive that, um, and this might be too simple of an explanation, but you know, gay and lesbian rights became very real and alive to people, about twenty, thirty years ago, um, and there was, with the charter, and cases that were decided that were giving gay and lesbian people their rights, and the trans issue is – is more current. It doesn’t have that longevity, and I wonder whether, if in a matter of time there will be the same level of awareness and dedication, or sensitivity to the trans issue as – as there is now, from what we’ve seen, about gay and lesbian parenting, hopefully there will be that for trans parents as well, or kids who are trans. We’ve had, um, you know, some kids who have gone through the school system, some friends of ours. We also live across from, uh, the Metropolitan Community Church, and they’ve got – they have an education program for kids who felt bullied, I know lots of trans kids have gone to that school for that reason. So, like I said, it might be too simple of an explanation, but I’m hoping that in a matter of time that there will be greater awareness, greater openness and acceptance.
Kevin: If I can just add one other thing as, uh, as somebody who holds to a certain set of faith values, I think that one other reason might be that, some churches, anyway, and some people who go to those churches are realizing and living into the fullness of what they believe. If Christianity at its essence – if you strip away what it has become or how it is perceived – if Christianity at its essence is inviting people to live to the fullness of who God has intended them to be, then Christians should be creating safe space for people to grow into the fullness of who God intended them to be, um, regardless of how they identify, or how others identify them. So if that work is happening in churches, it should be.
Kevin: Twenty-five years ago a priest in our diocese was fired for being in a same-sex relationship, and now you’re saying – here I am an openly gay bishop with my partner, only in twenty-five years, but I think it’s a sign of the Church’s need to recreate itself. And I’m not sure, I’m not an educator, I don’t know much about the school system except that our kids go to a school in this school board, but my sense is that institutions that are still closely aligned with government and power don’t have the same vulnerability, they don’t need to have the same vulnerability, they’re funded by tax money, the church is not, the church has seen a decrease in its givings and its financial base. Schools are still tethered to public – public money. Whether it’s the Roman Catholic school board or the public board, so I think that’s part – maybe part of the answer to that.
Mohan: I’m just going to – Uh, I think that, um, uh, just specifically about trans awareness in schools, we, um, I haven’t seen that, um, at our school, but they’ve been just so open and progressive that, um, and this might be too simple of an explanation, but you know, gay and lesbian rights became very real and alive to people, about twenty, thirty years ago, um, and there was, with the charter, and cases that were decided that were giving gay and lesbian people their rights, and the trans issue is – is more current. It doesn’t have that longevity, and I wonder whether, if in a matter of time there will be the same level of awareness and dedication, or sensitivity to the trans issue as – as there is now, from what we’ve seen, about gay and lesbian parenting, hopefully there will be that for trans parents as well, or kids who are trans. We’ve had, um, you know, some kids who have gone through the school system, some friends of ours. We also live across from, uh, the Metropolitan Community Church, and they’ve got – they have an education program for kids who felt bullied, I know lots of trans kids have gone to that school for that reason. So, like I said, it might be too simple of an explanation, but I’m hoping that in a matter of time that there will be greater awareness, greater openness and acceptance.
Kevin: If I can just add one other thing as, uh, as somebody who holds to a certain set of faith values, I think that one other reason might be that, some churches, anyway, and some people who go to those churches are realizing and living into the fullness of what they believe. If Christianity at its essence – if you strip away what it has become or how it is perceived – if Christianity at its essence is inviting people to live to the fullness of who God has intended them to be, then Christians should be creating safe space for people to grow into the fullness of who God intended them to be, um, regardless of how they identify, or how others identify them. So if that work is happening in churches, it should be.