Homosexuality and Quakerism

[1] In Britain, Canada, New Zealand and Australia, many Quakers are supportive of homosexual relationships, while views are divided among U.S. meetings.

[2] 49% of Quakers live in Africa,[3] and though views may differ, the Kenyan Church of Friends does not support homosexual relationships.

However, there are some general patterns, and for reasons of space and completeness this article deals mainly with the largest organizations on a country-by-country basis.

The Richmond Declaration is a confession of faith that expresses the experience of two branches of American Quakerism, but does not reflect the views of others.

The Society also calls on all people to seek more knowledge and understanding of the diversity of human relationships and to affirm the worth of love in all of them.Australian Quakers have supported the celebration of same sex and different sex commitment ceremonies since 1994 and recognize them on an equal basis with other committed and loving relationships.

[6] Before this Australia-wide decision, Canberra Regional Meeting celebrated the first same sex marriage among Australian Quakers on 15 April 2007.

[7] In New Zealand, the yearly meeting Te Hāhi Tūhauwiri, in 1992, resolved "to seek formal ways of recognizing a variety of commitments, including gay and lesbian partnerships".

[9] Quakers were one of the first churches to talk openly about sexuality ... We feel that the quality and depth of feeling between two people is the most important part of a loving relationship, not their gender or sexual orientation.Britain Yearly Meeting formally minuted support for same-sex marriage in 2009 and began to centrally lobby the government for the necessary legal changes.

[note 1] Controversial in its day, the book forms one of the first Quaker statements regarding sexuality, and includes affirmation that gender or sexual orientation are unimportant in a judgement of an intimate relationship and that the true criterion is the presence of "selfless love";[12] further consideration arose from Harvey Gillman's Swarthmore Lecture, in 1988.

FGC itself in 2004 made a statement on including LGBT quakers as equals in worship and acknowledging their past contributions to the conference.

[17] The largely FGC-based FLGBTQC (Friends for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, and Queer Concerns) group holds meetings twice a year.

The Friends of Jesus Community, some of whose members were affiliated with EFCI, took a public stance in favor of the equal worth of same-sex relationships.

At the 2002 FUM Triennial, Clerk Lamar Matthew was excluded from leading a worship sharing group because he was in a relationship with another man.