Each month, we like to look in a little more depth at a certain topic, as well as our usual news, views, long reads and reviews. In February, we shall be exploring one of the most divisive, and hotly debated subjects within the LGBTQ+ community, and in the wider world: religion.
Call it what you will: religion, spirituality, belief system, the power of the ideas some hold about how the world is ordered cannot be ignored. As Trump signs an executive order banning members of one religion from entering America, members of another religion are marching against reproductive rights inside America. LGBTQ+ lives are debated as a matter of conscience, cakes are baked, or not, according to religious beliefs. In amongst this, the existence of religious LGBTQ+ people is barely remembered.
Then, there are those LGBTQ+ people who are spiritual outside of organised religion; the belief systems around the world which do not carry the homophobia of western interpretations of Christianity. Spirituality comes in many forms, and hopefully this month, we will explore beneath the monolithic assumptions about what religion looks like.
Any discussion of religion of course includes those who do not believe; many LGBTQ+ people feel that religion has rejected them long enough, and so they reject it, refusing to be part of belief systems which deem them to be sinful. Atheism and Humanism are also topics we hope to explore this month.
As ever, we welcome guest posts. If there is any aspect of our spirituality month you would like to explore, get in touch, or leave a comment.
The Queerness 