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Gay News: Christians are being called on to stay away from a religious arts festival after Peter Tatchell has been invited as a speaker.
By: Nigel Robinson
Tatchell: suggestion is a "slur"
"My Greenbelt talk is not about teen sexuality, sex education or the age of consent. It is about the persecution of gay people in Africa, much of which is being orchestrated by Christian evangelicals who share Anglican Mainstream's fundamentalist interpretation of scripture.
"I will be highlighting rising homophobic victimisation and praising the inspiring defence of gay human rights by African Christian leaders such as Archbishop Desmond Tutu and Bishop Christopher Senyonjo of Uganda, who has been hounded and cast out by the Anglican Church of Uganda.
"Dr Nolland is bearing false witness. Her claims are partial, selective and distorted. Anglican Mainstream is colluding with her misrepresentations by giving them a platform on its website...
"Her account of my beliefs and campaigns is one-sided, biased and unbalanced.
"She has ignored totally my human rights work on global poverty, disarmament and anti-racism, and my support for the democratic struggles in Zimbabwe, Burma, Iran, Russia, Balochistan and Uganda. She doesn't mention a word about how I have condemned the persecution of Christians in countries like Saudi Arabia and Pakistan and opposed the prosecution of homophobic street preachers like Harry Hammond, Shawn Holes and Dale McApline.
"Lisa Nolland presents a selective and distorted account of my essay on sex education. She has neglected to mention my advocacy of a sexual moral framework of mutual consent, respect and fulfilment, and my proposals to help protect young people against sex abuse.”
Tatchell: suggestion is a "slur"
Festival boycott called over Tatchell invite
Doctor Lisa Nolland, a leading consultant to Anglican Mainstream, the Church of England’s conservative and traditional wing, has claimed that Tatchell’s presence at the Greenbelt festival will put children at risk of sexual abuse.
In an open letter to the Festival’s organisers, Dr Nolland makes reference to an essay Tatchell wrote on the age of consent in 1997.
She argues in the Church of England newspaper that children attending the festival would be more vulnerable to sexual abuse because of Tatchell’s erosion of boundaries "particularly if they are told we need to question - explore, try this, try that, try 200 things later on, explore your sexuality - that's actually a really bad idea".
She goes on to criticise the “further gayification of Greenbelt”, following the presence last year at the festival by gay US bishop Gene Robinson.
"Both Gene Robinson and Peter Tatchell are bad news for the church and for Greenbelt. Greenbelt does much that is good and even excellent. Why spoil it with such as this?
In a statement Peter Tatchell said:
"The suggestion that my guest lecture at Greenbelt will leave children vulnerable to sexual abuse is a sordid slur, unworthy of a Christian.
"My Greenbelt talk is not about teen sexuality, sex education or the age of consent. It is about the persecution of gay people in Africa, much of which is being orchestrated by Christian evangelicals who share Anglican Mainstream's fundamentalist interpretation of scripture.
"I will be highlighting rising homophobic victimisation and praising the inspiring defence of gay human rights by African Christian leaders such as Archbishop Desmond Tutu and Bishop Christopher Senyonjo of Uganda, who has been hounded and cast out by the Anglican Church of Uganda.
"Dr Nolland is bearing false witness. Her claims are partial, selective and distorted. Anglican Mainstream is colluding with her misrepresentations by giving them a platform on its website...
"Her account of my beliefs and campaigns is one-sided, biased and unbalanced.
"She has ignored totally my human rights work on global poverty, disarmament and anti-racism, and my support for the democratic struggles in Zimbabwe, Burma, Iran, Russia, Balochistan and Uganda. She doesn't mention a word about how I have condemned the persecution of Christians in countries like Saudi Arabia and Pakistan and opposed the prosecution of homophobic street preachers like Harry Hammond, Shawn Holes and Dale McApline.
"Lisa Nolland presents a selective and distorted account of my essay on sex education. She has neglected to mention my advocacy of a sexual moral framework of mutual consent, respect and fulfilment, and my proposals to help protect young people against sex abuse.”
