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I reproduce here, with permission, a speech by the Very Revd Dr Ken Newell, a former Moderator of the Presbyterian Church in Ireland, which proposed the original Resolution (which called on the Church and Society committee to examine the nature and scope of homophobia in the Presbyterian Church in Ireland and in wider society), and a speech in support of that Resolution by the Revd Simon Henning, Minister and Superintendent of the Kinghan Church in Belfast.

Speech by Dr Ken Newell

On behalf of Alistair [Dunlop] and myself I would like to thank the Church and Society Committee for the comprehensive and balanced way they have addressed the issues of Civil Partnerships and Homosexuality. In bringing this Resolution we support the decision of the House but seek to go further. We want to focus upon the pastoral needs of gay people within our Church and outside.

In finalizing its legislation about the Tax benefits that would flow to those who enter Civil Partnerships the UK Treasury did serious research into extent of the 鈥榞ay鈥� community in the general population. They settled on the figure of 3%. When money is involved, statistics are usually quite accurate. This means that within the PCI membership of 260000 there are probably around 9000 of our people whose sexual orientation is homosexual.

They are found in every age band; they live in rural as well as urban settings. Many of them will have been baptized as babies into our Church, passed through Sunday and Bible Class, confessed their faith in Jesus Christ as Lord and Saviour and are now actively involved in serving Christ in every ministry that the Church seeks to offer. Some will be Ministers, Elders, Committee members, Bible Class and Sunday School teachers, missionaries, choir members, organists, youth leaders and PWA members. Some may even count the Free Will Offering!

Their faith in Jesus Christ will be very central to their lives; their love for our Church is identical to our own. They are part of our faith-family and are entitled to our love, care, encouragement and support as much as anyone else.
They also represent somebody鈥檚 son or daughter or grandchildren, somebody鈥檚 brother or sister, uncle or aunt, mother or father, somebody鈥檚 husband or wife. They are part of the friendship-circles of those we socialize with or work alongside. They are entitled to our love, care, encouragement and support as much as anyone else.

Because gay people are part of our families, churches, work-teams and friendship - circles, we need to cherish them, just as we do other people. We need to cherish them, we need to understand more accurately what life is like for them emotionally, psychologically and practically. We also need to encourage them, in a promiscuous world, to walk Christ鈥檚 path of sexual purity even as we ourselves are trying to walk it with the help of the Holy Spirit, the support of our Church Family and the inspiration of the Holy Scriptures.

But the path which our gay brothers and sisters have to walk is not easy. Many speak to us of having faced, since school days, verbal abuse and bullying, family tensions and sometimes rejection, the break-up of friendships within the Church when they share others who they really are, and a steady stream of homophobic attitudes, jokes, comments that show that just underneath the veneer of religiosity there can exist in our churches and in ourselves raw emotions that have never been tamed by the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

Thank God, most of our people are good, generous, accepting, conscious of their own weaknesses and they therefore deal gently and lovingly with those who look at life differently. But there is an underlying issue of homophobia and even homohatred that we need to examine in the light of Christ and His Word and be unafraid to challenge.

This is confirmed by some of the most respected Christians that I have come across who have devoted a large part of their ministry to serving gay people. Several years ago I listened to the late Rev Sydney Callaghan whose work in the Samaritans is well-known among us; at the same meeting in our Church was a woman who helped to lead 鈥楾he Heart of God Ministries鈥�. More recently I listened to the Theological Director of Evangelical Alliance addressing the Presbytery of Belfast South on issues surrounding homosexuality. All three had uncovered in the Churches they were working with attitudes of harshness, fear, ignorance, hostility and prejudice that undermined their ability to help gay people and commend Christ鈥檚 call to a life of sexual purity.

The Scriptures are strong in their assault upon prejudice and bigotry against people. Jesus links together in the Gospel as the supreme commandments the love of God and the love of people, irrespective of who they are. Many people today are concerned to lower their levels of cholesterol; the Gospel that Jesus Christ has given us to proclaim and live is the biggest prejudice-reducer in the world. As Jesus himself says to all his disciples: St Matthew 7:3-5 (鈥淲hy do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother or sister鈥檚 eye and pay no attention at all to the plank in your own. How can you say to your brother, let me take the speck out of your eye, when all the time
there is a plank in your own. You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother and sister鈥檚 eye鈥�.)

Moderator, when Jesus uses the word 鈥榝irst鈥� he is talking to us about his priorities for us, for our lives and for our churches. It is He who urges us to serious self-examination and change. The Gospel is very simple: you can鈥檛 be born again and be a bigot: 鈥淗e who loves is born of God and knows God. He who does not love does not know God, for God is love鈥�.

Moderator, I feel that having given us guidance on the issue of Civil Partnerships, the Church and Society Committee could do a great service to our Church and community by helping us to examine ourselves on the issue of homophobia. It would be a very important contribution to help us all help each other walk the path of sexual purity in an age where this is seriously difficult. It鈥檚 definitely not impossible, but only if Christ鈥檚 Church and our Presbyterian branch of it is a 鈥榮afe space鈥� for us all, homosexual and heterosexual, but more than that, if Christ鈥檚 Church is also a 鈥榞race-space鈥�. We鈥檙e asking the Committee to help us become that in a fuller way.

Speech by Rev Simon Henning

I want to invite the House to vote in favour of this very important Resolution. I don鈥檛 want to quote a lot of facts or figures, or talk in an abstract way about homophobia. Instead, I would like to share with you something of the experience of being Gay or Lesbian in Northern Ireland, in the words of six young people here between the ages of 16-25. Some of you will have children or grandchildnre in that age group.

Paul鈥檚 experience: "I first came out to a friend 鈥� he punched me in the face and called me a faggot. Then he kicked hell out of me."

Listen to Karen: "Where I come from is quite a close knit town, and I was, I suppose, afraid of getting bashed. I never knew anyone who was gay and I didn鈥檛 have anyone to confide in."

Or Terry: "I was walking down past St Ann鈥檚 Cathedral and four guys in a car stopped beside me and pulled the window down and shouted 鈥楩aggot鈥�. They spat at me as they drove past."

Or Siobhan: "I would never tell anyone while I was in school. The amount of abuse I would have got if I had told anyone would have been unbelievable. They were a very anti-gay school and used to make jokes about people. I would never have said anything because I would have had too much abuse and it would have been really hard."

Or David, as he told his parents: "My Mum was sort of the same, and my Dad was terribly homophobic. He didn鈥檛 talk to me at all for months. It was part of the reason I moved out."

And, finally, Philip: "One friend reacted badly but he lives in East Belfast and I don鈥檛 really see him anymore. He鈥檚 sort of religious and quoted some Bible passages at me. You know, sins of the flesh and going to hell and stuff like that. He certainly made me feel bad, because me and him were really good mates from Tech鈥e sort of had it in his head that, after I told him, that I was going to change or something like that. But he didn鈥檛 seem to understand that I was gay while I knew him and I wasn鈥檛 doing anything about it and I just hadn鈥檛 told anyone. The person he knew was still me."

Physical assault; constant verbal abuse; loneliness; depression; anxiety; rejection; fear. All coming from homophobia.

I realise that this will be an alien experience to some people here. Perhaps you are not aware of any lesbian or gay members of your church, or of our society. But could it be that their voices are not being heard because of a fear on their part that they will experience abuse, or discrimination, or rejection, or isolation? And this, from the very Community called into being by God to reach out with a message of compassion and love.

Homophobia is no more justified in the world or in the Church than racism, or ageism, or sectarianism.

As both Ken and Alistair have said, we have a Christian and Biblical duty of care to everyone who comes in through the doors of our churches 鈥� gay and lesbian people, as well as their families, and indeed our own congregations.

Sadly, homophobia is a reality for tens of thousands of people in Britain and Ireland. People have been murdered 鈥� because of homophobia. People have attempted to take their own lives, in fact, 40% have seriously considered it 鈥� because of homophobia. People suffer depression and other mental illnesses 鈥� because of homophobia.

We, as a Church, need the resources this Report will provide to inform and shape ever more sensitive and effective pastoral care. I therefore urge the House to vote for this resolution.