Someone said something to me earlier this week which quite shocked me. They said there was no Episcopal congregation in Edinburgh which was welcoming to LGBT people.

By this, they did not mean that there was an absence of any Episcopal congregations with happy gay people in them. That is clearly not so. The question is, is there any such church which says publicly either by saying so on its website or its literature that LGBT people are welcome or which runs an LGBT group or equivalent which it advertises?

Before we all get ourselves in a tiz saying, “Oh, my church welcomes everyone, we say we welcome everyone therefore we must by definition welcome gay people…” just think it through. You don’t have to spend very long in the company of any group of gay people before you hear someone express the view that they’ve been negatively treated by some church or religious body or another. Also, though churches say that everyone is welcomed, it doesn’t stop them welcoming people explicitly who are for example, students, men, children, fabulous sopranos etc. Saying you welcome everyone is wonderful and I’m sure that lots do. Actually saying you welcome LGBT folk is quite another thing and appears to be considerably more rare.

Anyone want to make nominations.