Somewhere over the rainbow

rainbow

I’ve just heard that I’ve been included in the Independent on Sunday’s Rainbow List. This is the new name for the Pink List – a list of gay, lesbian, bi and trans people whom the newspaper wants to celebrate as people who have made a difference in the past year.

To be honest I’m surprised to be included again – I’ve been on the Pink List for the last few years and was really expecting to be nudged out of the way this year. But there I am and they’ve very kindly bumped me up over fifty places to number 34 and I’m in company that takes my breath away.

It is great to see Vicky Beeching, Richard Coles and Colin Coward on there too, Bishop Alan Wilson heading the straight allies list, Jeremy Pemberton listed as one to watch and it isn’t too difficult to think of other heroes in the church who haven’t been listed this time around.

I’ll be looking forward to meeting others who make a difference at the Rainbow List Party which takes place in London this week. Congratulations to everyone on the list and to everyone who was nominated. The world is changing. It isn’t changing fast enough for my liking, particularly in the church, but there’s much to celebrate and much to give thanks for. We shall overcome, one day.

I remember when I was first named on the Pink List – it meant a lot, to be honest. You don’t get many thankyous for relentlessly going on about LGBT equality issues in the church. To have been named again a couple of times and again today is a great honour.

My thanks to those who nominated me and those who quietly (and sometimes noisily) support me in this area of my life.

You could say I’m over the moon.

You could say I’m somewhere over the rainbow.

On the List

front

I got back to Glasgow last night just as the Pink List was being published by the Independent on Sunday and was thrilled to see my name there again – I’ve been listed for the last couple of years.

Even better is that I’m not the only cleric on it this year – Jeffrey John and Richard Coles are also there.

I am, as before, amazed by the company that I keep on the list – this time more diverse and a better gender-balance. The place of LGBT people in the world is changing. Too slowly for me, but it is changing with each passing year.

There are plenty of people who wish I’d shut up about LGBT issues and that is not limited to those who disagree with me. The Pink List is a rare moment of affirmation and I’m hugely moved, as in previous years, to find myself upon it.