Dialogue Between The Church and The LGBT Community
Preferring to be known as a gay ambassador instead of gay activist, Venn-Brown is now a representative and advocate of gay and lesbian people. He seeks to create an informed, intelligent yet respectful dialogue about the issues of same sex orientation within the Christian and particularly Pentecostal community. One of the models that he has developed is "Creating a Space for Change" . This is a non confrontational way of changing stereotypes and preconceived ideas . One of the first people to be involved in this dialogue was Pastor Mike Hercock, a Baptist minister who was leading a church in Darlinghurst, Sydney . A friendship developed and Anthony relayed the many stories of tragedy and loss experienced by gay and lesbian people who had been rejected by the church. Anthony introduced Mike to the work of Freedom 2b. He was deeply touched by the stories of those he met. In 2007, Freedom 2b marched for the first time in the Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras parade. Seeing the profound impact this had on those who had lived for so many years in shame, guilt and fear, Pastor Hercock stated that the following year he would encourage 100 Evangelical ministers to sign an apology to the LGBT community for the way the church had mistreated them and march in the 2008 Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras. This movement became known as the 100 Revs and led to the following statement.
"As ministers of various churches and denominations we recognise that the churches we belong to, and the church in general, have not been places of welcome for gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender (GLBT) people. Indeed the church has often been profoundly unloving toward the GLBT community. For these things we apologise, whatever the distinctive of our Christian position on human sexuality – to which we remain committed. We are deeply sorry and ask for the forgiveness of the GLBT community. We long that the church would be a place of welcome for all people and commit ourselves to pursuing this goal."
In 2007 Anthony co-ordinated the release of a statement from five Australian ex-gay leaders who publicly apologized for their past actions.
In 2010 Anthony was invited to lecture on "An Alternative Approach to Sexual Orientation, Gender Diversity and the Christian Faith" at Tabor College in Melbourne (one of Australia’s leading bible colleges). This was the first time an openly gay man was invited to speak at a Pentecostal/Evangelical bible college in Australia. Anthony was also featured on the ABC series, Hungry Beast in 2010.
In 2011 Anthony resigned as the leader of Freedom 2b to concentrate further on his bridge-building, ambassadorial and educational activities. He has recently founded Ambassadors and Bridge Builders International, his focus continues to be the deconstruction of the ‘ex-gay’ myth, educating in the areas of faith sexuality conflict, working with gay and lesbian people in heterosexual marriages and creating respectful, informed dialogues between the LGBT community and the Church. Anthony was twice voted one of Australia’s 25 Most Influential Gay & Lesbian Australians (2007 & 2009). Anthony was nominated for an ACON Honour Award in September 2011 in the category of Community Hero . These awards recognise outstanding LGBT community achievements and/or contributions.
In March 2012 Anthony Venn -Brown was featured along with other Freedom2b members in an Australian documentary "The Cure" which examined ex-gay programs in Australia. The film is currently (2012) being shown around Australia and has led to a number of newspaper articles on the role of the Australian church in the promotion of current ex-gay programs in Australia . Anthony Venn Brown and psychologist Paul Martin were quoted as stating that ex-gay programs caused "deep psychological damage" and had even led to suicides.
In 2012 Anthony was awarded a lifetime membership of the Sydney Gay and Lesbian Business Association (SGLBA) for his work with the LGBT community including the creation of the Ambassadors and Bridge Builders International organisation (ABBI) and the founding of Freedom2b.
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