The Lesbian and Gay Christian Movement (LGCM) describes itself as "UK-based international Charity which challenges homophobia and transphobia, especially within the Church and faith based organisations".
The Gay Christian Movement was founded in 1976 with the Revd Richard Kirker as its first General Secretary. In 1977, local chapters were organised, followed in 1978 by the Women's Group, the Evangelical Fellowship in 1979 and Young Lesbian and Gay Christians in 2000. The name was eventually changed to the Lesbian and Gay Christian Movement in 1987. The twentieth-anniversary event, held on 16 November 1996 at Southwark Cathedral with John Gladwin, then Bishop of Guildford, as preacher, was the first Anglican cathedral service in Britain held for gay people. Over 2,000 people attended. About 50 local churches held vigils in protest.
The Anglican churches in the British Isles are the main focus of LGCM activity, but its membership and interests are nonetheless entirely ecumenical and international.
The movement has criticised Pope Benedict XVI over his statement that gender theory could lead to the "self-destruction" of humanity. The Reverend Sharon Ferguson, current chief executive of the LGCM, called the statement "totally irresponsible and unacceptable... When you have religious leaders like that making that sort of statement then followers feel they are justified in behaving in an aggressive and violent way." When Benedict visited the United Kingdom, the movement criticised secular protesters, urging people to "disagree with respect", calling the protests "unhelpful and counterproductive" and holding a prayer vigil.
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“When you take a light perspective, it’s easier to step back and relax when your child doesn’t walk until fifteen months, . . . is not interested in playing ball, wants to be a cheerleader, doesn’t want to be a cheerleader, has clothes strewn in the bedroom, has difficulty making friends, hates piano lessons, is awkward and shy, reads books while you are driving through the Grand Canyon, gets caught shoplifting, flunks Spanish, has orange and purple hair, or is lesbian or gay.”
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“Surely the one thing needful for a Christian and an Englishman to study is Christian and moral and political philosophy, and then we should see our way a little more clearly without falling into Judaism, or Toryism, or Jacobinism, or any other ism whatever.”
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