Anglican Head Wants Churces to be "Safe Place" for GLBT People

From The Christian Post:

The Church is challenged to show that it is truly a safe place for people to be honest and where they may be confident that they will have their human dignity respected, said the head of the worldwide Anglican Communion.

Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams spoke just after the Anglican Communion made available an interim report on churches' commitment to listen to the experience of homosexual people.

"The commitments of the Communion are not only to certain theological positions on the question of sexual ethics but also to a manifest and credible respect for the proper liberties of homosexual people," Williams stated.

"There are contexts where it is difficult to find a safe place for gay and lesbian people to speak about their lives openly," said the Anglican leader. "There are contexts where people assume the debate is over. The report shows that listening is possible, but also that there is a great deal still to be done. The work continues, but we have a solid start here."

"I share the concerns expressed about situations where the Church is seen to be underwriting social or legal attitudes which threaten these proper liberties [of homosexual people]," stated Williams. "It is impossible to read this [interim] report without being aware that in many places – including Western countries with supposedly ‘liberal’ attitudes – hate crimes against homosexual people have increased in recent years and have taken horrifying and disturbing forms."

Treating GLBT people like, well, people, is an important fundamental step toward not tolerating them but completely accepting them as full and equal partners in God's kingdom. It sounds like Archbishop Williams gets that, but the U. S. branch of the Anglicans, the Episcopal Church, is still under a September 30 deadline to respond to a moratorium on consecrating homosexuals and blessing same-sex unions.

I'll be keeping an eye on that situation as it develops.