{"id":28739,"date":"2020-12-26T17:06:53","date_gmt":"2020-12-26T22:06:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/anglicansamizdat.net\/wordpress\/?p=28739"},"modified":"2020-12-26T17:06:53","modified_gmt":"2020-12-26T22:06:53","slug":"for-a-church-to-be-fully-inclusive-you-need-urinals-in-the-ladies","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.anglicansamizdat.net\/wordpress\/for-a-church-to-be-fully-inclusive-you-need-urinals-in-the-ladies\/","title":{"rendered":"For a church to be fully inclusive you need urinals in the ladies"},"content":{"rendered":"

An Oakville church<\/a> has defined the new normal (do you hate that phrase yet? I do) for inclusion. Male and female are anathema; they have been cast into outer darkness. No more mothers and fathers at baptisms, no more gender labels on the lavatories, no more brothers and sisters.<\/p>\n

The bible has been rewritten to expunge any mention of gender \u2013 it\u2019s called having \u201cscripture policies\u201d in case you were wondering \u2013 and we are all encouraged to marry anything of our choosing. I\u2019m going to marry one of my guitars.<\/p>\n

The only personal experience I’ve had of St. Paul’s United Church was a number of years ago. I was one of the organisers of a local March for Jesus. We needed a few friendly places along the way where marchers could relieve themselves if they felt the need. St. Paul’s response was an adamant “no”. I can only assume that their gender-neutral signs weren’t ready, so full inclusion hadn’t kicked in yet.<\/p>\n

From here<\/a>:<\/p>\n

\"\"Initially, the congregation\u2019s reaction was, \u2018Why?\u2019<\/p>\n

\u201cWhy are we doing this, we are already welcoming, what is the big deal?\u201d, recalled Judy DeMone, co-chair of a committee that has worked over the past two years towards an Affirming status for St. Paul\u2019s United Church.<\/p>\n

\u201cBeing welcoming suggests that those on the inside have the power to choose who to accept on the outside. This makes it sound like an act of charity to welcome those who are different,\u201d said DeMone. \u201cWe have always been a welcoming, friendly church, but being affirming goes deeper and we want to be public, intentional and explicit in our commitment to diversity and inclusion.\u201d<\/p>\n

DeMone\u2019s co-chair, 17-year-old Thea Sheridan-Jonah, said she didn\u2019t understand in the beginning that her church was not ready to call itself affirming.<\/p>\n

\u201cI go back and notice the little things – the baptism script that laid out one part for a mom and one part for a dad, the gendered washroom signs all across our building, the songs that referred to people as just “sister and brother”, and so many other little actions that we did not understand to be exclusive,\u201d said Sheridan-Jonah.<\/p>\n

To become an affirming congregation there is an educational process and several steps to be completed, supported by Affirm United.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was an understanding that saying we are welcoming is not enough, putting up a flag or plaque is not enough. We need to do the real work of allyship and learning, so that every member of our community understands that every person must not only be welcomed, but affirmed and involved fully,\u201d said Sheridan-Jonah.<\/p>\n

Today, the Rebecca Street church has gender inclusive bathrooms, and scripture, policies and a website that have been adjusted to omit gendered wording.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

An Oakville church has defined the new normal (do you hate that phrase yet? I do) for inclusion. Male and female are anathema; they have been cast into outer darkness. No more mothers and fathers at baptisms, no more gender … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"iawp_total_views":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-28739","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.anglicansamizdat.net\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28739","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.anglicansamizdat.net\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.anglicansamizdat.net\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.anglicansamizdat.net\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.anglicansamizdat.net\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=28739"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.anglicansamizdat.net\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28739\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.anglicansamizdat.net\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=28739"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.anglicansamizdat.net\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=28739"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.anglicansamizdat.net\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=28739"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}