Marriage and equality
Clare Dimyon reflects on marriage and an interesting encounter
As a lesbian of the British Empire, Friends might be surprised to find that I have a surprising level of agreement with Frank McManus (18 April). It certainly surprised the evangelical American preacher on the six-hour bus journey between the Serbian capital of Belgrade and Budapest in Hungary. As I had the very image of a muscley Serbian homophobe squashed up to me on the other side, and a bus full of a dozen or so average Serbians, it took a very saint-Peter-like three times for him to hear the word ‘gay’ strategically directed into his ear! As the only English speakers, we had a very jolly chat from Belgrade because he had had a lot to do with Quakers, possibly the more evangelical variety in the US! However, he was relieved and surprised to find that this lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) activist was emphatically against ‘gay marriage’.
