New panel for gender discrimination in religious organisations
Quaker Hannah Brock Womack one of nine panel members
Quaker Hannah Brock Womack, who was recently blocked from being the fourth president of Churches Together in England because she is in a same-sex marriage, is a member of a new panel to address discrimination and prejudice within religious organisations.
The panel of religious figures and academics is an advisory board for the Ozanne Foundation, which works with religions around the world to tackle discrimination and prejudice on the grounds of sexuality and gender. The launch marks the end of Pride month.
Hannah Brock Womack said: ‘I hope this new advisory board can work together to ensure the Ozanne Foundation is effective in tackling discrimination and prejudice within all religious organisations. In the short-term this means taking urgent steps to end the practice of conversion therapy and to support trans people; in the longer-term I hope it means enabling religious groups to celebrate the rich tapestry of LGBT+ lives and loves, and to recognise the role faith groups have played in perpetuating prejudice now and historically.’
The panel consists of nine members, each committed to the full inclusion of all. They range from the Senior Rabbi to Reform Judaism, Rabbi Laura Janner Klausner, to the former president of the Methodist Conference, Reverend Michaela Youngson, and the Hindu Council UK’s interfaith director, Anil Bhanot. Other members include the well-known Irish political correspondent, Ursula Halligan, joint coordinator of ‘We Are Church’ in Ireland, who is credited for helping sway the Irish same-sex marriage referendum vote when she came out, as well as Frederick Hyde Chambers, a gay married man who chairs the Buddhist Chaplaincy Support Group.
