Talks over Manchester Meeting booking stall
Central Manchester Meeting and Young Friends in Manchester in talks about a contested booking
Central Manchester Meeting and Young Friends in Manchester have spoken out about the frustration they feel at the slow pace of talks regarding a concern about a booking at Mount Street Meeting House.
The impasse has grown since Young Friends in Manchester raised a concern late last year about the decision to allow a regular booking from a feminist group that says ‘it does not believe in “cis-privilege”.’ Among the points on its Facebook description, Manchester Feminist Network (MFN) states: ‘We value and seek to protect female only space. We do not use the term Cis or believe in “Cis Privilege”.’ ‘Cisgender’ is a term for people whose gender identity matches the sex they were assigned at birth. Topics covered in the gatherings by the group at the Meeting house include issues such as feminism and environmentalism.
Elsie Whittington, from the Manchester Quaker Young Friends Facebook group, told the Friend: ‘They have a specific definition of who a woman is and don’t recognise them as cis or transgender. To my mind and our group, this has been understood as trans-exclusionary.’
She pointed out that several members of the Young Friends group who used the Meeting house are trans and nonbinary, and it is important that they feel supported and safe.
Both parties are frustrated at the slow pace of dialogue. Elsie Whittington said: ‘It’s been quiet over the summer, but we were talking to elders who suggested a Threshing Meeting, and meetings with conflict advisory groups… this is not a conflict in the Meeting, but a booking policy issue.’
Sarah Donaldson, executive officer of Manchester and Warrington Area Meeting, agreed the policy might need to be reviewed and said they would be looking with interest at the Friends House review of its booking procedure. She emphasised their commitment to continuing talks. ‘I know [the delay] isn’t a satisfactory situation, but we haven’t given up on dialogue.’ She said the impasse could be because ‘maybe there is a gulf where some people think they are waiting for information and some people think they have sent it. It is my understanding that the trustees were waiting for more information to act upon as some of the concern included specific instances of behaviour, but they didn’t receive it. It is not clear whose court the ball is in and how we can get this conversation going again… Another difficulty is we have three sets of interested “authorities” – trustees, Local Meeting and company directors, so there’s an element of confusion about who should take this forward.’
However, according to Elsie Whittington, the issue is turning some young people away from Quakers: ‘I know some Friends don’t understand trans and nonbinary experience, but in the meantime people are in pain and moving away. There’s general discomfit that some members now don’t feel safe coming to Meeting when it is used by this group.’ She urged the Society to be ‘as open-minded and open-hearted as it thinks it is’.
The MFN has been approached for comment.
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