The challenge of diversity

Phil Lucas reports on the activities of Scottish Friends

Scottish Quakers, at our quarterly General Meeting held in Glasgow on 10 June, spent the morning responding to a minute from North East Thames Area Meeting about gender identity and inclusiveness.

Several members of the Scottish Quaker Gender and Sexual Diversity Community were present to share their experience with us. One of them, who had spent five years in a civil partnership, addressed our plenary session, which was at times emotionally charged. She told how much she valued the support of her Local Meeting during that partnership and through its break up. We are troubled by words and finding the right language. Identities are shaped through dialogue but words are moveable and don’t have to concrete us in. A Friend said: ‘It’s all about otherness and the right to be oneself.’

We divided into groups using a variety of methods – discussion, worship sharing and silence-based worship – as we helped each other address these sensitive issues. We were reminded that we all have elements of gender diversity within us and our minute reflected the openness, the discomfort and the challenge of this diversity. We appointed a small group to help our General Meeting Committee decide how best to continue our consideration of diversity and inclusion at a future meeting.

Our afternoon session included, as well as regular housekeeping business, a brainstorming session on communication, using the helpful guidance of our Yearly Meeting’s document Our faith in the future. How can we improve communication among ourselves? How can we better communicate to the outside world where we are, what we do and why we do it? How can we improve our website? How well are we adapting to the increased importance of social media? How does this all fit into our ongoing consideration of the role of General Meeting, which will be the main agenda item at our meeting in March 2018. There were many ideas and processes for us to take forward.

We concluded the day with a lively report from Mairi Campbell-Jack, our parliamentary engagement officer, on the work she and her support group are doing, chiefly on the military recruitment of children (the Public Petitions Committee of the Scottish parliament is still addressing our concern in helpful ways) and on working towards greater economic justice in Scottish society. We are seeking to use a legacy to help us work with Yearly Meeting to increase Mairi’s hours to make the work she does even more effective.

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