The Lesbian and Gay Christian Network will hold a panel discussion on the eve of next week’s World Youth Day in Sydney.

The group have said in a media release that they wish to ‘challenge the Vatican’s condemnations of same-sex love’.

“This Pope is a very intelligent theologian, and worldwide, intelligent theologians pretty much accept that the basis of condemning homosexuality doesn’t stand up anymore,” the Network’s spokesperson and author of Seduced by Grace: Contemporary spirituality, Gay experience and Christian Faith, Michael B. Kelly told MCV.

“Our understanding of a person who is gay or lesbian is totally different from what it was in the first century AD. Ancient people had no concept as homosexuality as a sexual orientation.”

Kelly said that the Catholic Church’s continued oppression of gay and lesbian people has led to a “sense of hopelessness” among gay and lesbian Christians.

“It’s looking less likely any change will come in our lifetime, and the damage it’s doing to the church is a shame. The longer they keep this senseless oppression going the less credibility they have.”

“Gay people have served the church and will continue to serve at the highest levels; the Pope knows this. It’s time for him to listen to the suffering the church has caused on this issue,” Kelly added.

Rob Ward, Victorian State Director of the Australian Christian Lobby told MCV: “We certainly believe that people have the right to hold differing views and to express them in a non-disruptive way.” 

However, Ward felt “discussion on issues such as homosexuality may well be better placed away from such an event”.

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