Please pass on any research you're aware of, or personal accounts, concerning homophobia in religious schools/colleges.
 
 
GALHA has been approached by a lawyer, Rachel Holmes, who is compiling a response to the Charity Commission's consultation on the advancement of religion and public benefit. In particular, she intends to highlight the harm done to gay people by homophobic expressions of religion. She would like to hear from any GALHA members who have personal accounts of the damage caused to gay people by religion or religious representatives. Such personal accounts will support her submission to the Charity Commission, and call into question the public benefit of religious charities.
I enclose a more detailed outline of Rachel's objectives below.
If you would like to support her submission, please contact Rachel directly at rachelholmes@onetel.com
Many thanks,
Cliff
---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Rachel Holmes <rachelholmes@onetel.com>
Date: Wed, Mar 5, 2008 at 11:11 AM
Subject: Request for help
To: info@galha.org


Hi,
 
I'm a gay woman and a specialist in charity law.  The reason I'm writing to you is that I'd like to ask for your help in connection with responding to the Charity Commission consultation on the advancement of religion and public benefit.  I'll give you some background below - forgive me if I'm telling you things you already know.
 
In 2006, the UK Parliament passed the Charities Act 2006.  This Act expressly required charities to show that they were established for the 'public benefit'.  This was not a new requirement, but the Act put greater emphasis on it. 
 
Among other things, the Act obliged the Charity Commission (which registers and regulates the vast majority of charities in England and Wales) to produce guidance on the public benefit requirement.  The Commission has produced generalised guidance and is now in the process of consulting on how the public benefit requirement affects different charity sub-sectors.  Yesterday, it published its consultation on public benefit in charities advancing religion.
 
In assessing whether a charity provides public benefit, the law takes into account any harm that it causes.
 
As I say, I would like to send a personal response to the Charity Commission, giving evidence of the harm caused to homosexuals by homophobic expressions of religion.  Anecdotal evidence will be interesting, but primarily I am looking for studies that show links between conservative religion and any of the following:
 
- violence against homosexuals;
- discrimination against homosexuals;
- low self-esteem and suidice among young gay people (especially those brought up in religious families).
 
I'd also be grateful for links to studies on the harm caused by reparative therapy (though I suspect I can track these down fairly easily).
 
The point of this is not to denigrate religion per se, but to make sure that, when assessing public benefit, the Charity Commission is compelled to take seriously the harmful effects that homophobic teaching has on society.  I'm working on the presumption that there are harmful effects, based on my own history and the many stories I have heard from other gay people who have suffered at the hands of homohpobic religious people.
 
If you can point me towards any studies (perhaps you have done some yourselves), I would be rrally grateful.
 
Many thanks,
 
Rachel Holmes