Last week, I wrapped up my second full week of working for Rainbow Faith and Freedom. My current project with the organization involves beginning outreach for their 'Worshipping with Love' workshop. This workshop aims to address the centuries-long harm and hurt caused by places of worship towards 2SLGBTQIA+ folks. By reaching out to these places of worship with our programming, we hope to disrupt the perception that faith and religious institutions are irreconcilable with queer identity.
This past week, I officially began reaching out to different places of worship in the Toronto area to invite them to participate in our workshop series. For outreach, we dedicated our focus to faith communities that communicated a "welcoming" presence to all members, but were not necessarily communicating an "affirming" position towards queer people. Due to the extensive hurt and harm that faith communities have caused for centuries towards LGBTQ+ folks, it is not enough to "welcome all" but one must explicitly mention that they are a welcome place for queer people. If some are explicit in their dismissal, others must be explicit in their welcoming. RFF's research projects have noted that in the province of Ontario, most places of worship are vague about their policies towards queer people, which in turn makes queer folks hesitant or remiss to attend due to its ambiguity. By reaching out to these places, we hope to help them fully and comprehensively realize inclusive practices of worship.