Safeguarding survey shows only a third of UK LGBT+ Christian adults say they feel ‘safe to be out’ in their local church
2021 LGBT+ Christians Safeguarding Survey - Read the full report and download the findings: bit.ly/LGBTChristianSurvey
A 2021 safeguarding survey of more than 750 UK LGBT+ Christians shows that only a third ‘feel safe to be out’ in their local churches, and just one in five feel ‘safe to be out to the wider Christian community’.
The survey showed their sense of safety could be improved by church leaders making clear that they affirm same-sex relationships and helping them meet other LGBT+ people in their local church.
The survey findings shine a spotlight on just how unsafe many LGBT+ Christians feel to be themselves in their regular places of worship. Whilst gay men are more likely to ‘feel safe to be out to everyone in their local church’ than lesbians (45% vs 35%), trans and non-binary people feel far less ‘safe to be out’ (28%). A fifth of respondents said they feel ‘apprehensive’ when attending their local church, with less than a third (31%) saying they could “be themselves”.
When asked what it meant to feel ‘safe to be yourself in your church’, three quarters of LGBT+ Christians chose ‘I’m not worried about what might be said in the sermon’ and ‘I can be open with the clergy about my sexuality and/or gender identity’, factors rarely considered by non-LGBT+ people.
Many respondents felt that whilst their churches take their ‘physical safety’ seriously they indicated that their ‘spiritual’, ‘sexual’ and ‘emotional’ safety was taken far less so. A quarter (26%) agree that things are ‘a little safer’ than five years ago and nearly a fifth (18%) said things are ‘much safer’. However, trans and non-binary people were notably more pessimistic.
When asked what can be done to help them feel safer, nearly half (46%) said ‘knowing that our leaders affirm same-sex relationships’ alongside ‘putting an inclusive statement on the website’ (41%) and ‘positively recognising LGBT+ people in sermons’ (36%). The most significant factor that is currently helping LGBT+ people feel safe in their churches is being ‘aware that there are other LGBT+ people in our congregation’ (52%).
Commenting on the findings, Rt Revd Paul Bayes, the Bishop of Liverpool, and a Patron of the Open Table Network, said:
This survey shows just how important it is for church leaders to be clear about where they stand on LGBT+ matters. Silence has a price - and we now see clearly who has been paying it. I long for the day when all LGBT+ people can enter a church and not feel apprehensive or anxious about how they might be treated.
The research was overseen by an independent research consultant, Dr Sarah Carr, who specialises in mental health and social care research, who explained the significance of the findings:
The findings show that fear and anticipation as well as experiences of hostility and discrimination can make churches feel unsafe, exclusionary environments where many LGBT+ people state they “feel scared to be themselves”. Whilst there was a recognition that churches focused on physical aspects of safeguarding, attention to emotional and psychological safeguarding was found wanting - which the findings imply are just the type of safeguarding LGBT+ Christians need!
Jayne Ozanne, Director of the Ozanne Foundation, who organised the research, commented:
This research shows just how vulnerable LGBT+ Christians feel in our churches. The fact that so many are apprehensive about attending church and are worried about what might be said in the sermon should come as a serious wake-up call to church leaders. It’s time we took the well-being of LGBT+ people in our care seriously and look at ways in which we can help them feel safe.
Dave Moreton, from one of the organisations involved, Open House at Oasis Waterloo, explained the significance of the survey:
Safeguarding is one of the most challenging topics before the Church today, especially as many of our LGBT+ siblings tragically harm themselves, leave the church and even take their own lives. It is a shame that many of our LGBT+ siblings feel safer in a gay bar than in one of our church congregations. That is the outcome of faith-based rejection and conversion therapy.
Notes:
The survey ran on SurveyMonkey for two weeks from Nov 10th 2021, which is Safeguarding Sunday in the Church of England. It was open to all LGBT+ Christians over 18 in the UK.
The full research report can be downloaded here, the full set of survey findings here and the questionnaire here.
The nine LGBT+ Christian organisations involved in the research are:
The research was overseen by Dr Sarah Carr, who has formerly worked in research and policy analysis in the academic and charity sectors and has a MA in Theology. She was Senior Fellow in Mental Health Policy at the University of Birmingham and an Associate Professor of Mental Health Research at Middlesex University.
Rt Revd Paul Bayes is the Bishop of Liverpool and was Chair of the Ozanne Foundation from its inauguration in 2017 through to its AGM on January 19th 2022. He has stepped down ahead of his retirement in March 2022. The new Chair of the Foundation is the Very Revd Joe Hawes, Dean of St Edmundsbury and the most senior out LGBT+ cleric on General Synod.
For more enquiries, please contact Jayne Ozanne: jayne@ozanne.foundation
