Quest Conference 2003
30th Anniversary Conference 1973–2003
BIRMINGHAM
‘Legislation: Implications for Gay and Lesbian Catholics’
A report
(first published in Quest Bulletin 36)
I came to my fifth Quest conference with three aims:
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To meet up with old friends and meet new people;
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To have some mental stimulation;
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To top up spiritually and go back feeling positive about myself and my place within the Church.
I have moved from the centre of much gay catholic life in London to the beautiful, but isolated, backwaters of North Lincolnshire, so this year’s conference was particularly meaningful for me.
People arrived from all over the UK on Friday evening and after we had been welcomed, settled in and fed the conference kicked off with a quiz hosted by Neville (Quest Birmingham). I am told that at the end of the day the best team won and truly deserved their alcoholic prize – my sources were, however, the winners John and Paul from Newcastle who may be a little biased! The rest of the evening was spent catching up with everyone and meeting new people in the bar.
After breakfast and Saturday morning prayer, we listened to our first speaker – Ian Buist. Ian is a founder member of LGCM, a former civil servant who has led all LGCM’s work on the anti-discrimination directive and the government’s proposals to implement it. He delivered a very interesting and encouraging talk on current developments and issues regarding legislation affecting lesbian and gay people. This covered issues such as employment and civil partnership and where we stood on progress towards achieving full equality. It was good that he also covered the issues regarding the implications for the churches and other religions and the obvious stresses caused by current arguments which seem to be so often in the news recently. We were given the opportunity for a lively discussion on these topics, and I cannot sum up more eloquently than by using the following words used by our Chairperson: ‘It was a masterly presentation of complex issues and a delight to listen to someone who is on top of the subject.’
One of the many good things about the Quest conference is the free time given to us to do what we may. The grounds of Chamberlain Hall were well manicured and stretched down to a lake and a canal. Many of us made use of this time to explore this area, follow the towpath into Central Birmingham, go swimming in the University’s sports facilities and generally do the ‘Birmingham tourism bit’.
Saturday evening saw the traditional Chair’s reception and Gala dinner. Company was excellent, food very good (better than other years) and wine was provided for free. The after-dinner speaker was Ralph Long – the founder of Quest. I had wondered about how Quest came about and he gave a fascinating insight into the early days. He painted an historical picture of the trials and tribulations, the challenges and setbacks, of gay life in the 1970s and 80s, and his self-motivation to achieve something worthwhile. Quest began with him placing an advert in Gay News for Catholics interested in discussing the Church’s attitude to homosexuality. 17 replies were received and 9 of these people attended the first meeting. It is he whom we have to thank for Quest today.
The evening ended with the disco and bar – all great fun. I really must mention the dashing Derek from Quest London whose card was always marked and who swept us off our feet. He is highly recommended! For some, I believe, the night had just begun.
After breakfast and Morning Prayer on Sunday we had our final guest speaker –Mark Watson. He is a councillor in Croydon, set up the Stonewall Immigration Group and is a member of the Cabinet with responsibility for Equalities and Community Partnerships. The content of his talk was similar to that of Ian Buist – covering same-sex relationships, partnership and immigration legislation within this context. His perspective was not from a religious view and sparked lively debate afterwards as what he had to say was very encouraging but presented real challenges for the Church and other religions.
After the AGM and lunch the conference finished off with an excellent liturgy celebrated by our conference Chaplain Fr Gordon and also Fr Paul.
Returning to my three aims:
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To meet up with old friends and meet new people;
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To have some mental stimulation;
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To top up spiritually and go back feeling positive about myself and my place within the Church.
Did I meet them?
The venue was very convenient, food and service very good, speakers and company were excellent. This conference was a great success. Thank you to all who organised and participated in it.
If you did not go to the conference and are wondering if you should attend a Quest conference, next year’s conference is at Kelvin Conference Centre, University of Glasgow, from Friday 20th to Sunday 22nd August – the provisional theme Gay and Lesbian Spirituality – give it a go. It will be worth it!
Richard