CURRENT TEXT

Resolution D029

Title:   Call for Listening and Respect

Topic:   Human Rights

Committee:   26. Special Legislative Committee

House of Initial Action:   Deputies

Proposer:   The Very Rev. Ernesto R. Medina (Los Angeles)

Resolved, the House of _____ concurring, That the 75th General Convention of the Episcopal Church: disassociate itself from the actions of the Church of Nigeria (Anglican Communion) that are inconsistent with the Commitments of its bishops made at Lambeth and Dromantine, and we call on Anglicans throughout the Communion to respect the human rights of homosexual persons and to listen to their experience in accord with Lambeth 1998 Resolution 1.10.


EXPLANATION

We applaud the recent unanimous resolution of the House of Bishops of the Anglican Church of Canada which states:
"The House of Bishops of the Anglican Church of Canada notes with grave concern legislation before the Nigerian parliament that would prohibit or severely restrict the freedom of speech, association, expression, and assembly of gay and lesbian persons in Nigeria. This legislation is inconsistent with the United Nations' International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, that recognizes these rights as derived from the inherent dignity of the human person.
The Archbishop and Bishops are especially grieved by the strong and public support for this legislation given by the Church of Nigeria (Anglican Communion). Whereas Lambeth 1998 resolution I.10 called on churches to listen to the experience of homosexual persons, the proposed legislation criminalizes civil and religious same-sex marriage as well as the public and private expression of same-sex affection, all public affiliation between gay persons, and even publicity, public support, and media reporting of the same. The proposed legislation, endorsed in an official communiqué of the Standing Committee of the Church of Nigeria signed by its Primate, would make the very act of listening to homosexual persons impossible.
The members of the House of Bishops are in full agreement with the Primates' statement from Dromantine in 2005, that 'The victimization or diminishment of human beings whose affections happen to be ordered towards people of the same sex is anathema to us.' The Nigerian legislation, and its endorsement by the Church of Nigeria, is indeed anathema to us, and quite at odds with the grace and love given to all human beings in Jesus Christ."