Around 70 people attended the inaugural meeting of Changing Attitude Sussex which took place last week at the Chapel Royal in North Street, Brighton. Changing Attitude is a national organisation dedicated to telling the truth about Christian teaching on homosexuality and to working for the full inclusion of  LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender) people in the Church.

The meeting was addressed by The Rev’d Colin Coward, Changing Attitude National Director, who urged those present to challenge the hostility gay people face in some churches.  

The Sussex group will be campaigning to get a number of churches in Brighton to register officially with Changing Attitude as "Open and Welcoming" to gay people.  They also intend to compile a "Which Church?" dossier for gay people dividing churches into four categories from "open and welcoming" to "judgemental and rejecting".

Provisional group convenor, Keith Sharpe, said:
"As the British Social Attitudes Survey recently showed, attitudes to same sex relationships have become much more liberal.  In the Church however things are getting worse not better. Church leaders increasingly make overt homophobic statements which foster hatred and bigotry and demonise gay people.  It is very damaging for gay people’s mental health to find themselves in a judgemental and rejecting church, and we hope that our "Which Church?" dossier will give them the information they need to make an informed choice.  We also hope the publicity surrounding the dossier will encourage more churches to reconsider their position and become open and welcoming."

For more information view:
www.changingattitudesussex.com